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Julian Ryall

With her camera in her hand, Zhang Yan is strolling the willow-lined lanes of Kyoto's geisha district looking for a restaurant. She says she can't make her mind up between tempura or sushi.
On a seven-day trip from Shanghai with her husband and a group of friends, Zhang says Japan makes a great holiday destination.
"This is my second time to visit Japan and I'm sure I'll come back again," she said. "We came to Kyoto this time because it is so famous and I love to see the old buildings and the temples. It's really beautiful.
"Of course, we're going to do some shopping while we are here," she added. "My husband wants a new watch and we will look at the new electronics that are on sale here."
And she dismisses concerns over the tensions that have dominated Sino-Japanese relations in recent years with a wave of a hand.
"This is tourism and that is politics," she said.
"We have had no problems at all in the time we have been here and all the Japanese people we have met have been kind and generous.
"I think that ordinary people - like them and us - think differently to the politicians," she added. "And those disagreements won't stop us coming on holiday here."
And that's precisely the sort of response and attitude that Japan's tourist industry wants to see from its potential clients. Fortunately, the signs right now are very positive.
Statistics released last week by the Japan National Tourism Organisation show that 11,009,000 visitors arrived in Japan between January and October, an increase of 27.1 per cent from the same period last year.
That figure surpassed the 10,363,904 tourists who visited in the whole of 2013, setting a record for the second consecutive year. JNTO estimates that the final tally could be close to 13 million.
"It has been a good year for us and we are happy that there have been no big influences on the tourism industry this year," said Yumi Tanaka, a spokesman for the organisation.
"We hope that continues and we want to proceed with our promotional activities."
According to the JNTO, the travel sector has benefitted in the past 12 months from a congruence of positive factors.
"There are several reasons for the growth, including changes in the exchange rate, which have made Japan a more affordable destination for many people," Tanaka said.
"On top of that, the government has relaxed visa regulations for several countries, including many in Southeast Asia, to make it easier for them to visit, while the capacity of Tokyo's Haneda International Airport has been expanded as well.
"All these factors have been a big help," she agreed.
It also helps that companies here are realising the value of Chinese tourists, with Laox, operator of a major electronics and duty-free goods chain, announcing on November 15 that it would open a new store in Tokyo in June catering to visitors from China and further afield.
The new 2 billion yen (HK$131 million) store, in the Shinjuku district, will stock as many as 50,000 items, including home appliances, watches, cosmetics and household goods, all spread out over 2,100 square metres of floor space.
In a recent interview with The Nikkei Marketing Journal, Laox CEO Luo Yiwen said rice cookers, cameras, toilet seats with bidet functions and air purifiers were particularly popular with Chinese visitors.
"Foreign tourists, especially Chinese, have been returning to our stores since around last summer," he said.
"Foreigners account for about 90 per cent of our customers, of which 50 per cent are Chinese."
Increasing tourist numbers has become a mainstay of the Japanese government's efforts to boost the domestic economy. It has set a target of 20 million visitors for the year 2020.
While that figure may be ambitious, 2020 will see Tokyo hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games, sporting events that will inevitably trigger a significant inflow of overseas visitors.
Not all the government's initiatives to attract tourists have been a success, however, with the government recently shelving a bill to repeal the ban on casinos. Many municipalities across Japan had been hoping that the bill would be approved and permit them to open gambling establishments, although further discussions have now been put off until mid-2015, at the earliest.
Nevertheless, the signs are positive, JNTO says.
In the January-October period, 2,011,800 Chinese arrived in Japan - an 80.3 per cent increase on the same period last year. In comparison, 1.42 million Chinese visited in the whole of 2012, the previous record.
In the same 10-month spell, 2,381,200 Taiwanese came to Japan, up 26.4 per cent, the JNTO reported, while there were 2,245,400 arrivals from South Korea, up 6.8 per cent.
Visitors from Southeast Asia are increasingly making up an important component of the total, with arrivals from the Philippines rising 65.4 per cent to 146,500.
Some 182,500 Malaysians visited, up 49.8 per cent, and there were 513,300 arrivals from Thailand, an increase of 48.2 per cent.


Boom in Chinese tourism to Japan

The Kyoto Imperial Palace is a popular stop for tourists. Photo: Kyodo

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Asia

Politics put to the side as favourable exchange rate and luxury goods help the island nation to lure 80 per cent more visitors from China


With her camera in her hand, Zhang Yan is strolling the willow-lined lanes of Kyoto's geisha district looking for a restaurant. She says she can't make her mind up between tempura or sushi.


Boom in Chinese tourism to Japan

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Politics put to the side as favourable exchange rate and luxury goods help the island nation to lure 80 per cent more visitors from China

Politics put to the side as favourable exchange rate and luxury goods help the island nation to lure 80 per cent more visitors from China