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Asia’s two largest economies have approached, but as Lunar New Year holidays begin, some Japanese say they still can’t see Chinese visitors with caution.
By Motoko Rich
TOKYO – Just as Japan and China have taken tentative steps to succeed over old animosities, a fast-spreading virus threatens to separate them.
A fatal outbreak of coronavirus in China, which has raised fears of a pandemic in Asia, has raised fears in Japan that public sentiment could be broken, as Chinese citizens have an increasingly visual component of daily life.
The virus alarm is unlikely to damage official government relations. After years of developing tensions over history and territory, Asia’s two largest economies have approached, and Japan plans to become a state for Chinese leader Xi Jinping this spring.
But with the start of the week-long Lunar New Year vacation kicking off one of the busier seasons for Chinese tourists, some Japanese say they still can’t help see Chinese visitors with caution. This is a shared opinion in many Asian countries that have noticed an influx of Chinese tourists, and their cash, in recent years.
“I’m concerned about the spread of the epidemic here,” said Naho Imajima, 34, who works at a tobacco shop in Tokyo’s Kabukicho entertainment district, which is popular with Chinese visitors. “Even other people who cough, most do not wear masks. It may be a cold, but I never know. I get nervous when a foreign tourist comes in and coughs. “
Chinese travelers have driven a tourist boom in Japan, multiplying by four in the last five years to more than 9. 5 million a year, and now account for about a third of all foreign visitors. In addition, more and more Chinese academics enroll in Japanese universities and, in some cases, make up the majority in graduate programs.
Many restaurants across Japan now cater to Chinese travelers, show symptoms in Chinese, and accept Chinese payment systems such as Alipay or WeChat Pay.
But after two of Wuhan, the epicenter of the new outbreak, were hospitalized in Japan for coronavirus infections over the next week, nerves are running out.
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