South Korea was the largest source of visitors with 850,500 arrivals, up 28.7% from a year earlier, Japan Today reported.

Taiwan followed with 666,000, an increase of 7.3%.

Visitors from mainland China plunged 59% to 418,000.

The Japan National Tourism Organization attributed the decline partly to strained Japan-China relations and seasonally weaker travel demand from some Southeast Asian countries, Japanese news site Nippon reported.

People walk along Takeshita street at Harajuku shopping area in Tokyo, Japan, Aug. 10, 2024. Photo by Reuters

Rising fuel surcharges following the U.S.'s war with Iran and flight cancellations caused by typhoons also contributed to the decline, the organization said.

Arrivals from Australia fell 7.4% to 38,200 while visitors from Thailand declined 9.3% to 32,200.

Japan, known for its low crime rates and high living standards, has the highest number of repeat foreign visitors in Asia in the first half of this year, according to booking data from online travel platform Agoda.

The country received over 27 million tourists in the first eight months of the year, down slightly by 2.7% compared to the same period in 2025.

It aims to attract 60 million foreign tourists by 2030, up from 42 million in 2025.