The number of foreign visitors to Japan surged 29.1 percent in January from a year earlier, thanks to a weaker yen, the effect of easier visa requirements for Southeast Asian tourists and the expanded tax-free shopping introduced in October, the government said on Wednesday.
An estimated 1.22 million foreigners arrived in Japan last month on sightseeing or business, a record high for the month of January, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization.
Among the countries, the number of South Korean travelers jumped 40.1 percent year-on-year to 358,100, the tourism bureau said.
Visitors from Taiwan jumped 76.8 percent from a year earlier to 196,900, a record high for the month. The number of Chinese visitors soared 45.4 percent to 226,300, despite long-standing tensions over a territorial dispute between the two countries.
A weaker yen lowers costs for travelers from abroad. The bureau said it expects increased ethnic Chinese holiday travelers during the Lunar New Year starting Wednesday. The government aims to increase the number of international visitors to 20 million by the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and to 30 million by 2030 to boost Japan's economy.