Japan is Thankful for Chinese Tourists?

A few weeks ago I took some time off to go up to an onsen resort in the mountains with Mrs. J-List. We had fun, enjoying the food and the hot baths and appreciating the beautiful colors of the leaves on the trees. At the hotel, I was surprised to see a sizeable number of tourists from mainland China who had come in with a tour group. Watching them try to communicate with the shop owners (they only knew a few phrases of Japanese) then fumble their way into the Japanese-style bath, unsure of whether they should take their slippers off here or there, my impression was that Americans and Chinese aren’t so different when they come to Japan, though one group is better at kanji. Japan is very thankful for these Chinese tourists these days — while the numbers of visitors from Europe and the U.S. is still depressed compared with before the terrible March 11 earthquake and tsunamis, the numbers for tourists from China have already returned to their pre-quake levels, giving many industries including ski resorts a nice lift (er, sorry for the pun).

Japan’s ski resorts are getting a boost from Chinese tourists…and magical girls?