Welcome Back : SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA LURES BIG-SPENDING JAPANESE TOURISTS BACK BY MAKING THEM FEEL AT HOME

It’s a tour that most vacationers never experience.

While passengers in the first three tram cars at Universal Studios Hollywood are bombarded with the usual corny jokes, the Japanese visitors in the last car are getting a simultaneous interpretation--both in language and culture.

The back-lot home of the “Murder, She Wrote” television series becomes “Auntie Jessica’s Journal,” as the dubbed version is called back home in Kyoto.

The Japanese-speaking guide plays down the name of King Kong, since younger Japanese may be unfamiliar with the giant mechanical version of the movie ape, but the tram driver always leaves plenty of time for snapshots at the clock tower set for the “Back to the Future” trilogy because the series was a huge hit in Japan.

After the Kobe earthquake, Universal tour guide Chie Nakamura said she changed her spiel to alert, rather than surprise, Japanese visitors with the park’s earthquake simulation attraction. “I explained to them, ‘This is movie magic, so don’t worry.’ ”

Just as Universal has set aside three tours a day for its Japanese guests, the Southern California tourism industry has subtly shifted to make itself more Japanese-friendly--from the miso soup in the breakfast buffet at the Century Plaza Hotel to the Japanese-speaking clerks at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa.

The driving force behind the change isn’t just common courtesy. The Japanese, armed with a yen that has risen 40% against the dollar since 1990, spend more while on vacation and stay longer than other foreign tourists. To Japanese shoppers, America is a vast bargain basement.

“They are an extremely appealing market,” said Michael Collins, senior vice president of the Los Angeles Visitors & Convention Bureau. “The relationship of the dollar and the yen makes it almost fiscally irresponsible for them not to come to us.”

*

The Japanese, who are second only to Mexicans in visiting the Southland, are playing a crucial role in this year’s resuscitation of the overall tourism economy. Japanese tourist visits to Los Angeles increased 10% in the first six months of 1995 over the same period last year.

“We are definitely getting more people because of better exchange rates, and time has passed [regarding] the bad images,” said Vic Curameng of tour agency Pacifico Creative Services in Los Angeles, one of about a dozen agencies that handle most of the Japanese travel bookings.

Enticing them to come hasn’t been easy. California’s earthquakes, the Los Angeles riots and high-profile criminal cases, such as the highly publicized murders of Japanese students Takuma Ito and Go Matsuura in San Pedro last year, devastated tourism.

From a high of 1.1 million in 1989, the number of Japanese traveling to California fell dramatically to a low of 785,000 in 1992, when the Los Angeles riots occurred, according to state figures.

Since then, state tourism officials have gone on the offensive. After the riots, they sponsored a $23-million advertising campaign in Japan to remind vacationers of why California still holds its appeal.

In June, they attacked crime fears directly by having five Japanese news reporters spend a day cruising in Anaheim Police Department black-and-whites and chatting with bicycle cops in Santa Monica as part of a multi-state tour to convince them that the Wild West isn’t so wild anymore.

Promotions may help, but the Imost effective tool in attracting the Japanese has been simply making them feel at home.

“There are more Japanese-style breakfast foods at hotels in California, not so much in the Midwest or East,” said Masa Kawashima, a visiting Kobe businessman.

U.S. salespeople are particularly kind, said Hiroshi Oka, a Japanese student, who was toting a shopping bag with bottles of California champagne for the trip home to Okayama, near Hiroshima. “They are nice to you.”

Retailers on Rodeo Drive or South Coast Plaza go to special lengths to attract Japanese visitors because, a U.S. government study reports, they spend an average of $164 a day and up to $1,600 on average per trip--more than other foreign tourists.

“One Japanese tourist has the equivalent economic impact of exporting a California-made computer to Japan,” said John Poimiroo, director of the state Office of Tourism. They come for bargains. Honeymooner Sendada Ayi, who had just bought two Christian Dior necklaces for $160 at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, said they would have cost twice as much in Tokyo.

“It’s very cheap,” she said between bites of a burger at the Planet Hollywood restaurant.

Japanese tradition calls for buying gifts for a wide circle of friends and family, so merchants keep a large stock of trinkets on hand. Universal Studios gift store clerk Valentina Felice remembers a sale she rang up for one Japanese tourist who wanted T-shirts from the “Backdraft” movie attraction: $414.44.

Steve Fang, a clerk at the nearby Silver Screen Collectibles shop, said three Japanese tourists stopped in one day and bought 200 writing pens, at $1.95 each, to hand out to friends.

