BY THE NUMBERS: Japanese visas soar with tourism push

TOKYO – As Japan steps up its efforts to attract overseas tourists, the number of visas issued hit a record high in 2015. Not all foreign nationals require visas to enter Japan, but data from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reflect the overall growth in tourism and the sharp rise in travellers from China. Here’s a look, by the numbers, at Japanese visas in 2015.

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4,768,286: Total visas issued in 2015, a 66 per cent increase from 2014

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3,780,773: Visas for Chinese nationals, 79 per cent of the total

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3,156,259: Number of Chinese tourists using the most common tourist visas

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225,676: Visas for Philippine nationals, the No. 2 group

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162,273: Visas for Indonesians, the No. 3 group

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139,236: Visas for Vietnamese, the No. 4 group

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2,870,000: Visas issued in 2014 to all nationalities

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19,740,000: Total number of visitors to Japan in 2015