Japan extends visa validity for Chinese tourists

Wealthy Chinese tourists will find it easier to obtain a travel visa to Japan later this month, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said the government will relax visa requirements for high-income Chinese tourists by extending the validity of their three-year multiple-entry visas to five years. The tourists will also have unrestricted travel throughout Japan.

The standard visa for wealthy Chinese requires that they visit Okinawa or one of the three disaster-hit prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima when seeing Japan for the first time. The requirement was implemented to promote reconstruction after the deadly 2011 earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan.