KUALA LUMPUR - Japan reached about 42.7 million foreign visitors in 2025, Transport and Tourism Minister, Yasuyushi Kaneko announced at a post-cabinet press conference on Tuesday, surpassing the 36.87 million recorded in 2024 to mark a new all-time high.

It was the first time annual arrivals exceeded 40 million.

Kaneko noted that annual spending by inbound tourists also hit a record high of about 9.5 yen trillion (USD70 billion).

He added that the number of Chinese visitors in December 2025 fell by around 45% from a year earlier, marking the first year-on-year decline since January 2022. 

Lingering tensions between Japan and China have raised uncertainty over future growth in Chinese arrivals.

Reflecting these concerns, travel agency JTB forecasts that the number of inbound visitors in 2026 will fall 2.8% from 2025 to about 41.4 million.

The government aims to increase annual inbound visitors to 60 million by 2030.

Meanwhile, the rapid surge in foreign tourists has intensified overtourism, with overcrowding and noise becoming serious problems in popular destinations and increasingly affecting residents’ daily lives.

To fund countermeasures, the government plans to raise the international tourist tax from 1,000 yen to 3,000 yen during the next fiscal year.