SHANGHAI -- Anti-Japan protests that erupted in China in 2012 over ownership of the Senkaku Islands cut deeply into the number of Chinese visitors to Japan, but this year the figure has made a huge recovery.
Around 1.79 million Chinese visitors arrived in Japan this year between January and September, a jump of around 80 percent compared with the same period last year. At the current pace the figure will top 2 million before the year ends.
The growth comes despite continuing political friction between the two nations, most recently due to Chinese ships illegally harvesting red coral in Japanese waters.
Recently, the cruise ship Costa Victoria ferried around 2,400 Chinese tourists on a five-day trip between Shanghai, South Korea's Jeju Island and Fukuoka Prefecture. The cost of the tour, which was fully booked, was relatively cheap, at 4,299 yuan, or around 80,000 yen. Many of the participants were visiting Japan for the first time.
Jiang Deyun, a 70-year-old tour participant from Zhejiang province, commented, "I'll definitely buy a rice cooker. Japanese-made goods are reliable." With more time available after retirement, Jiang was venturing overseas for the first time. "There are more people in China now with wealth who want to see the world, and I am one of them."
Every year, the number of Chinese nationals traveling abroad is increasing by roughly 20 percent, with the figure now up at around 100 million a year.
Despite the ready access to information in this day and age, in China, there remains a deeply rooted image of the Japanese as malicious, like the characters depicted in anti-Japanese television dramas.
Jiang says, "While the two countries' relations are complex, I think regular Japanese people are good people. I want to know what feelings arise when Chinese and Japanese actually meet each other."
Splitting up and traveling in around 50 buses, the tourists visited shopping malls and the Dazaifu Tenmangu shrine. From one of the buses, a Chinese tour guide pointed outside. "Unlike China, the houses in Japan are small, but they don't collapse in earthquakes, and few people die. Why has a country with so few natural resources become this wealthy? There are many things for us to learn from them." The tourists nodded in agreement as they looked out the windows.
Chinese visits to Japan fell sharply after the anti-Japan protests of autumn 2012. At the Consulate-General of Japan in Shanghai, which hands out the most visas for Chinese visiting Japan, the number of group-tour visas issued in November 2012 dropped 90 percent from the previous year, to 673. Group tours are easily affected by political events.
The numbers have been recovering since autumn last year, however. From September last year, the monthly visitor numbers from China have continued to be the highest on record. A strong yuan and weak yen are thought to be behind this. But that is not the only potential reason. According to a representative for a major travel agency in Shanghai, two years ago in China "there was a feeling that if you recommended a trip to Japan you would be called a traitor." But now, according to surveys by the Japan Tourism Agency, around 90 percent of Chinese tourists are satisfied with their trips to Japan, and Japan ranks as one of the top destinations Chinese want to visit. A Japan-China diplomatic source says, "It is clear that Chinese are drawing a line between political problems and civilian interaction."
Another person on the cruise, Lu Xiaoyuan, 23, of Zhejiang Province, had just started working recently. In urban areas of China, a university graduate's first monthly paycheck is on average less than 4,500 yuan, or around 80,000 yen, which makes 4,300 yuan a hefty price for a tour. Still, Lu says she wants to buy Japanese cosmetics on the trip.
"I've seen Japanese drama shows on the Internet, but I don't feel that I understand Japan from that," she says. She had discussions with a group of four people around her age on the cruise regarding political differences between China and Japan, and says, "Even if there are disagreements over history between China and Japan, that is not a reason for us to not learn about Japan. The true reason I want to visit Japan is to see the real Japan, not just the one from history. To me, cosmetics are part of that real Japan."
Chinese tourists flocking back to Japan in droves after downturn in 2012 - 毎日新聞
