Made in Japan, sold to China

Last year, a record 481,696 Chinese tourists visited Japan, up nearly 20 per cent from 2007, according to the country's National Tourism Organization. They are warmly welcomed by Japan's struggling retailers. "I've never seen any foreign tourists spend as much as Chinese," Takeshi Araki, a salesman at Yodobashi Camera Co. Ltd. in Tokyo's busy Akihabara electronics district, told the Straits Times.

As Japan's population ages and shrinks, the world's no. 2 economy is increasingly dependent on consumer spending by visitors. That's why Tokyo relaxed tourist visa restrictions on 1 July for mainland Chinese citizens, hoping to attract more of them — and their credit cards.

Li Jun, a computer entrepreneur from Shanghai, is not interested in watching sumo wrestling or visiting Zen shrines. He and his wife are in Japan to buy, buy, buy. "We want to buy Japanese products because they are known for very good quality," he said. "We are here for shopping, not for tourist activities."