Japanese geishas are learning Mandarin, hot-spring resorts are putting on Chinese acrobatics shows and the government is easing visa rules for big-spending mainlanders. Japan is rolling out the red carpet for Chinese tourists, hoping to tap into the growing wealth of the giant population next door that last year overtook it as the world's second biggest economy.
As Japan's own population greys and shrinks, the government, hospitality and retail industries have launched an aggressive drive to lure Chinese visitors with fat wallets. Rie Kimishima runs a traditional ryokan, an inn-style hotel, in the scenic countryside near Nikko north of Tokyo. She has been boning up on her Chinese language skills and learning how to make Chinese visitors feel at home.
"I think not just my hotel but this entire resort area needs to learn to better welcome Chinese tourists," she told AFP. "One thing is not to serve cold dishes because they don't like cold food." The central prefecture - or county - of Fukui is home to many "onsen" hot springs, a top draw for tourists. In March ryokan owners, geisha hostesses, restaurateurs and souvenir sellers will attend a seminar on "winning the hearts of the Chinese".
"Currently we receive many people from Taiwan, and Chinese tourist numbers are expected to rise with the relaxed visa requirements," said the event's organiser, Yasuko Yoshie of the local tourism association. Japan's government, desperate to revive a lacklustre economy hurt by flaccid domestic demand, has set a long-term target of attracting 30 million overseas visitors a year, focusing heavily on China's new rich.
Last year visa rules were relaxed for Chinese and the income threshold for visa applicants was lowered. The government is also launching new six-month medical visas to attract overseas patients to Japan's hospitals. And the money is flooding in - transactions through China's UnionPay bank card system grew 10-fold from 3.9 billion yen in 2007 to an estimated 40 billion yen last year (from $47 million to $487 million).
The Yano Research Institute expects that by 2015 Chinese visitors will spend nearly 560 billion yen a year - four times more than in 2009. In Tokyo's famed "electric town" shopping district of Akihabara, red and gold lanterns lined the street during the recent Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, as Chinese shoppers poured out of tour buses.
"I want games for my PlayStation," said an 18-year-old high school boy from Shanghai, travelling with his family. "My parents are more interested in buying (Japanese) medicines because they are well-known to be good." Akihabara's business owners have marvelled at the frenzy for Japanese goods - fuelled by the country's reputation for high-tech wizardry, craftsmanship, copyright and brand protection, and food safety.
"The most popular product is definitely rice cookers, no doubt," said Yoko Yamazaki, a spokeswoman for consumer electronics retailer Laox, a chain that was recently taken over by Chinese investors. She said that during the lunar New Year, more than 1,000 Chinese tourists a day flocked to their Akihabara store, many buying four or five rice cookers and splashing out on other goods in the duty-free section.
"They also buy watches and - you may be surprised - medicines and health food supplements as well as cans of baby formula," said Yamazaki, saying Laox had widened its product range to suit Chinese tastes. "Some wealthy people spend several hundred thousand yen (several thousand dollars) and some will buy a luxury Rolex watch without flinching. On average, I would say, they spend about 60,000 yen ($720) per person."
Laox store manager Nobukazu Iino said the Chinese shopping wave is just beginning, musing aloud about the potential: "Think about it. That country has a population 10 times larger than Japan's." Japan has almost 127 million people - compared to China's 1.3 billion, according to the CIA factbook, Like many Japanese, Iino worries about what the shift says about his country. "It's true China is showing economic vigour, but I would also say this has become clearer because Japan is losing steam," he said.
Japan's post-war economic "miracle" made it the global number two behind the United States for 42 years, but has stagnated since its assets bubble burst in the 1990s. The two regional giants have long been rivals, divided by historic animosities that sometimes flare up - as they did in a nasty territorial spat last year that put diplomacy into deep freeze for several months.
At the height of the crisis, Chinese travel to Japan sharply dropped off, with some large companies scrapping group holidays. In recent months, concern has also grown in Japanese media about wealthy Chinese buying up property in Japan - including in the mountains and ski resorts of the northern island of Hokkaido. While Japan welcomes Chinese visitors, the message seems to be, it also welcomes the fact that they go home again.
But, whatever the wobbles and adjustment issues, the trend is clear. "China has been the most important market, and will continue to be so," said Nina Honma, a Japan Tourism Agency official. "Of course there is a chance relations will worsen again, but we will promote the campaign (to attract Chinese) regardless of politics."
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