The number of foreign nationals who entered Japan in 2020 dropped by 86.2% from the previous year to 4.31 million. It is the largest decline since records first started being kept in 1950, according to the preliminary figures released by the Immigration Services Agency of Japan on Friday.
The decline is because of the government strengthening its quarantine measures in response to the spread of novel coronavirus infections.
The number of new arrivals, excluding those who temporarily left Japan and then reentered the country, fell by 87.4% from the previous year to 3.58 million. By country and region, the largest number of visitors were from China at 840,000, or 23.3%, followed by Taiwan at 650,000 and South Korea at 430,000. Most of them entered Japan between January and February last year.
By visa status, 3.36 million people, or 93.8%, came for short-term stays, mainly as tourists and short-term business travelers.
The number of Japanese departing from the country was also down by 84.2% from the previous year to 3.17 million.
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