In the year since Japan opened its doors to Chinese tour groups, thousands of people have taken advantage of package tours to visit a near neighbour.
But high costs and old grudges dating to World War II still keep many mainlanders at home.
Since September 13 last year, 13,000 Chinese have visited Japan. They were allowed to travel as part of an agreement between the Japanese and Chinese governments.
'At the moment, the figure is not very high, but the potential [for improvement] is very big,' said Ikubo Toshinobu, Beijing office executive director of the Japan National Tourist Organisation.
The agreement says Chinese travellers must stay in groups and spend no more than 15 days in Japan - to prevent anyone from overstaying their visa.
Chinese people must also wait two weeks for their travel visas to be approved and only those from Beijing and Shanghai, or Guangdong province, may apply.
However, most Chinese tourists are wealthy, educated people and they are often particularly impressed by Disneyland.
