Japan is to relax visa conditions for individual Chinese travellers from July 1.
Currently Japanese visas have only been issued to individual Chinese tourists, who can show evidence of considerable financial assets, or Chinese citizens who are travelling as part of a group tour.
New regulations will allow mid-level corporate and government employees and their families to be granted visas.
The Japanese government is keen to expand both business and leisure visits to the country.
Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said that the new entry requirements would make around 16 million Chinese households eligible to apply for the visas, roughly 10 times the current level.
Kenny Coyle