Japan popular with East Asian tourists: BOJ

Tokyo

JAPAN is becoming an increasingly popular destination for East Asian tourists such as those from China and South Korea, according to a report by the Bank of Japan (BOJ), even as fresh tensions among the three countries surface over Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to Tokyo's Yasukuni shrine.

The fallout from the visit widened yesterday as US officials were reported as saying in Washington that their efforts to get Japan and China to mend diplomatic fences had been rendered "useless" by Mr Abe's action, with Russia also condemning the visit.