Japan is to remove its visa restrictions on Chinese tourists to allow group tours from more areas from September 15, top government spokesman Hiroyuki Hosoda said Friday.

Japan and China agreed last month that Japan will issue 15-day visas for the first time to tourists from Zhejiang, Fujian, Shandong and Liaoning provinces, plus Tianjin Municipality, in addition to those allowed already from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong Province.

The measure is expected to help increase the number of foreign tourists to Japan in line with the government's target of doubling the number to 10 million during the decade to 2010 under its "Visit Japan" campaign, Hosoda said.

In lifting a ban on group trips by Chinese tourists in September 2000, visas were granted only to groups from municipalities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong Province.

According to government statistics, the number of tourists to Japan from these three areas is now more than 30,000 annually.
 
(Xinhua News Agency July 24, 2004)