Older Japanese shoppers tend to head for boutiques, while members of the younger, college-age crowd hunt for trinkets like T-shirts emblazoned with the image of Dodger pitcher Hideo Nomo.

A Japanese tourist in June bought 100 Nomo T-shirts at JP Sport Fashion Gallery in Little Tokyo. Manager Tariqah Med said he only had to knock $1 off the normal $25 per-garment price.

Nomo has become a fixation with many Japanese, making Dodger games a feature of some tour packages.

“There’s tremendous Nomo-mania going on out there, and the tour operators have done their best to meet that need,” said Allan Erselius, the Dodgers’ marketing director.

*

Many U.S. retailers have found that being savvy about Japanese customs can help improve sales.

For instance, merchants say that “office ladies” are among the most lucrative segment of Japanese travelers. These are young, single, working women who have few day-to-day expenses because they live with their parents. Unlike similarly situated young men, who fear vacations might ruin their chances at promotion, these women travel often and spend lavishly.

At the other end of the rainbow are what marketers call “full moon travelers”--Japanese senior citizens who have the money to travel but have been reluctant to do so. Little by little, they have been joining the tours.

Southland retailers have also learned that they need to appeal to tour operators to make sure their stores are included in itineraries. Tour operators tend to stick with the same hotels and destinations and are hesitant to try new places.

“Japanese have a high loyalty pattern. They don’t want to change on a whim. It’s been a lot of effort to get them over to the Westside,” said marketing director Bruce Carpenter at the Century Plaza Hotel.

To entice tours, many hotels offer Japanese food in their buffets. The Century Plaza even employs a Japanese concierge on loan from Tokyo’s Grand Hotel.

South Coast Plaza offers Japanese-language store directories to shoppers as they step off the tour buses. And tour bus drivers are given a chit good for a meal at nearby restaurants to keep them happy and occupied while their passengers shop.

Stores have gotten into the act, too. Jeweler Tiffany & Co. has schooled its clerks to serve Japanese customers promptly and to use Asian manners and customs, including presentation of the all-important business card.

“Japanese clients are very picky, service-wise,” said Curameng of Pacifico Creative.

Merchants also pay attention to the calendar, knowing the times of year when to expect the most Japanese. Many, for instance, travel during the “Golden Week” vacation period in late April and early May, the New Year in January and the usual summer travel period.

Theme parks offer their own set of special services to meet the demands of Japanese customers. For instance, several offer wedding packages to Japanese couples who elope to America to escape the custom of having extravagant weddings involving hundreds of guests, each of whom expect to receive a gift from the bride and groom.

The weddings--which have become a lucrative side business for some of the theme parks--can be serious or just plain silly. An actor dressed as Frankenstein is sometimes pressed into service as minister of Japanese weddings at Universal.

Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park is among the destinations that has created a wedding package specifically for the Japanese, including a cake for two.

But it’s not always the quiet chapel ceremony or the cake that attracts them:

“They love having their picture taken with Snoopy,” explained catering manager Barbara Kranz.

*

These couples often travel apart from tours and represent a small but growing group of less-conformist tourists who now represent about 10% of the market.

It is a trend that has California tourist executives concerned.

As they become more independent, returning Japanese travelers will have more of an incentive to leave Southern California off their list. The state is responding by trying to help the Japanese become aware of a wider variety of local vacation spots.

But for now, Japanese travelers say they are fascinated by the traditional attractions of the state--the movies, the multiculturalism and the general allure. And they said they would choose California again over other popular Japanese vacation spots in Southeast Asia, Australia or Hawaii.

“California is larger than Japan and the streets are wider,” said honeymooner Rieko Tatebayashi, a schoolteacher from Shizuoka, near Nagoya. “I want to see the Grand Canyon and Hollywood.”

Added Tomo Yuki, rushing from South Coast Plaza with two big bags from Tiffany: “California is better than Thailand.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Foreign Tourists

Last year, Japan was second only to Mexico in number of Southern California visitors. And this year the Japanese presence has increased in the first two calendar quarters by 6% and 7%, respectively. Countries sending the most tourists in 1994, in thousands:

Mexico: 1,670

Japan: 495

United Kingdom: 405

Canada: 394

Germany: 300

Japanese Visitors

Tourism from Japan is up for the first two quarters this year with a strong summer season expected in Southern California. Figures, in thousands.

Japanese Tourism Facts

Of all Japanese visitors to Southern California:

* 55% were first-time visitors

* 67% booked trip through a travel agent

* 95% arrived by air

* 21% rented a car

* Each spent an average of $164 per day

Sources: Los Angeles Convention & Visitors Bureau, U.S. Travel & Tourism Administration; Researched by JANICE L. JONES / Los Angeles Times