Issue:
January 2026 | Letter from Hokkaido
Taiwan row forces ski resorts and other businesses to rethink their dependence on Chinese tourism
The new year is not exactly a happy one for Hokkaido’s tourist industry, least of all for businesses and towns that heavily rely on Chinese tourists.
While ski bums from around the world hit the slopes of Niseko and Furuno this month, local officials are worried about the economic fallout from Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks about Taiwan, which prompted China to warn its citizens against going to Japan as tourists or as students.
In Sapporo, concern centers on the Snow Festival in February. Last year, it was so popular among overseas tourists, especially those from China, that there were brief wi-fi connectivity issues in areas near the festival site. Although no direct evidence has been produced, some have blamed the huge numbers of additional smartphones, specifically foreign social media influencers who chewed up available bandwidth with their live video streaming of the snow sculptures.
There were other, more serious issues. A Chinese woman from Hong Kong was killed near Otaru in January 2025 after she went onto the train tracks to take photos. The tragedy briefly shut down the busy rail link between Otaru, Sapporo, and Chitose airport, bringing national media attention to Hokkaido’s overtourism problem.
By the time Sapporo office workers were getting their online meetings cut off during the Snow Festival, sentiment over the influx of foreign tourists had shifted from gratitude to something approaching hostility. The right-wing Sanseito party took advantage of the change in mood: although their Hokkaido candidate did not win a seat in the upper house elections in July, he did much better than expected.
About 460,000 mainland Chinese tourists visited Hokkaido in 2024. The Chinese government’s decision last November to urge its citizens not to travel to Japan means that between 30,000 and 40,000 fewer mainland Chinese visitors are expected during the usually busy December-March period.
That estimate, however, obscures local worries about potential economic damage. Six Chinese airlines with direct flights to Hokkaido’s Shin Chitose airport cancelled or reduced their flights. That will impact Japanese aviation-related businesses. Room cancellations at Hokkaido hotels, many of which cater specifically to Chinese tourists, mean less work for hospitality workers at what is normally a very busy time of year.
Seafood merchants in Hakodate, Otaru, and Kushiro who make money from sales of fresh and frozen crab and scallops will have to look elsewhere for customers. The same goes for department stores and gift shops offering Hokkaido gourmet cookies, cakes, pastries, doughnuts, and tarts that are popular with Chinese tourists.
This is especially true with businesses in big cities such as Sapporo, but the story is different in other parts of the prefecture. In 2024, the Sapporo-Otaru-Yoichi-Niseko area drew the largest number of Chinese tourists who stayed at least one night. Merchants and officials in this part of Hokkaido are naturally worried.
Even before Takaichi made her off-the-cuff comments about possible Japanese military intervention in an emergency in the Taiwan Strait, Hokkaido was seeking to lower its dependence on Chinese tourists and increase the number of visitors from other countries.
Malaysians and Vietnamese have already discovered Hokkaido and are coming in bigger numbers. In December, Qantas reopened its direct Sydney-Sapporo route for the winter ski season. That will add more visitors from Australia and New Zealand to Hokkaido’s slopes.
Americans are finally discovering Hokkaido, and predictions are that more will come over the winter months. Many Hokkaido residents and European friends are also hoping that, with Rapidus and Chitose hopefully becoming an international IT/semiconductor hub, Finnair will finally reopen the Sapporo-Helsinki direct flight, the fastest way to get from Japan to Europe. I’ve been told by Finnair employees that this is a possibility when, or if, Russia ends its invasion of Ukraine and commercial airlines can again fly through Russian airspace.
The hope was that the snow festival would attract lots of Chinese tourists, since it coincides with the Chinese New Year. It will still draw lots of people, including Chinese who decide to come in defiance of their government’s advice. But businesses and authorities Hokkaido who calculated their potential revenue and tax income before Takaichi made her remarks about Taiwan will need to lower their expectations.
Eric Johnston is the Senior National Correspondent for the Japan Times. Views expressed within are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Japan Times.
