Chinese shoppers avoid Japan in January

The January sales season has traditionally attracted hordes of Chinese tourists to Japan. However, the ongoing terriotiral dispute between Japan and China has led to a sharp drop in shopper numbers from China, as well as falling sales figures.

Laox, is an 83-year-old home electronic store in Tokyo. It set up a joint venture with Chinese investors in 2009, and opened franchises in Beijing and Shanghai. Chinese customers used to make up 60 percent of its foreign buyers, but since October 2012, this situation changed.

Cheng Ping, shop assistant, said:"In July and August, around 80 to 120 rice cookers were sold in a single day. But after September, the customers suddenly stopped coming. At the most, we are only able to sell 4 to 5 units."

As a consequence, Laox also downsized its stores from 8 floors down to 6 floors. Half of the store's Chinese sales assistants were sent home due to the bad business.

Ryoji Saito, store manager, Laox, Akihabara Main Store, said:"We see losses on both the Chinese and Japanese sides. At the end of last year, sales were low, we hope we could grasp Chinese New Year and see a large increase of Chinese customers."

The Diaoyu islands dispute has also affected the sales of big Japanese brands in China. For instance, car maker Toyota has seen its December sales drop by 16 percent compared with the previous year, and adjusted down its sales target for 2013.