People walk along Takeshita street at Harajuku shopping area in Tokyo, Japan, Aug. 10, 2024. Photo by Reuters
China has urged domestic travel agencies to reduce the number of tourists traveling to Japan by 40% amid rising tensions following Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks on Taiwan.
Major Chinese travel agencies were instructed to cut Japan-related visa applications by 40%, Kyodo News reported.
Chinese nationals need to obtain visas to visit Japan and apply for them through designated travel agencies in China.
More than 1,900 Japan-bound flights were canceled in China in December, while 2,195 flights will be scrapped in January, Japan Today reported.
A diplomatic dispute following Takaichi’s remarks Japan’s policy towards Taiwan on Nov. 7 prompted Beijing in mid-November to urge its citizens not to travel to Japan.
Chinese airlines have offered free refunds for flights up to at least the end of 2025. Three major airlines Air China, China Eastern and China Southern will offer refunds and charge-free changes to Japan-related flights until March 28, 2026.
Japan welcomed an estimated 39.06 million foreign visitors from January to November, surpassing last year’s record of 36.87 million.
In November alone, Japan received 3.52 million foreign visitors, up 10.4% year-on-year despite travel warnings from China, Reuters reported.
Growth in visitors from mainland China slowed to 3% in November, far below the 37.5% growth across the whole of 2025 to the end of November, compared with the same period in 2024.
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