Tourism to Japan in January at record high

The number of foreign tourists visiting Japan in January hit a record high, mainly due to a recovery in the number of visitors from China.

The Japan National Tourism Organization said on Friday that an estimated 714,000 foreign travelers visited Japan last month. That's up 11.6 percent from a year ago and the highest number for January since record keeping began in 1964.

The agency attributes the rise to an increase in Chinese tourist numbers for the first time in 4 months. The figure had been in decline since last October, after a Chinese trawler collided with 2 Japanese patrol vessels in the East China Sea the previous month, souring bilateral ties.

The government agency also says the resumption of regular international flights at Tokyo's Haneda Airport helped boost the number of travelers from South Korea, Thailand and Singapore.

It adds that an increasing number of Australians also visited Japan last month to go skiing in Hokkaido and other northern locations.

Agency chief Hiroshi Mizohata told reporters that the collision incident's adverse effects on tourism seem to have faded. He also said his agency wants to strengthen Japan's capacity to accept more tourists from China by cooperating with the Chinese side.