The number of foreign visitors to Japan fell in August for the 13th straight year-on-year decrease, but the rate of decline slowed, an estimate by the Japan National Tourist Organization showed Monday.

The estimate indicates there were 680,000 visitors to Japan in August, down 8.4 percent from a year earlier. Over the previous nine months through July, the fall was greater than 10 percent.

The organization attributed the continued downward trend to the worldwide economic slump and the strong yen, which has made coming to Japan more expensive.

This is the longest run of year-on-year declines in overseas visitors since October 1985 through October 1986.