A pedestrian in the underground shopping center in the Asakusa district in Tokyo, Japan, on November 16, 2025. Photo: VCG

Chinese mainland visitor arrivals in Japan plunged 55.5 percent year-on-year in the first nine months of 2026, highlighting mounting pressure on the country's tourism industry due to cooled bilateral ties.

Japan received 3.10 million foreign visitors in September, down 5.0 percent year-on-year, according to data released Wednesday by the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO). Arrivals from the Chinese mainland fell 44.5 percent to 430,800, extending a prolonged decline.

From January to September, Japan recorded 30.73 million foreign visitors, down 2.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the JNTO.

The fallout from Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's controversial remarks on China's Taiwan region has continued to weigh on Chinese tourism to Japan in 2026. Arrivals from the Chinese mainland plunged 56.1 percent year-on-year to 428,200 in July, followed by a 59-percent drop to 418,000 in August, according to data from the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO).

The JNTO attributed the decline partly to China's travel advisory and reductions in air services between the two countries, which have continued to weigh on visitor numbers.

The figures underscore the economic consequences of the diplomatic tensions, particularly for Japan's hotels, retailers, restaurants and other tourism-related businesses that have long benefited from Chinese visitors, industry observers noted.

The Chinese mainland has been a major source of tourism revenue for Japan, making the sustained visitor drop particularly significant for local businesses dependent on inbound spending.

The economic impact is evident in tourism spending. Chinese visitors spent 358.3 billion yen in Japan in the third quarter of 2026, down 39.8 percent year-on-year, according to Japan Tourism Agency data released on Wednesday. 

Global Times