China expanding visa-free entry to more countries, including Japan – Nationwide

China announced that it would expand visa-free entry to nine more countries as it seeks to boost tourism and business travel to help revive a sluggish economy. Starting Nov. 30, travelers from Bulgaria, Romania, Malta, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Estonia, Latvia and Japan will be able to enter China for up to 30 days without a visa, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said. That will bring to 38 the number of countries that have been granted visa-free access since last year. Only three countries had visa-free access previously, and theirs had been eliminated during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The addition of Japan appears to reflect a recent willingness on China’s part to improve ties, which have soured in part over more strident talk from Tokyo on the Taiwan issue. The two countries reached a deal in September in their dispute over the release into the sea of treated but still radioactive water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant. Japan was one of the three countries with visa-free entry before the pandemic, and the government had repeatedly requested an early resumption, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters in Tokyo.

The permitted length of stay for visa-free entry is being increased from the previous 15 days, Lin said, and people participating in exchanges will be eligible for the first time. China has been pushing people-to-people exchange between students, academics and others to try to improve its sometimes strained relations with other countries.

China strictly restricted entry during the pandemic and ended its restrictions much later than most other countries. It restored the previous visa-free access for citizens of Brunei and Singapore in July 2023, and then expanded visa-free entry to six more countries — France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia — on Dec. 1 of last year. The program has since been expanded in tranches. Some countries have announced visa-free entry for Chinese citizens, notably Thailand, which wants to bring back Chinese tourists.

Mount Fuji tram idea derailed by environmental concerns – Yamanashi Prefecture

The Yamanashi prefectural government said it has given up its proposal to build a light rail connection to the fifth station on Mount Fuji amid public concerns over its environmental impact and is now considering introducing a rubber-tired tram. The central Japan prefecture had explored the possibility of connecting the foot of the country’s tallest peak to the intermediate station with a light rail system to deal with the large influx of summer tourists and reduce vehicle emissions.

Yamanashi Gov Kotaro Nagasaki told a press conference that the local government is now eyeing rubber-tired trams with sensors to enable them to follow white lines or magnetic markers to be placed on the existing roads, eliminating the need to build a rail line. The hydrogen-powered trams are expected to have two couplings and a capacity of up to 120 passengers. Use of private cars on the road to the intermediate station will be regulated, thus reducing the number of visitors, he said.

Visitors can currently drive to the 5th station, the starting point of a popular climbing trail that begins at an altitude of about 2,300 meters, using the Fuji Subaru Line road. The proposal had involved building a double-track line along the toll road and operating two-car trains. The light rail concept was promised by the Yamanashi governor in the 2019 gubernatorial election, in which he was elected for the first time.

A citizens’ group opposing the idea submitted about 70,000 signatures to the governor this month demanding that he withdraw it. They expressed concerns about potential environmental destruction and avalanche damage caused by the development.

Mount Fuji, Japan’s iconic 3,776-meter mountain peak and a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site, attracts many climbers and tourists from home and abroad. But the rising popularity of the mountain, which straddles Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures, has led to challenges including “overtourism” and “bullet climbing,” or the attempt to reach the summit for sunrise and return without sleeping mid-climb.

This summer, those climbing the mountain from the Yamanashi side were charged an entrance fee for the first time, with a gate located at the 5th station collecting 2,000 yen per person. Such fees were not collected on the Shizuoka side during the climbing season.