Number of Chinese customers at Japan department stores dives over 40% in December as ties sour
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The decrease in Chinese tourist numbers weighed on overall tax-free sales, according to the Japan Department Stores Association.
PHOTO: AFP
TOKYO – Department stores in Japan saw the number of Chinese customers and their duty-free purchases both dive more than 40 per cent in December from a year earlier, amid heightened diplomatic tensions between Tokyo and Beijing
The decrease in Chinese tourist numbers also weighed on overall tax-free sales, which fell 17.1 per cent to 51.9 billion yen (S$420 million) in December and 12.7 per cent to 566.7 billion yen in the whole of 2025 compared with a year earlier, according to the Japan Department Stores Association.
“A tough situation will continue for a while,” an association official said, indicating gloomy prospects of Chinese tourists visiting Japan during the Chinese New Year holidays in February.
The latest government data show that foreign visitors to Japan reached a record estimated 42.7 million in 2025
The development came as the relationship between Japan and China has soured since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made remarks in Parliament in early November
According to the department stores association’s data, the 2025 duty-free sales figure marked the first decline in four years.
In 2025, the number of customers who purchased duty-free items hit a record-high 6.2 million. But sales dropped particularly of expensive items such as watches and luxury-brand bags.
Overall sales at 176 department stores operated by 70 companies, including domestic customers, fell 1.5 per cent to 5.7 trillion yen, marking the first decline in five years, according to the association.
In December alone, overall sales dropped 1.1 per cent, the first decline in five months, affected by the slumping sales of duty-free items. KYODO NEWS
