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Temperatures are cooling in Japan, but interest in visiting shows no signs of abating, as autumn arrivals continue to outpace pre-pandemic levels. The country welcomed 2.93 million foreign visitors in August, followed by another 2.

87 million visitors in September — well above the 2.52 million and 2.27 million who arrived during those same months in 2019, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization.



Historically, Japan sees a lull of tourists in August and September, followed by a bump in visitors in October from travelers in search of fall foliage or Tokyo's storied Halloween celebrations. But this year, that drop is expected to be muted, as the country is experiencing a long-awaited rise in arrivals from Chinese travelers, a trend which began in June. Before the pandemic, China was Japan's largest tourism source market, representing 30% of all arrivals, according to Japanese authorities.

Chinese visitors to Japan doubled last month, from 325,645 in September 2023 to 652,300 in September 2024, according to Japan's tourism statistics. From January to September this year, more than 5.2 million visitors from China visited Japan, a 228% increase from 2023, according to preliminary statistics.

But that leaves plenty of space to grow to reach the 9.6 million that arrived in 2019. As Chinese arrivals ramp up, visitors to Japan from other countries have fully recovered and even exceed pre-pandemic levels.

Though two-thirds of visitors are from East Asia — namely, South K.

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