Japan Foreign Visitors: Updated Feb. 20, 2026.

Japan's Jan. foreign visitors dip amid China spat, 1st fall in 4 years

Article source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260218/p2g/00m/0bu/041000c

Ideas

Whether good or not so good, the powers to be in Japan just can't seem to stop doing things that the Chinese powers to be dislike. They take one step forward and ten steps back every few years.

Chinese foreign visitors to Japan used to be Japan's largest foreign tourist group, at least before the pandemic, but since then its been more of a hit and miss situation with China and visitors from that country.

If there were 3.6 million visitors in January that is still a significant number of tourists entering Japan staying at Japanese hotels, buying things as Japanese department stores and convenience stores, and of course going to a lot of touristy places spending money in Japan.

Some might say, and its a small group, who really don't want foreign tourists in Japan or any foreigners at all and especially they want new measures to reduce the over-crowding in some places like Kyoto in the Osaka area that has become a major tourist spot for foreign tourists recently.

Ever since the pandemic or just after the pandemic, flights from China has been very slow to return to the pre 2019 level when there seemed to be an explosion of flights coming and going to and from mainland China.

It seems, as the weather in Thailand is much warmer than what it is now in Japan, that Thailand is not the number one Lunar New Year holiday destination for many Chinese tourists now.

Some might say, again, that the decrease in Chinese tourists to Japan might be a positive as it might reduce the over-crowding and might actually calm down the noise by some who are against anything foreign in Japan, but its too early to tell just yet.

Even though the Chinese powers to be suggested Chinese tourists should not go to Japan, 367,000 people still went to Japan which is still a significant number of Chinese tourists spending money in Japan.

And again, yes the Japanese powers to be keep making remarks that the Chinese powers to be dislike again which again causes un-needed friction between the two countries.

As this blog rarely says anything negative about the Japanese powers to be, it seems the new Prime Minister in Japan is more head-strong or more stubborn than previous Prime Ministers and probably won't change much of what was said back in November.

Snow sports tourism seems to be the latest trend for tourists going to Japan as other than Mongolia or China there really isn't much in the way of snow sports tourism in Asia. Even South Korea's snow tourism areas are not really that well developed compared to Japan's snow tourism areas.

At the same time, despite the demand for snow sports tourism, there are probably just as many foreign tourists who might not care much about the snow sports and just want to experience some things in Japan that might might not be able to do or see in their home country.

It used to be, at least before the pandemic, that getting a ticket from Seoul Gimpo airport to Tokyo Haneda airport was very easy but after the pandemic ended and Japan re-opened its borders in 2023 getting a ticket became much more difficult and it seems everyone and anyone in South Korea suddenly wanted to go to Japan, and probably globally too, airline ticket prices almost tripled or seemed that way.

Taiwan, even though it suffered significantly from the Japan occupation, there doesn't seem to be that much if any negative noise about it as they either have let by gones be by gones or just moved on in life and tourists from Taiwan seems to be very robust and the relations between the two countries seems very stable.

Ticket prices between Japan and Australia are probably not cheap and the same can be said for ticket prices between the US and Japan, but people want to travel so they are going to travel even though airline ticket prices have increased significantly since the pandemic.

Have a nice day!

Japan Nov. Duty Free Sales: Updated Dec. 29, 2025.

Nov. duty-free sales at Japan department stores down 2.5%

Article source:  Nov. duty-free sales at Japan department stores down 2.5%

Ideas:

Duty-free sales are never a constant and there is always going to be ups and downs in 

spending as consumers sometimes want to spend a lot and sometimes they want to spend as 

as little. It all depends on the mood of the shopper.

Yes, unfortunately the Chinese situation is going to affect Chinese tourist spending in Japan

and it could take some time for the situation to calm down and Chinese tourists will return 

to Japan in full force.

Chinese tourists are at the mercy of the Chinese government and as such they will not go to Japan, at least in full force, until the Chinese government and Japan reduce the tensions between the two countries.

Telling Chinese people to exercise caution is almost mandatory as most likely most if not all Chinese are going to avoid taking a trip to Japan at this time. Other Asian countries, including South Korea, could see an increase in Chinese tourists who might have wanted to go to Japan but had to change their travel plans.

Whether good or not so good, depending on which side of the coin you are on, Japan keeps doing things that upset not only China but South Korea too as Japan takes one good step ahead in diplomatic relations and then ten steps back with some miss-step every few years.

