Chinese tourist arrivals to Japan slump 45% amid Taiwan-related tensions

By Sakura Murakami

  The number of Chinese visitors to Japan fell by almost half in December, in the clearest sign yet of the economic impact from the rift between the two nations following Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments on Taiwan.  

Compared to December 2024, the number of Chinese who entered Japan last month plunged 45 per cent to about 330,000 people, according to Tourism Minister Yasushi Kaneko. 

 

The slide comes as tensions simmer between Japan and China following Takaichi’s November assertion that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan could form a legal justification for Japan to deploy troops. China subsequently warned its citizens against traveling to Japan, triggering flight cancellations. 

 

 

“We will continue to closely monitor the situation regarding the travel advisory from China’s authorities,” Kaneko said in a news conference held on Tuesday. “We must put in the effort to ensure that Chinese who wish to travel to Japan can do so as early as possible, and we hope to see that day come soon,” he added. 

 

The number of visitors from China had been growing at a pace of 40.7 per cent in the first 10 months of the year, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization. Chinese travelers are Japan’s biggest spenders, accounting for a fifth of the nation’s ¥8.1 trillion ($52.4 billion) in tourism revenue in 2024. In an indication of their impact on the retail sector, duty-free sales at Japan’s department stories fell sharply in December. 

 

Despite the decline in Chinese tourists, the number of foreign travelers to Japan topped 40 million for the first time in 2025, according to Kaneko, with an influx of people from other regions making up for the shortfall in Chinese travelers. Overall consumption also hit a record of about 9.5 trillion yen ($60 billion). 

 

The number of Chinese travelers for 2025 increased about 30 per cent from a year prior, despite the dip from November onward. Still, Beijing’s advisory discouraging travel to Japan and its directive for airlines to cut flights through March 2026 raise the risk of a prolonged downturn.

 

Japan’s leading travel agency forecast this year would see the the first fall in foreign tourism since the country reopened after the pandemic. 

 

Tensions between Tokyo and Beijing flared after Takaichi told parliament on Nov. 7 that a Taiwan crisis might constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan. Such a classification would provide a legal justification for Tokyo to deploy its military alongside other countries.

 

Since then, China travel warnings have hit the economy in western Japan, and China’s military have trained fire-control radar on one or more Japanese fighter jets in the East China Sea, according to the Japanese government. Japanese firms are evaluating the effect of trade controls announced earlier this month. 

 

Takaichi has repeatedly said that Tokyo’s position on Taiwan hasn’t changed and is in line with a communique issued 1972. In that joint statement Japan said it understands and respects Beijing’s view that Taiwan is an “inalienable” part of China’s territory without saying it agrees with that view. In a press conference last night, Takaichi reiterated that Japan’s door was open for talks with Beijing officials.