Tourism Fiscal 2025 sees record numbers of overseas tourists

Foreign visitor numbers to Japan reached 42,829,443 in fiscal 2025, the first time the total has exceeded 40 million for a fiscal year. The total was about 3.97 million higher than the previous year's 38,849,540, according to the Japan National Tourism Organisation. Monthly figures remained strong through the year. From April 2025 to March 2026, every month set a new record except January. Figures for February and March are still estimates.

In March alone, 3,618,900 people visited Japan, up 3.5% from a year earlier. A weaker yen has continued to draw travellers, especially from across Asia. Numbers from the United States, Europe and Australia have also increased, and quite sharply in some cases. Spending has followed the same trend. International visitors spent a record 9.45 trillion yen, or about $59.5 billion, in 2025, according to an announcement on 31 March. Even so, there are concerns about what comes next. Some officials say demand could soften if relations with China cool further. There are also worries that the United States and Israel's war with Iran could dampen international travel more broadly.

Visitor numbers from China continue to trend downward. Following strong opposition from China to remarks made by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in November last year regarding a potential crisis involving Taiwan, Beijing called on its citizens to refrain from traveling to Japan. As a result, the number of visitors from China in December fell to 330,435, down 45.3% from the same month a year earlier. March also saw a year-on-year decline of 55.9% to 291,600, marking the fourth consecutive month of a substantial decrease compared to the same period the prior year. In addition, the impact of worsening conditions in the Middle East is beginning to creep into the tourism sector. The number of visitors from the region fell 30.6% from a year earlier to 16,700, partly due to flight cancellations and travel restrictions.

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I accounted for 0.000007% of those visits. I visited Japan three times in 2025 which is a one year record for me. Since I stopped living in Japan my average was about one visit a year before Covid.

I hope you keep your new average in 2026!

We don't have much budget this year but I might make it a second time. We'll see.