The number of Japanese tourists to Russia has risen sharply due mainly to better accommodations, according to the Justice Ministry's Immigration Bureau.

Between 21,000 and 24,000 Japanese a year visited Russia for sightseeing between 1996 and 1999, but about 31,500 went there in 2000, it said.

Tourism officials said the number of Japanese visiting Russia this summer may have exceeded that figure.

However, tourists are still required to find accommodations prior to applying for visas, and local Russian governments seeking to attract more Japanese want the visa procedures changed.

Vasilli Ermakov, president of Intourist Japan, a Japanese company belonging to Russia's largest travel agency, Vao Intourist, said the number of Japanese travelers to Russia it handles has grown 30 percent a year for the last two or three years.

In Moscow, luxurious hotels built with funds from developed countries have been opening one after another, and Ermakov said that tourists staying in such hotels can watch Japanese TV programs, changing the stereotypes of outdated facilities and poor service associated with travel in Russia.

Ermakov attributed the increase to efforts by Japanese travel agencies and the stable political situation under Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The rise of Japanese tourists has also been seen in Vladivostok, where regular flights to Kansai International Airport started in July.

However, there is no visa-exemption system between Japan and Russia, even for short visits. Moscow and St. Petersburg are calling for a system to allow Japanese tourists to obtain short-term tourist visas at an airport in Moscow.

Ermakov, who also serves as a representative in Japan for the two cities' sightseeing bureaus, said it would be best for the two nations to exempt visas for tourists for a maximum of 30 days.

An official with the Russian Embassy in Tokyo said the Russian government issues visas to tourists only after their accommodations are chosen because the nation is still short of hotels.

The number of Japanese tourists visiting Russia may rise to 200,000 a year if the conditions for such tourists are improved, the official said.