Yes, yes it was. Travel guide and research site TripAdvisor.com ranked the most popular places for foreign travelers last year. There's loads of things for them to see: temples, shrines and Pokémon.
Here's the top twenty hot spots foreign travelers wanted to visit in 2008:
...drumroll please...
20. Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden (Tokyo)
19. Hokkaido Jingu (Hokkaido Prefecture)
18. Shitennoji Temple (Osaka)
17. Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan (Osaka)
16. Takaragawa Onsen (Gunma Prefecture)
15. Meiji Shrine (Tokyo)
14. Osaka Castle (Osaka)
13. LaQua (Tokyo)
12. Kiyomizu Temple (Kyoto)
11. Oedo-Onsen-Monogatari (Tokyo)
10. Universal Studios Japan (Osaka)
9. Spa World (Osaka)
8. Fushimi Inari Shrine (Kyoto)
7. The Golden Pavilion (Kyoto)
6. Sensoji Temple (Asakusa Kannon) (Tokyo)
5. Tokyo Disney Sea (Chiba Prefecture)
4. Roppongi Hills (Tokyo)
3. Pokémon Center Tokyo (Tokyo)
2. Tokyo Disneyland (Chiba Prefecture)
1. The Tsukiji Market (Tokyo)
For foreigners, The Pokémon Center is number three WITH A BULLET. For those who don't know what The Pokémon Center is, it's an official retail shop, selling loads of official Pokémon goodies. It's not just in Tokyo — there are locations across Japan: Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Yokohama and Sapporo.
TripAdvisor even breaks the data down to what's popular among different nationalities (Americans, Germans, Spain, Italians, British and French). Which countries loved the Pok&ecute;mon Center so much they put it in their top five? The Americas and the French at number 3 and number 4, respectively.
HotSpots Japan [TripAdvisor via GIGAZINE] [Pic]