Japan needs more White Lotus, less White Elephants

Douglas Montgomery is CEO of Global Connects Media and an adjunct professor at Temple University Japan.

Japan has poured billions into one-time spectacles like the Tokyo Olympics and upcoming Osaka Expo. The payoff? Fleeting moments of global attention with diminishing returns. As tourism hits record numbers with visitors checking off a bucket-list destination, Japan needs a strategy to keep them coming back. The answer isn't another mega-project -- it's turning Japan into the world's most cinematic backdrop.