According to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chinese visitors will be able to apply for personal tourist visas to Japan from July 1, 2009.

At present, Chinese visitors can only travel to Japan in a group of at least 4 people accompanied by travel agency staff.

There is 12 months trail period, during this period, only Japanese embassies and consulates in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou can accept visa applications. When the personal tourist visa apply system is ripe, says the ministry, all the Japanese embassies and consulate in China, except the Consulate-General of Japan in Hong Kong, will be able to accept applications.