(Source: China News Network November 17, 2025)

Chinese tourists have become a barometer for the Japanese stock market.

Investors have sold off Japanese tourism consumption stocks due to concerns that deteriorating Sino-Japanese relations will lead to a decrease in tourists visiting Japan.

On the 17th, Shiseido, Mitsukoshi Isetan and other stocks fell by about 10%, and Japan Airlines once fell by more than 5.8% during the session.

Data map: A Japan Airlines passenger plane takes off from Tokyo Haneda Airport.

In the eyes of investors, the consequences of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s provocative remarks related to Taiwan are very serious.

China is not only angry but also takes action. Recently, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and Ministry of Education have issued warnings one after another, advising Chinese citizens to avoid traveling to Japan and to carefully plan their study abroad arrangements in Japan.

Nomura Nomura Research Institute researcher Nobuyoshi Kiuchi warned that the Chinese government’s travel reminder may reduce Japan’s tourism consumption revenue by approximately 2.2 trillion yen.

Data shows that nearly one-fifth of the international tourists to Japan in 2024 will be from China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan), and the total consumption of Chinese tourists in Japan ranks first among tourists from all countries.

China is also Japan’s largest trading partner, second largest export target country and largest source of imports. The economic interests and industrial and supply chains of the two countries are deeply integrated.

Fujita Takakage, chairman of Japan's "Murayama Talks for Succession and Development", bluntly said that if Japan-China relations deteriorate, "the Japanese people will suffer."

What’s more, the current Japanese economy simply cannot afford to be sick.

Preliminary statistical results released by the Japanese Cabinet Office on the 17th showed that Japan's real gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 1.8% at an annual rate in the third quarter of this year, shrinking for the first time in six quarters.

On the surface, this data is a short-term fluctuation caused by Japan’s recent decline in exports due to the impact of US tariff policies.

“The export orientation of Japan’s economy is still obvious, and the uncertainty about tariffs will have a certain impact on investment and other aspects.” Wu Yingjie, a researcher at the Japan Research Center of the w88 casino, told Sanlihe.

In the third quarter, Japan’s exports of goods and services fell by 1.2% month-on-month, and the contribution of external demand to economic growth in the quarter was negative 0.2 percentage points.

The U.S. government’s additional automobile tariffs and so-called “reciprocal tariffs” from April have severely damaged the Japanese automobile industry. Data from the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association shows that about 30% of Japan’s total automobile exports are sold to the United States. In order to maintain market share, many Japanese car companies have postponed price increases. In the first half of the fiscal year 2025 (April-September), the profits of Japan's seven major car companies, including Toyota, Honda, and Nissan, all declined.

Anglik, a senior economist at Moody's Analytics in Tokyo, warned that as domestic companies, especially automakers, shift to a cost-saving model, weak exports may have a wider knock-on effect on the economy, and Japan may "have a hard time finding a way out."

Looking more deeply, it is the long-term structural contradiction of the Japanese economy that has not been effectively resolved.

In the third quarter, Japan’s domestic demand contributed negative 0.2 percentage points to economic growth in the quarter.

"In recent years, Japan's scientific and technological competitiveness has declined, and its status in the global industrial chain and supply chain has declined." Guo Rui, director of the Department of International Politics at the w88 casino of Administration of Jilin University, told Sanlihe that at the same time, Japan also faces labor shortages, inflation and other problems.

Economic and political issues are intertwined, putting pressure on Japanese society.

Guo Rui pointed out that after Japan’s high-level municipal government came to power, it actually focused on politics and security, while the economy and people’s livelihood were placed in a secondary position.

The stock market has reacted first, and economic data clearly points to risks. Political rashness will only weaken the external market's confidence in Japan's economic growth.

According to Japanese media reports, Masaaki Kanai, Director of the Asia and Oceania Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, will visit China on November 17, hoping to negotiate with China on Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s parliamentary reply on “Taiwan has something going on”.

This is seen as Japan’s attempt to ease the current Sino-Japanese relations.

It should be noted that the current Japanese economy already lacks buffer space. If Japanese politicians insist on going their own way and try to shift domestic political and economic conflicts through radical political statements, they will surely suffer consequences.

Original link:http://m.chinanews.com/wap/detail/zw/cj/2025/11-17/10517295.shtml