Koreans top foreign visitor rankings in Japan as Chinese tourists stay away

The number of foreign tourists visiting Japan fell for the first time in five years in the first half of this year, as Chinese visitors dropped sharply following Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's remarks suggesting Japan could intervene in a Taiwan contingency.

Data released Thursday by the Japan National Tourism Organization showed that foreign visitors to Japan from January through June totaled about 21.08 million, down 2 percent from the same period last year — the first first-half decline in five years.

The drop was attributed to a cooling in Chinese travel sentiment following Takaichi's comments, which prompted a widespread mood of restraint among Chinese tourists considering trips to Japan.

Chinese visitors to Japan totaled about 2.06 million in the first half of this year, a 56.4 percent drop from about 4.72 million in the same period last year.

South Koreans have filled the gap left by the decline in Chinese visitors.

South Koreans were the top nationality visiting Japan in the first half of the year, with about 5.68 million arrivals — up 18.6 percent from about 4.78 million in the same period last year. Taiwan came in second with about 3.97 million visitors.

Japan received about 3.15 million foreign tourists in June alone, down 6.8 percent from the same month last year, marking three consecutive months of year-on-year decline.

Chinese visitors to Japan in June totaled about 340,700, a 57.3 percent decrease from a year earlier — the seventh consecutive month of decline.