TOKYO, Jan 20, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - A record number of tourists flocked to Japan last year, the transport ministry said Tuesday, despite a steep fall in Chinese visitors in December as a diplomatic row between Beijing and Tokyo rumbled on.

The country logged 42.7 million tourist arrivals in 2025, topping 2024's record of nearly 37 million.

But the number of tourists from China last month dropped about 45 percent from a year earlier to around 330,000.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's suggestion in November that Tokyo could intervene militarily in any attack on Taiwan triggered a sharp diplomatic backlash from China, which then urged its citizens to avoid travelling to Japan.

China has been the biggest source of tourists to the Japanese archipelago, with almost 7.5 million visitors in the first nine months of 2025 -- a quarter of all foreign tourists, according to official figures.

Attracted by a weak yen, they splashed out the equivalent of $3.7 billion in the third quarter.

However, Transport Minister Yasushi Kaneko said it was a "significant achievement" that overall visitors numbers had topped 40 million people for the first time.