Foreign tourists set new record for visits to Japan's Diet building in 2025

The Diet released figures indicating that 13,697 non-Japanese individuals visited the National Diet Building in 2025, surpassing any previous tally since record-keeping started in 1993. This represents almost a two-fold increase from the 7,261 foreign visitors recorded in 2024. The growth comes as Japan welcomed a record 42.7 million foreign tourists the preceding year, boosting overall interest in the parliamentary complex.

Total foot traffic to the building, counting domestic visitors, has typically fluctuated between 600,000 and 900,000, with a pandemic-induced dip to roughly 80,000 in 2021 before recovering to around 735,000. Prior peaks for foreign attendance occurred in 2005 and 2007, each just over 10,000. The proportion of overseas guests rose to 1.86 percent of all visitors. Officials attribute part of the increase to the building's location near popular districts such as Ginza and Akasaka, and note that tours are conducted in Japanese for both houses, with the lower house additionally offering English tours.