Despite slight declines, Japanese tourism figures are still hovering around record highs

Tourism figures to Japan just declined for two months in a row for the first time since the start of 2022, as fewer flights, rising airfares, and a dearth of visitors from China begin to impact the number of globetrotters who are flocking to the country.

According to the latest monthly figures from Japan’s National Tourism Organization released today, total visitor arrivals to the country in May sat at 3.56 million — down 3.6% on the same month last year. For the most part, the drop-off was largely down to Chinese arrivals slipping from 790,000 in May 2025 to just 313,000 in 2026 (-60.4%).

Bloomberg noted that many Chinese visitors, who had, alongside South Korean and Taiwanese tourists, previously buoyed the nation’s tourist statistics, have steered clear of the nation since Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks on Taiwan towards the end of last year.

Still, despite the geopolitical reasonings, the flight disruptions, and the rising costs connected with travel, plenty of people — as the smiling snaps from Mt. Fuji and Kyoto that likely litter your social media feeds could attest — are clearly still keen to head out to the Eastern nation.

Even taking the last two months of decline into account, Japan has still welcomed around 17.9 million international visitors for the year through May — putting this year’s tally very nearly on par with the 18.1 million that had come to the country by the same point in 2025.

The figures, like the fact that an increasing swath of Japanese local governments are introducing anti-overtourism measures such as dual pricing at popular attractions, seem to show that global visitors aren’t yet tiring of The Land of the Rising Sun.