Despite nationalistic rhetoric, Chinese are flocking to Japan

A survey by Tokyo-based Intersect Communications last month interviewed 556 Chinese respondents aged 10 to 60 years old via a WeChat poll, and found that 53.1% said Japan would be their first choice of tourism destination over the Oct. 1 National Day holiday period. Meanwhile, data from the Japan National Tourism Organization recently revealed that the Chinese make up the largest proportion of foreign tourists visiting Japan, with 745,800 visits in August 2024 alone.

A resident of the eastern province of Anhui who gave only the surname Wu for fear of reprisals said a large proportion of anti-Japanese comments online are left by a relatively small group of people keen to show their nationalistic credentials, for a variety of reasons. Everyone else is actually pretty keen to go to Japan and shop for appliances, food and clothing. "Japanese products have always been popular in the Chinese market, especially electronics, mobile phones, and so on," Wu said. "A lot of businessmen and politicians know this very well."

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