摘 要 日本和台灣是鄰近國家，同時雙方密切的關係使得雙邊之人員移動持續增加。特別是地理位置的接近與一些套裝旅遊行程，使得雙邊的旅客數得以增加。有鑑於此，台灣政府將2009年設定為「台日特別夥伴關係促進年」，全面推動台日間在經貿、文化、青少年、觀光及對話等五個面向的合作與交流。 然而，來台的日本觀光客數量，在2007與2008年已有少許的降低，在2009年更持續下降。此一趨勢似乎是受到日本景氣低迷，導致出國旅遊人數降低的影響，但在另一方面，我們卻可以觀察到過去幾年間，日本往韓國觀光人數的持續增加。後者也是來台日本觀光客數量減少的可能原因之一。此一情況也顯示，台灣政府在旅遊政策及行銷方面仍有改善的空間。 本文試圖檢視上述日本觀光客減少的情況，分析日本國外觀光之趨勢與台灣觀光業競爭力間之關係。同時本文亦探討來台參加畢業旅行的日本高中學生之訪談結果。透過此一訪談，本文研究台灣在日本年輕人間之形象。本研究顯示日本人民對台灣之了解仍然有限，台灣政府在進行廣告行銷、宣傳觀光吸引力、及促進國家形象方面仍有進步的空間。

Abstract Japan and Taiwan are neighboring countries and the deeply-involved relations have led them to frequent human mobility between the two sides. Especially the geographic closeness and reasonable tours increased travelers to each other. In the light of this, Taiwanese government has set the year 2009 as “the Promotion Year of Taiwan-Japan Special Partnership”, and push forward with the exchange programs with Japan in the fields of trade, culture, youth, tourism and dialogue. Nevertheless, the number of Japanese tourists, which already showed a slight decrease in 2007 and 2008, reduced again in 2009. This trend seems to have received the influence of the falling-off of Japanese tourists to foreign counties under the recent downturn economy, but, on the other hand, we have to notice that the Japanese travelers to Korea continue to increase in the past several years. Therefore, there could be another reason for the recent decline of Japanese tourists to Taiwan. This situation also suggests there is room for improvement in the campaign and tourism policy that Taiwanese government is currently taking. This paper is a part of the study of Japan-Taiwan relations, and tries to examine the above-mentioned situation of decreasing Japanese travelers, as well as to analyze the relations between tendency of Japanese travelers abroad and the tourism competitiveness of Taiwan. We also see the result of interview to Japanese high-school students making a graduation trip to Taiwan. Through this interview, Taiwanese image and recognition entertained by the Japanese youths will be researched. The result is expected to answer the question what policy should be taken in order to increase Japanese tourists and better Taiwanese image in the future.