Japan Sees 2% Drop In Foreign Visitors

Above, Godzilla peers over buildings in Shinjuku. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Foreign visitors to Japan slowed during the first half of the year. This is seen as the first drop in foreign tourism in five years.

According to The Japan Times:

Japan welcomed around 21.1 million foreign visitors in the first six months of 2026, a 2.0% drop from last year and down for the first time in five years, the Japan National Tourism Organization said Wednesday.

While the first-half visitor tally topped 20 million for the second straight year, Japan saw a 56.4% drop in visitors from China as Beijing continues to call on its citizens to avoid traveling to Japan.

Of the 21.1 million visitors in the January-June period, 2.06 million visitors came from mainland China. Visitors from South Korea increased by 18.6% to 5.7 million, while those from Taiwan numbered around 4 million, up 20.9%.

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