Chinese tourists shun Japan in wake of Taiwan invasion row

Chinese tourism to Japan almost halved in December amid a bitter diplomatic row between Beijing and Tokyo over the security of Taiwan.The number of tourists from mainland China dropped by about 45% from the same month a year earlier to about 330,000, Japan’s transport ministry said on Tuesday.Despite the fall, Japan continues to be a popular destination for foreign visitors, with a record 42.7 million flocking to the country last year, comfortably surpassing the previous record, set in 2024, of almost 37 million.Chinese tourism started falling towards the end of last year after Japan’s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, suggested her country could become militarily involved if China attempted to invade Taiwan.Beijing has not ruled out the use of force to annex Taiwan – a self-governing democracy it regards as a Chinese province – under what it calls “reunification”.Takaichi, a hawkish conservative, said a crisis in the Taiwan-strait" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="5508" data-entity-type="location">Taiwan Strait could trigger the deployment of her country’s self-defence forces if the conflict posed an “existential threat” to Japan.The remarks – made weeks after Takaichi met Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the Apec summit in South Korea, where they vowed to build “constructive and stable” relations – triggered a furious backlash from China, which urged its citizens not to travel to Japan, citing safety concerns.Beijing later advised its young people not to study in Japan, while cultural exchanges were cancelled and the Chinese releases of Japanese films were postponed indefinitely.Japan warned its 100,000 or so citizens in China to take extra safety precautions and reminded expats to respect Chinese customs and exercise caution in their interactions with local people.Prolonged tension over Taiwan poses risks to the tourism industry in Japan, a popular destination for Chinese travellers due to the weak yen and booming interest in Japanese cuisine and pop culture.China has long been the biggest source of inbound tourism, with almost 7.5 million Chinese arriving in Japan in the first nine months of 2025 – accounting for a quarter of all foreign visitors, according to official figures. Chinese tourists to Japan spent a combined $3.7bn in the third quarter of last year.Each Chinese tourist spent on average 22% more than other visitors last year, according to the Japan-national-tourism-organisation" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="14815" data-entity-type="organization">Japan National Tourism Organisation.The transport minister, Yasushi Kaneko, downplayed the slump in Chinese visitors, referring to the annual figure – which exceeded 40 million for the first time – as a “significant achievement”.“While the number of Chinese tourists in December decreased, we attracted a sufficient number of people from many other countries and regions to offset that,” he said. “We also hope and want to make sure that Chinese visitors will return to us as soon as possible.”The debate over how Japan should respond to a conflict between China and Taiwan has intensified since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and amid doubts over whether, under Donald Trump’s presidency, US forces would defend Taiwan.Japan has stepped up measures to defend its outlying islands in response to Chinese military activity near Taiwan, located just 100km from Japan’s westernmost island, Yonaguni, and around the uninhabited Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. They are administered by Japan but claimed by China, where they are known as the Diaoyu.