> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.thecontrail.org/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Japan's Tourism Boom Survived China Telling Its Citizens to Stay Away - URL: https://www.thecontrail.org/japan-tourism-2026-china-visitors/ - Published: 2026-10-24T14:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-24T13:59:59.000Z - Description: Japan had its biggest tourism year ever in 2025. Then Chinese visitors fell by more than half. I went to see why everyone else keeps coming anyway. - Author: Ford Johnson - Tags: News For as long as I can remember, Japan was the trip. For me, it started with Lost in Translation. Sofia Coppola's 2003 film made Tokyo look lonely, dazzling and a little dreamlike, all neon and hotel windows, and I wanted to stand inside that feeling. When I finally landed in Tokyo this year, I realized I was one of millions chasing the same dream. That turned out to be the story, because Japan's tourism boom in 2026 has survived a shock that could have ended it. Tourism · Japan ### Japan's Boom, by the Numbers 2025 visitors 42.7 million, a record China, first half 2026 Down 56% South Korea, Taiwan Up about a fifth July 2026 3.44 million, a July record Nov 2025 Beijing urges its citizens to avoid traveling to Japan. Jul 1, 2026 Japan's departure tax triples to ¥3,000, about $20, built into your plane ticket. By 2030 The government aims for 60 million visitors a year. What to do Going to Kyoto or Hokkaido? Check your hotel's local tax, which is added on top of the room rate. Contrail --- ## My Trip The first thing that struck me was how clean the city is. Public trash cans are rare, yet the sidewalks and train platforms were spotless, because people simply carry their trash home. Then I went north to ski in Hokkaido, staying in Hirafu in Niseko, where the snow never seemed to stop. I felt impossibly far from everything, and strangely comfortable with that feeling. It was like a different country entirely. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ac/ed/acedfbb2-ff9c-499b-b431-eb36d7539be1/content/images/2026/10/Screenshot-2026-10-23-at-13.21.21.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ac/ed/acedfbb2-ff9c-499b-b431-eb36d7539be1/content/images/2026/10/Screenshot-2026-10-23-at-13.21.11.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ac/ed/acedfbb2-ff9c-499b-b431-eb36d7539be1/content/images/2026/10/Screenshot-2026-10-23-at-13.19.40-1.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ac/ed/acedfbb2-ff9c-499b-b431-eb36d7539be1/content/images/2026/10/Screenshot-2026-10-23-at-13.21.30.png) --- ## **A Record Year, Then a Test** Japan welcomed a record 42.7 million international visitors in 2025, up nearly 16% from the year before. It was the first time arrivals topped 40 million. Then came a test. In November 2025, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told parliament that a Chinese military move against Taiwan could create a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan. Beijing responded by urging its citizens to avoid traveling there. Visitors from mainland China fell 56% in the first half of 2026, and South Korea overtook China as Japan's top source of travelers. Yet the overall dip has been small. Total arrivals in the first half of the year were down just 2%. Visitors from South Korea and Taiwan climbed by roughly a fifth, and July 2026 set an all-time record for that month at 3.44 million visitors. The travel company JTB has forecast about 41.4 million arrivals for the full year, just shy of the record. --- ## Why People Keep Coming The most cited reason is money. The yen traded around 110 to the dollar in 2019 and has been far weaker in recent years, often near 150, making hotels, meals and shopping cheaper for many foreign visitors. I felt it most at convenience stores, where a cheap meal turned out to be genuinely good. Visitors are also spending more per trip, averaging about ¥245,000 per person this spring, up from a year earlier. A cheap currency doesn't explain everything, though. What stayed with me were Tokyo's tiny places: bars with four seats that felt as intimate as a dinner party, and markets full of food I'd never tasted. Outside the cities, regions like Hokkaido draw travelers looking for powder snow, hot springs and open space, spreading interest beyond the classic Tokyo-Kyoto route. ![Two japan airlines airplanes on the tarmac](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ac/ed/acedfbb2-ff9c-499b-b431-eb36d7539be1/content/images/2026/10/photo-1762648136914-693b119626ab.jpeg) Photo by [David Syphers](https://unsplash.com/@dsyphers?utm%5Fsource=ghost&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcampaign=api-credit) / [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/?utm%5Fsource=ghost&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcampaign=api-credit) --- ## The Strain Behind the Boom The crowds come with costs, and residents feel them. Congestion and bad behavior at popular spots have become a political issue. On July 1, Japan tripled its departure tax to ¥3,000, about $20, to fund congestion measures, and it raised tourist visa fees for the first time since 1978\. Kyoto now has the country's highest hotel tax, and Hokkaido started charging its own in April. Some analysts also warn that the boom leans heavily on the exchange rate. If the yen strengthens, part of Japan's price advantage would fade. --- ## What's Next The government's target is 60 million visitors and ¥15 trillion in spending by 2030\. Whether that's achievable, and whether it's welcome in the communities absorbing the crowds, is an open question with reasonable people on both sides. As for me, I want to go back, and next time for months. Tokyo is so big that I barely began to grasp it. I suspect that feeling, of a place you can never quite finish, is a big part of why so many of us keep returning.