Chinese tourism arrivals to Japan plummeted last month even as overall visitor numbers grew, highlighting the growing rift between Asia’s two biggest economies.
The Chinese government urged its citizens to refrain from traveling to Japan after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said last year her country could become militarily involved were China to attack Taiwan, which Beijing claims as a renegade province.
Though tourism authorities have vowed to get Chinese tourists to “return as soon as possible,” Takaichi’s China stance has boosted her popularity at home, which she has leveraged to call a snap election in a bid to “seize the momentum and strengthen her hand,” an expert told The New York Times.
