Smiles greet visitors coming to Japan

The Japanese finally have reason to smile again.

KYOTO, JAPAN – Smiles - lots of smiles.

That’s what I’m seeing on the faces of the lovely people as I tour this resilient country that is finally recovering from the 1-2 punch Mother Nature delivered last year - first an earthquake and then a devastating tsunami.

After a year of staggering from the physical and mental scars left from those overwhelming events, the Japanese are beginning to smile again.

They smile at the tourists like me who are finally returning to this sacred land of temples and traditions – foreigners are actually coming back much faster than anyone expected, according to data released by world tourism bodies.

They smile because their officials are again providing the necessities of life after a year of rationing electricity.

They smile at the outpouring of concern and love nations like Canada provided after so many lives were swept away in an instant.

“No pay – I thank you,” says the server in a Kyoto restaurant who refuses to take payment for the coffee I order – she spots the Canadian Maple Leaf on my jacket and wants to repay Canada’s kindness it showed this country last March when the tragic events took place.

It’s never easy to get tourists to return to countries where political upheaval or natural disasters occur. But Japan appears to bucking that trend because foreign tourists are eager to show their support to this nation, which has suffered so much in the last 100 years.

I know I haven’t stopped smiling at the wonders I’ve seen since arriving here.