Japan’s Foreign Ministry has announced it will ease the prerequisites on multiple-entry visas for Chinese visitors starting from January 19.
Currently in order to get multiple-entry visas, Chinese tourists must prove that their annual income is above RMB100,000 (US$16,000). However, from this month, multiple-entry visas can be issued to Chinese visitors with lower salaries if they have visited Japan in the past three years.
Another requirement at present is that Chinese tourists must stay overnight in Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima or Okinawa on their first trip to Japan, a condition introduced after the earthquake and tsunami in 2011 to promote tourism and reconstruction. From the middle of the month, more affluent travellers will be able to get a multiple-entry visa without having to visit one of the aforementioned cities.
Visa validity lengths will also be increased from three to five years.
Japan has grown in popularity as a Chinese tourist destination in recent years, fostered by the the weak Japanese yen. In a survey of 4,300 Chinese travellers by Travelzoo Asia Pacific, nearly 40 per cent named Japan as the most preferred destination in 2015.
Japan National Tourism Organization also announced that 2,219,300 Chinese visitors travelled to Japan in 2014 between January and November – 82 per cent more than in the same period the previous year.
For more information, visit cn.emb-japan.go.jp (Chinese) and embjapan.org (English)
Valerian Ho
