Tokyo, Nov. 17 (CNA) The number of Taiwanese visitors to Japan set a year-on-year high for October, while the number of Chinese tourists to the country tumbled, amid a territorial dispute in the East China Sea that is seen as a factor in the declining numbers, the Japan Tourism Agency said Friday.
Taiwanese tourists made 134,200 visits in October, up 23.8 percent from the same month last year, the independent agency said.
However, the number of Chinese visitors in the same month was around 71,000, down 33.1 percent year-on-year, compared with the number of Chinese visitors the previous month, which was an increase of 9.8 percent year-on-year, the agency said.
Japan moved to nationalize the disputed island group, the Diaoyutai Islands, in September to strengthen its sovereignty claim, although the islands are also claimed by Taiwan and China. Japan's move caused tension in the region and sparked numerous protests in Taiwan and China.
According to the agency, the number of foreign visitors to Japan in October was 706,100, up 14.7 percent year-on-year.
Besides Taiwan, the number of tourists from Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia also set yearly highs for the month.
Due to the appreciation of the Japanese yen and worries about food contamination by the Fukushima nuclear disaster in the wake of an earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, the number of tourists from Germany, France and other countries has rebounded only slowly.
For 2012, the Japan National Tourism Organization has set the goal of attracting 9 million foreign tourists.
As of the end of October, around 7 million visits by foreign tourist had been made.
(By Yang Ming-chu and Lilian Wu)