7/1/2010, The Japanese government will cut the income requirement of Chinese applying for tourist visas from 250,000 yuan ($37,000) to 60,000 yuan and increase the number of consulates in China accepting applications to seven from three.

The move extends the availability of Japanese travel visas from wealthy Chinese to the middle class.

Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada told a press conference earlier that the number of households eligible to visit will increase 10-fold to 16 million a year.

According to the latest report by the Japan National Tourism Organization, around 110,000 Chinese visited Japan for business or travel in May, up 86 percent from a year earlier, when Japan began to issue individual Chinese tourist visas.

It is estimated that the number of Chinese tourists heading to Japan will reach 1.5 million this year.

Beijing-based Japanese writer and commentator Kato Yoshikazu said Japan, as a country not known for its openness to outsiders, is being forced to welcome more Chinese visitors, whose spending is helpful amid worrisome deflation, a slump in domestic spending and a public debt problem.

"It is for sure that the relaxing of Chinese tourist visas is an important policy that will have a positive impact on the Japanese economy," Yoshikazu said.

He said it may help Japan reach its target of increasing the number of foreign visitors to 25 million by 2020.

For Chinese tourists, shopping is their first and most popular activity during their stay in Japan. Yang Man, a 32-year-old banking staff who is planning for her second trip to Japan, said the superior quality of electronic appliances and various kinds of innovative and user-friendly daily necessities are her shopping targets.