Japan's relaxed visa rules for Chinese visitors that are intended to boost repeat arrivals and bilateral people exchanges between Japan and China take effect Oct. 17.
The date was announced by Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), which also said the plans for this easing were first announced last April 30. The new regulations involve Chinese nationals applying for multiple entry visas for short-term stay for the purposes of business.
Visas for cultural or intellectual figures will be expanded with the length of stay being increased from five years to 10 years.
MOFA also said that in October, Chinese graduate students and alumni of the universities of the Ministry of Education of China will be allowed to submit a certificate of student status or graduation. They won't be required to submit a document to confirm financial capability that was previously required.
The ministry said these new relaxed measures intend to "further advance people-to-people exchanges with China, including improvement of convenience in business activities, as well as increasing repeat visitors and young visitors."
Arrivals from China grew 41.2% year-on-year to 3.1 million, equivalent to 26.3% of Japan's total inbound arrivals, in the first-half of 2016. The number of visiting Chinese grew every month during the period except in May. The arrival number rose 22.6% in the six months, from 475,100 in January to about 582,500 in June.
Japan attributed the increase to expansion of air routes between China and Japan, the three-day (June 9-11) holiday for the traditional Chinese Dragon Boat Day and enhanced destination marketing by Japan.
This will be the second time in two years Japan has eased visa restrictions on Chinese. In January 2015, Japan relaxed requirements for three-year, multi-entry visas and the availability of five-year, multiple-entry visas for high-income groups.
The economic status for Chinese people applying for three-year, multi-entry visas were lowered from "sufficient" economic capacity to "certain" economic capacity. Five-year, multi-entry visas are open to high-income Chinese tourists.
As for applications for five-year, multiple-entry visas, visas will be free if Chinese tourists enter Japan for the first time through one of three earthquake-stricken areas, Fukushima, Iwate or Miyagi, and spend at least one night there.
But if they land elsewhere in Japan, they will be charged $64.50.