A surge of Chinese travelers returning home has recently appeared at several airports in Japan.

(Tokyo, 25th) After Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s recent “Taiwan contingency” remarks triggered a strong backlash from China, Chinese media reported that many airports across Japan have been crowded with Chinese travelers preparing to return home. Some had already planned to go back soon, while others decided to cut their trips short due to family concerns about safety. Many travelers said that flights to China were mostly fully booked.

According to reports compiled by Taiwan’s Central News Agency from Jimu News, Yicai, Upstream News, and posts on Chinese social media, numerous users recently uploaded videos on Douyin and Xiaohongshu showing departure halls at Tokyo Narita and Osaka Kansai airports packed with Chinese passengers carrying large amounts of luggage. Some described the scene as “as crowded as the Spring Festival travel rush.”

A traveler who flew back to Fujian from Narita last Sunday said her flight was full, though she had planned to return on that date.

However, she noted that some friends chose to return earlier due to “recent developments,” driven by family members who were urging them to come home for safety reasons.

Another traveler said he decided to head back earlier after seeing warnings from Chinese “relevant departments” advising people to avoid traveling to Japan.

Reports indicate that as of 10 a.m. Monday, 12 China–Japan routes had canceled all flights, though these were not major routes and originally had few scheduled flights. Major routes are now gradually reducing services or suspending ticket sales.

For example, Air China has reduced weekly Shanghai Pudong–Osaka flights from 21 to 16 starting Sunday. China Eastern is reducing Beijing Daxing–Osaka flights from 14 to 8 per week, and Wuhan–Osaka from 7 to 4. Tianjin Airlines is cutting Tianjin–Osaka flights from 7 to 3 per week. Capital Airlines has stopped selling tickets for its Hangzhou–Osaka route from December 14 to 23.

Data also shows that the cancellation rate of flights from Chinese airports to Japan will reach 21.6% on Thursday— the highest in a month. Routes flying to Osaka Kansai Airport are among those with the highest cancellation rates.

In addition, flight bookings for travel between China and Japan in the next 60 days (excluding low-cost carriers like 9 Air and Spring Airlines) have decreased by about 29% compared with bookings made 60 days since November 15.