Hiroshi Mizohata, commissioner of the Japan Tourism Agency, spelled out the policy in a briefing to Chinese journalists during a visit to Beijing.
Most Chinese visitors travel to Japan on group tours. Individual Chinese travelers must show they have annual incomes of more than $2,700 which is a very impolite way of saying we do not want the riff-raff.
The Japanese government began targeting well-off Chinese travelers last year, and applications for individual Chinese travelers were accepted at Japanese consular offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou starting last July.
The Japanese government plans to expand the number of consular offices handling the application of individual tourist visas in China to seven locations in China in July.
Bernama reported that the Japan Tourism Agency has set a goal of attracting 25 million foreign visitors to Japan by 2019. Hiroshi Mizohata said this goal would not be attainable unless six to eight million people from China travel to Japan in a year.
You must log in to post a comment.