Japan considers easing visa rules to attract more Asian visitors

Easier visa requirements were recommended to the government Thursday to lift foreign tourism to Japan.

The government aims to boost foreign tourism from about 8.37 million in 2012 to 10 million in 2013, and to 25 million in 2020.

The proposals seek to free Thais, Malaysians and Indonesians from visa requirements while allowing Vietnamese and Russians to obtain multiple visas so they can visit as many times as they want until the visa expires.

To restore Chinese tourism, however, which has been heavily damaged by the Senkakus dispute, the committee calls for revising the system to issue multiple visas.