More than twice as many Russian tourists have visited Japan so far this year compared to 2023, according to preliminary data from the Japan National Tourism Organization published on Thursday. In the first nine months of 2024, nearly 64,000 Russians visited the East Asia island nation, while the same period last year saw just 27,070 visitors from Russia. The uptick likely reflects a gradual recovery to pre-pandemic levels of tourism after Japanlifted all Covid-19 travel restrictions in April 2023. In 2019, the year before the pandemic disrupted global travel and prompted lockdowns, a record 12…