How can a friend from China visit Japan?

[Emoni]

Hello all,

I figured someone on this forum might know about visa technicalities, so I wanted to ask here.

I have a friend who is a Chinese language teacher in mainland China. They were talking about someday visiting Japan, but said it is very hard to visit at times and usually only allowed through arranged tours. (which isn't what they want to do) I wasn't sure if this was due to mainland China's restrictions or Japan's. Mainly I was wondering what the process and situation was for people who want to visit Japan from mainland China.

Thanks for anyone who might know.

 

[undrentide]

As far as I checked the official website of Embassy of Japan in China, visa can be obtained through specific travelling agencies in China, for both group tours and personal trips.
There is a list of the travelling agencies in their website.
ﾂ催昶?吮??ﾂ坂?倪?愿ｺ窶怒ﾂ坂?倪?佚･ﾅｽgﾅ?ﾃ兌/url] (Japanese version)
[url=http://www.cn.emb-japan.go.jp/consular/visa_dantai.htm]窶愿ｺ窶怒ﾂ坂???窶佚･ﾅｽg? (Chinese version)

 

[Emoni]

Thanks undrentide. I'll try to figure out those, I heard that the personal trip is extremely difficult to get though...

 

[Tott BeBop]

Yeah. They don't tend to like us very much still,it seems. Almost impossible for when we had tickets to,the Asian cup in china in 2004, which we had to cancel because their government couldnt ( or was even willing to) guarantee our safety

 

[Aino]

I heard that the personal trip is extremely difficult to get though...

That's true and understandable on the part of Japan and all other advanced modern nations ~ most Chinese nationals rather stay as illegal aliens overseas than return home.For this reason ~ those places impose hefty " deposit " upon visa approval.

 

[Glenski]

Not sure if this adds anything to your friend's situation, but at least it's an official immigration source.
MOFA: Visas for Chinese group tourists and individual tourists [Guide to Japanese Visas]
MOFA: Guide to Japanese Visas