Japan may relax visa requirements for Chinese citizens
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According to the Nikkei, the Japanese government has begun to make adjustments to relax visa requirements for Chinese citizens to visit Japan and simplify some procedures required for visa applications. Japan and China are working to improve relations mainly in the economic field, which will expand cultural exchanges.
The relevant departments of Japan, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice and the National Police Agency, will soon discuss and decide on new measures, including reviewing the documents required for visa applications. Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya is considering visiting China before the end of the year, and is expected to discuss visa issues with China at that time.
China resumed visa exemption for Japanese short-term visas to China in November and asked Japan to take action based on the principle of reciprocity. Japan will resume the visa relaxation measures for China that were implemented intermittently before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Currently, Chinese citizens need to provide a series of materials such as income and deposit certificates when applying for tourist visas to Japan. China Travel Service has proposed to waive deposit certificates, expand the time limit and scope of multiple-entry visas, etc. In addition, it is hoped that visa exemption can be opened to specific areas such as Okinawa.
In November, China announced that in order to further facilitate the exchange of personnel between China and foreign countries, China decided to expand the scope of visa-free countries, and from November 30, 2024 to December 31, 2025, a visa-free policy will be implemented for Japanese people holding ordinary passports on a trial basis.
According to Ctrip data, half an hour after the announcement, the search popularity of China-related destinations on Ctrip's overseas platform in Japan increased by 112% month-on-month. In particular, the popularity of flights from many places in Japan to domestic destinations has increased significantly. The recovery rate of international flights between China and Japan is about 75% of the same period in 2019. Although it has not fully recovered, Japan has ranked first among the popular destinations for Chinese tourists to travel abroad this year. At the same time, Japan ranks among the top three source countries for inbound tourists in China.
Ctrip data shows that since the beginning of this year, Chinese tourists' outbound orders to Japan have increased by more than 160% year-on-year. Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, and Fukuoka are popular destinations for Chinese tourists. The number of inbound travel orders from Japanese tourists to China also increased by 140% year-on-year. In addition to first-tier cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, Dalian, Hangzhou, Chengdu and Qingdao are also popular domestic destinations for Japanese tourists.