Chinese travelers to Japan are “BACK”

“Japan is perfect, but I’m not going this year.” That sentence showed up tens of thousands of times on Chinese social media in early 2026. Not because Chinese travelers stopped loving Japan. But because Beijing issued a formal travel advisory after Prime Minister Takaichi’s remarks about Taiwan, and the diplomatic fallout hit flight bookings hard. Chinese arrivals dropped 61% in January 2026 compared to the year before. For Japanese businesses that had rebuilt their Chinese visitor base, it was a gut punch. But the story is more complex than the headlines suggest.

In the first nine months of 2025, nearly 7.5 million Chinese tourists visited Japan, almost a quarter of all foreign visitors. Chinese spending had recovered strongly, driven by a weak yen and pent-up demand. Then the diplomatic crisis hit in November 2025 and bookings collapsed. The question now is not whether Chinese travelers will return to Japan. They will. The question is when and how fast.

The numbers

• Japan welcomed a record 42.7 million international visitors in 2025. Chinese tourists accounted for roughly 24% of that before the December drop.
• Chinese arrivals in 2025 were up approximately 30% year-on-year through October, then fell 45% in December 2025 after Beijing’s advisory.
• In January 2026, Chinese arrivals dropped 61% compared to January 2025. About 385,300 Chinese tourists visited Japan that month.
• JTB forecasts 41.4 million total international visitors in 2026, a 2.8% drop largely attributed to fewer Chinese arrivals.
• The yen remains weak, which still makes Japan one of the most affordable luxury destinations for Chinese travelers in purchasing power terms.

Latest: what is happening right now

• March 2026, CNBC: Chinese visitor numbers to Japan were down 60% in January 2026, but Japan’s total tourism revenue stayed relatively stable due to higher per-visitor spending from Western and South Korean tourists. Industry observers describe the situation as “significant, but not catastrophic.”
• January 2026, Skift/Nikkei Asia: Japan set a new tourism record in 2025 despite a 45% drop in Chinese visitors in December. Hot spring towns like Kusatsu and Zao, normally packed with Chinese guests, were noticeably quieter. The diplomatic tension traces back to PM Takaichi’s comments in November 2025 on a potential Taiwan conflict scenario.

What Chinese tourists think about Japan

Before the diplomatic crisis, Chinese sentiment toward Japan was intensely positive. On Xiaohongshu, Japan travel content outperformed almost every other destination. The platform had become the primary discovery channel for Japan trips among Chinese travelers under 35. Content about specific experiences drove bookings: drift-ice tours in Hokkaido, cherry blossom spots in Kyoto, discount cosmetics in Shinjuku, traditional breakfast rituals at ryokans. Chinese travelers were not just visiting Japan, they were producing content about it at scale.

What they love is specific. The food, obviously. But also the details: trains that arrive on time, toilets that work, streets that are clean, and service staff who treat you with genuine courtesy. Chinese travelers who visit Japan consistently describe a kind of quality standard they find hard to match elsewhere in Asia. On Zhihu, “Why is Japan service so good?” has been one of the consistently high-traffic travel threads for years.

What they complain about is also specific. Overtourism in Kyoto and around Mount Fuji was already a major topic in Chinese travel forums through 2024. Some travelers reported feeling crowded out of experiences they had planned, or finding famous spots too noisy and commercialized. The language barrier remains a real issue outside Tokyo and Osaka. And the recent travel advisory created a new category of concern: political risk. Posts on RedNote in early 2026 reflected genuine anxiety among travelers who had already booked and were unsure whether to cancel. Flight cancellation rates from China to Japan reached 47% in January 2026.

Opportunities for businesses

For hotels, ryokans, restaurants, and tour operators in Japan, the current situation calls for patience and preparation, not panic. Chinese travelers will return. The cultural affinity, proximity, and yen exchange rate are structural advantages that no diplomatic spat permanently erases. The brands that use this quiet period to maintain their Chinese digital presence will be positioned to benefit when bookings reopen. The ones that go dark will have to start from zero again.

What works right now is keeping your Xiaohongshu content active even when fewer Chinese tourists are coming. Post about experiences, about seasonal beauty, about local food. This is exactly what the Kyoto Maple Inn case showed: the businesses that kept communicating with Chinese audiences during the quiet years recovered faster than those who waited. If your Ctrip and Mafengwo listings are outdated, fix them now while there is no traffic pressure. Encourage Chinese guests who do visit to leave Mandarin reviews.

On Douyin, Japan travel content consistently ranks among the highest-performing travel categories. Even during the booking slowdown, Japanese destination videos still generate strong organic reach. Use this to build an audience now. When the advisory is lifted and flights resume normal levels, businesses with active Douyin accounts will see bookings move first.

Practically: accept WeChat Pay and Alipay at every point of purchase. Have WeChat as a direct contact channel for reservations. On Xiaohongshu, focus on content that travels well, meaning beautiful, specific, and authentic. On Douyin, short videos under 60 seconds showing a single experience work better than polished brand content.

Summary table

Metric	Figure	Source
Chinese visitors Jan-Oct 2025	~7.5 million (24% of all foreign visitors)	JNTO / Nikkei Asia
Chinese arrivals drop, Dec 2025	-45% year-on-year	Nikkei Asia, Jan 2026
Chinese arrivals drop, Jan 2026	-61% year-on-year (385,300 visitors)	CNBC, March 2026
Total international visitors 2025	42.7 million (record)	JNTO / Nippon.com
JTB 2026 forecast	41.4 million total (-2.8% vs 2025)	JTB Tourism Research
Pre-pandemic Chinese visitors (2019)	9.5 million	JNTO

Reach them on Xiaohongshu and Douyin

Xiaohongshu is the first screen Chinese travelers open when they think about Japan. It is where they save ryokan recommendations, food spots, and shopping lists. For tourism businesses in Japan, having active Xiaohongshu content is not optional, it is the difference between being found and being invisible. The platform works particularly well for visually rich experiences: onsen hotels, seasonal foliage, regional cuisine, local craft shops. Posts with specific location tags and practical tips get saved and reshared by travelers deep in the planning phase. That is the exact audience you want.

Douyin works differently. It creates desire rather than capturing planned intent. A 30-second video of a perfectly plated kaiseki dinner, a quiet morning walk through a bamboo grove, or a hotel check-in with a sea view can generate hundreds of thousands of views and push a destination from “maybe someday” to “booking this weekend.” Japanese destinations that maintained active Douyin accounts through the 2025 slowdown are already seeing audience growth they can monetize when normal bookings resume.

CTA has worked with Japanese hotels, ryokans, and tour operators to build exactly this kind of Chinese platform presence. We run Xiaohongshu content strategies, manage Douyin campaigns, and handle WeChat Official Account setup. If you want Chinese travelers to find you the moment the advisory lifts, now is the right time to build that foundation. See our full offer at our services page.

Talk to us

Chinese travelers will come back to Japan. The question is whether they find your business when they do. If you want to build a Chinese marketing strategy now, while the cost of attention is low, contact us here.

Pedro Wang is the founder of Chinese Tourists Agency, a Shanghai-based agency helping international tourism brands reach Chinese consumers. He has been tracking Chinese outbound travel since 2010. June 2026.