Tourism promoters backing the first authorized Chinese package tour to Japan say they foresee 1 million people from Beijing, Shanghai and other parts of China visiting each year.
A group of 95 Chinese tourists flew to Japan last Wednesday for a nine-day trip. They were slated to stop at such popular sightseeing draws as Atami and Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture, as well as Nagoya, Kyoto, Nara and Nagasaki.
The trip was made possible when Japanese authorities lifted a longtime ban on issuing tourist visas to Chinese nationals, abandoning fears that opening the door to tourists from China would lead to a flood of illegal immigrants.