There might be a sliver-lining in the decrease in Chinese tourists coming to Japan as recently there have been a lot of negative ideas in Japan about over-crowding with too many foreign tourists in some of the main tourist areas such as Kyoto, Osaka, and Tokyo.

With less Chinese tourists the noise about too many tourists might begin to calm down some and things might be able to get back to some sense of normalcy, at least for the short-term.

There is no doubt that foreign tourist spending in Japan has helped boost the Japanese economy and opponents of foreign tourists in Japan need to be very careful that they don't go too far and with measures to either tax foreign tourists and or other measures that might turn-off foreign tourists from visiting Japan as tourism is a fragile industry and can change very quickly even in Japan.

For example, South Korea, just up the road is a like-able place for Asian tourists to visit and they too are seeing record numbers of Asian tourists visiting. So Japan needs to be very careful as there is no talk about over-crowding in South Korea or discussions about taxing foreign tourists.

Again, things can change very fast and Japan needs to be thankful for all the foreign tourists they get and all the money they spend in Japan that helps the Japanese economy, as it could be very different if they aren't careful.

The Japanese economy, especially the domestic economy, needs all the help it can get and foreign tourist spending money in Japan is a significant boost and without it Japan's economy might continue to be stagnant and grow very little if at all. 

Have a nice day!

Japan and Tourism: Updated Feb. 14, 2025.

 

Opinion: The superficial notion of Japanese as 'polite people'

Article Source:  https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20250207/p2a/00m/0op/004000c

Commentary:

Inbound tourism seems to be at record levels in 2024 and maybe 2025 too, but what has caused the sudden increase in tourists who want to travel to Japan. In 2019, there was a record year of 31 million so all sudden travelers want to travel to Japan.

Many countries in Asia might be just a hospitable as Japan so why Japan and not China or South Korea or any other country in Asia.

Of course the weak Japanese yen might be a big reason to go to Japan as the weak yen gives tourists more purchasing power. But you still have to pay for airline tickets which have gone up significantly since the pandemic.

Foreign tourists in Japan want to experience many things including food that is best or most popular in Japan. 

And yes, unfortunately, not all tourists are nice or polite as evidenced by the situation near Mount Fuji and the Lawson convenience store as tourist trying to take pictures and disrupting  many of the locals in that small town

Over-tourism has become a major challenge for many cities such as Kyoto which has considered an over-tourism tax that will be charged for those staying in hotels in the Kyoto area.

Yes, these and many other challenges that rude foreigners do in Japan unfortunately these days.

It reminds me of my time on Guam and working at a coffee shop in the largest hotel there, where many foreigners from a certain country which I won't mention didn't know how to be polite in and around the coffee shop area. 

A person of the same country said they are new to traveling and haven't learned what is rude and not rude yet in other countries.

Yes, most likely, many travelers from different countries don't know how to be polite when traveling and yes, even those from the US can be the worst sometimes even in 2025.

Even though those examples were about Japan in the 60's and 70's and they were just beginning to travel abroad, but today its just as bad in any country these days.

But fortunately it seems the Japanese have learned how to be more polite when traveling abroad some might suggest the most polite travelers now in the world.

Yes back in the 70's Japanese tourists probably had a superiority complex and might be why they treated others in Asia not so good back then and maybe even some today.

But unfortunately, there are still examples of Japanese immigration treating Caucasians better than those from Asia countries.

But the same can be seen in South Korea too as they sometimes don't treat Asian tourists very good except they want their money of course.

It must be considered that not all Japanese travelers are polite and not all Chinese tourists are bad, as there are good and bad in all countries. 

For example, I know of examples of rich Japanese who think they are better than anyone else and they act like it and are very rude to anyone who is not rich.

And yes, there TV shows that like to criticize foreigners in Japan and they only see a few incidents and not look at the big picture related to all the polite foreign travelers from a country, such as China who never cause any problems.

Over-tourism can be very challenging in Japan as the crowds and such could cause some tourists to be less polite and might forget how to be polite in Japan.

Every country probably has experienced its version of international thugs at one or another as people are people and anyone and everyone can be not so polite about something.

And yes, no country is superior to any other country despite what the current US administration thinks at this time.

All countries have good people and not so good people and all countries have polite travelers and not so polite travelers.

Lets stop blaming a few that are not polite and thinking all people from a country are the same way, as some people think. Not all people from a country are the same.

Have a nice day!