(ECNS) – Japan has relaxed visa restrictions on visitors from China, Russia and India in a bid to boost the number of visitors to the country to 40 million by 2020, the Japanese government confirmed on May 13, Beijing Times reported.
On April 30, Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted on its website an official announcement about the eased visa policy for Chinese visitors.
For business, cultural and academic groups, multiple entry visas will be valid for 10 years, instead of just five years as it has previously been, and restrictions for such visas will be further loosened, said the statement.
Moreover, undergraduate and graduate students, as well as those who have graduated for no more than three years, from 75 universities directly affiliated to the Chinese Ministry of Education, will enjoy simplified single-entry visa procedures.
Last month, while meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said Japan will grant up to 10-year visas to certain groups from China and ease restrictions on Chinese university students.
In the past, Japan has favored China's high-income groups in granting multiple entry visas. The latest policy shift will benefit business, cultural and academic groups the most, the paper said.
According to the Japanese embassy in Beijing, eligible business people include those who work with China's large and medium-sized state-owned enterprises, Chinese listed companies, joint ventures and subsidiaries invested in by Japanese listed companies. Also included are those who serve as directors or managers or hold higher positions, or work for at least a year continuously in an enterprise that has frequent business contact with a Japanese listed company.
Cultural and academic groups cover well-known artists, scholars in humanities and natural sciences, athletes, government officials, and professors and associate professors and lecturers at universities, among others.
Liu Junhong, a research fellow at the Institute of Japanese Studies under the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, attributed the new policy to Japan's efforts to revive its economy by boosting its tourism industry.
"Economic growth as a result of consumption by overseas tourists actually has helped reverse a negative growth in Japan's nominal GDP," Liu said, adding that Japan also wants to attract China's high-end talent to work and live in the country.
Data from the Japan National Tourism Organization showed that the number of overseas visitors hit a record high of 21.36 million in the fiscal year of 2015, up 45.6 percent from the previous year. It helped narrow Japan's service trade deficit to 1.21 trillion Japanese yen.
The number of Chinese visitors to Japan reached 5 million last year, up 107 percent over 2014. Although the number of Chinese visitors only accounted for one-fourth of the total number of visitors Japan received last year, their spending accounted for 41 percent of the total.
