With the Lunar New Year holiday underway, tourists from China are thronging Tokyo's Ginza shopping district, loading up on duty-free electronics and luxury brands.

"We saw twice as many customers as usual today," a clerk at a luxury brand store said Sunday. "Our budget was ¥30,000 per person," said a 43-year-old man who came with his relatives in a group of 30. "I bought a randoseru (the hard-shell leather backpack used by Japanese schoolchildren) and a digital piano for my daughter."

Of the places he has visited so far, the man said he was most impressed with Kinkakuji Temple in Kyoto.