Japan toiletries & cosmetics: Number of foreign visitors to Japan and inbound spending in Apr–Jun

Research evidence excerpt

Japan toiletries & cosmetics: Number of foreign visitors to Japan and inbound spending in Apr–Jun

Global Markets Research

16 July 2026Japan toiletries & cosmetics

EQUITY: JAPAN TOILETRIES & COSMETICS

Number of foreign visitors to Japan and inbound Research Analysts

spending in Apr–Jun Japan toiletries & cosmetics Yuji Ohana - NSC

yuji.ohana@nomura.com

Visitors from China down 58%, spending on shopping down 49% +81-3-6703-1143

Spending on products such as cosmetics by Chinese visitors to Japan down

sharply in Apr–Jun

On 15 July, the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) and the Japan Tourism

Agency (JTA) released their estimates of the number of foreign visitors to Japan for Apr–

Jun and the first set of preliminary estimates of inbound spending. The number of Chinese

visitors to Japan was down 58% y-y at 980,000 visitors in Apr–Jun (down 55% in Jan–

Mar; Figure 1). Chinese visitor numbers have continued to fall sharply because of a

deterioration in Japan–China relations since November 2025. Total spending by Chinese

visitors to Japan was down 49% at ¥259.2bn (down 50%), of which spending on shopping

declined 49% to ¥103.0bn (down 60%; Figure 2). Looking at categories related to toiletries

& cosmetics, spending on cosmetics and perfumes was down 47% at ¥26.3bn (down

63%), on medicine was down 67% at ¥5.3bn (down 66%), and on health goods and

toiletries was down 71% at ¥3.6bn (down 75%); we calculate that spending on these three

categories combined was down 55% at ¥35.2bn (down 66%), roughly matching the

decline in visitor numbers (Figure 3). These statistics are, however, harsher than

department stores' data on tax-free sales to Chinese customers. We note that the

JNTO/JTA statistics are based on surveys of visitors to Japan and thus reflect pure