China warns citizens against Japan travel during Lunar New Year holiday, citing deteriorating public security and a diplomatic spat over Taiwan.
BEIJING: China has warned its citizens against travelling to Japan during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, citing deteriorating public security.
The Chinese foreign ministry’s Department of Consular Affairs issued the warning on Monday.
It said there had been frequent incidents of illegal and criminal acts targeting Chinese citizens.
“Chinese citizens in Japan face serious security threats,” the department said in a statement.
The warning also cited a series of earthquakes in some areas of Japan that have caused injuries.
It urged citizens to avoid visiting Japan, especially during the lengthy holiday in February.
The advisory comes amid a diplomatic spat between Tokyo and Beijing.
This was triggered by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s suggestion in November that Tokyo could intervene militarily in any attack on Taiwan.
Beijing had previously urged its citizens to avoid travelling to Japan following those remarks.
The number of Chinese visitors to Japan plummeted by 45% last month from a year earlier, to around 330,000.
Chinese visitors once made up a quarter of all foreign tourists in Japan.
Official Japanese figures show almost 7.5 million people travelled from China in the first nine months of 2025.
Attracted by a weak yen, Chinese tourists spent the equivalent of USD 3.7 billion in the third quarter alone.
The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday in China is expected to lead to a surge in domestic and outbound travel.
State news agency Xinhua noted there was a significant jump in Chinese tourists visiting Japan during the holiday period last year.
