Japan 3-year multiple visa: Okinawa/Tohoku vs unrestricted (as of August 2026)

This is an introduction, not a promise of issuance or landing. Rules change. Use the Embassy of Japan in China and MOFA pages. Reopen them before you file.

There is more than one 3-year personal tourist visa for Chinese citizens living in mainland China. One requires a night in Okinawa or Tohoku on the first trip. The other does not limit the destination and is for persons with sufficient financial capability (and, in the stated range, a travel history). Both are valid 3 years. Each stay is up to 30 days. File through a designated travel agency of the mission that covers where you live.

This page only separates those two types and the first-trip rule. Which visa to choose among single-entry, 3-year, and 5-year, plus how to open the designated-agency list, is on the English hub. Do not force a 5-year file to “get more value.” Facts follow the Chinese 3-year page. Checked 30 August 2026.

The two 3-year types

Tohoku is six prefectures: Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata, Fukushima. Not the old “three prefectures” list.

Embassy tourist-visa page (dated 24 March 2025):

• Okinawa first trip includes lodging in Okinawa. Object: persons with sufficient financial capability and family members; or persons with a certain level of financial capability who visited Japan on a short-term visa in the past 3 years, and family members.
• Tohoku first trip includes lodging in any one of the six prefectures, or in two or more of them. Object: persons with a certain level of financial capability and family members.
• Unrestricted 3-year: same 3 years / 30 days, destination not limited. Object: persons with sufficient financial capability and family members.

MOFA English uses the same split: “a sufficient level of financial capability” / “a certain level of financial capability.” Neither page publishes a nationwide Chinese-yuan or yen salary, tax, or property line. Agency pre-screen numbers (including “2 million yen” or “CNY 100,000”) are a second layer. They are not a guarantee of issuance.

Two prior trips to Japan do not auto-issue the unrestricted type. Group-tour visas do not count toward that history. The agency still checks papers; the mission decides.

From the second trip, MOFA: you need not book through the agency. It is still a short stay: no paid work, not de-facto residence. From the second trip, visits other than sightseeing are also allowed on these 3-year visas (embassy page). The first trip of a 3-year visa (not 5-year) must follow the schedule you filed.

First trip: the night is on the filed schedule

Do not treat Okinawa/Tohoku as a later “activation.” If you file that type, the first itinerary the agency submits already includes the night. Ask the agency, in writing, before you pay:

• Okinawa type or Tohoku type
• Which night and which lodging meets the prefecture rule
• How a change is reported (embassy: only to a trip within three months of the visa issue date, and the original designated agency files the change report first)
• Whether family members must share that first itinerary

A “short compliance hop” arranged by an unofficial agent is not the embassy rule. If the first trip is only Tokyo, file unrestricted 3-year or single-entry, not Okinawa/Tohoku 3-year.

Flights and lodging for the first 3-year trip are in principle booked by the designated agency. A Booking.com screenshot you made yourself is not that booking. Using comparison links as fake application papers can look like a false document. The embassy: if an intermediary filed, or the papers do not match the facts, a visa already issued may be cancelled.

Multiple-entry tourist visas: the applicant submits directly to a designated agency. Unofficial sub-agents are not allowed. How to open the current list, and that Tibet is Beijing only, is on the English hub. This page pastes no agency names.

Embassy fee from 1 July 2026 (Chinese yuan, CNY)

Embassy notice dated 24 June 2026, for applications submitted from 1 July 2026: multiple-entry CNY 1,430. Single-entry is CNY 715 (not this visa). Shanghai published the same multiple-entry figure the same day (CNY 285 until 30 June). Q&A 1 July 2026, quote: 「以上费用均在获批签证时收取。」 (Collected when the visa is issued.) Agency service and courier are extra. Ask for a line-item quote.

The old English page’s embassy fee of CNY 200 and district totals of 350–600 are not the current table.

Tourist visas: result on the 5th business day after the mission accepts the file. That clock does not include agency intake. The embassy does not, as a rule, sell a 3-day rush. Same-purpose refusal: generally not accepted within six months.

Photo, if Beijing Q&A applies: 4.5 cm × 3.5 cm. Some older lists still say 4.5 cm × 4.5 cm. Use the written list for this mission.

Validity is the dates printed on the visa, not “after first landing.” MOFA publishes 30 days per stay, not a “180 days per year” quota, and not a 90-day first stay for Okinawa/Tohoku.

After issuance: Tokyo, Osaka, and China–Japan flights (sample)

A visa is not a landing guarantee.

Use these links for a 5-year visa, or for a 3-year visa from the second trip. They are a comparison sample: check-in 17 October 2026, check-out 24 October 2026, two adults. Change the dates. Prefer free cancellation. Do not use them as the first-trip application booking.

• Tokyo hotels (17–24 Oct 2026, 2 adults)
• Osaka hotels (same dates, 2 adults)
• Shanghai Pudong–Tokyo, 17 Oct out, 24 Oct back, 2 adults
• Beijing–Tokyo, same dates, 2 adults

Family files or a quote from public rates: travel advisor.

Before you file

1. You have in writing: Okinawa, Tohoku six prefectures, or unrestricted 3-year. Not 5-year unless you actually meet that category.
2. First-trip lodging (if Okinawa/Tohoku) is named and booked by the designated agency, not a screenshot you made.
3. Agency full name is on this mission’s current designated tourist-agency list. Residence matches the mission (see the hub).
4. Embassy multiple-entry fee from 1 July 2026 is CNY 1,430, charged when issued; service fee a separate line.
5. You have not treated an agency CNY or yen figure as an official line.
6. No non-refundable itinerary bought before issuance.

Related reading

• English hub (checked)
• English 5-year (checked)
• Chinese 3-year (this article’s counterpart)
• Chinese hub
• English single-entry (not yet rewritten; do not copy fees)

Sources (reopen before you file)

• Embassy of Japan in China, notice of visa fee change, dated 24 June 2026, in force 1 July 2026: https://www.cn.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_zh/00_000485_00222.html
• Consulate-General in Shanghai, visa fees from 1 July 2026: https://www.shanghai.cn.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_ja/11_000001_00633.html
• Tourist visas (group and individual): https://www.cn.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_zh/visa_kanko.html
• Visa Q&A: https://www.cn.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_zh/visa_qa.html
• MOFA, visas for Chinese nationals (English): https://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/visa/topics/china.html
• MOFA, 中国団体观光・個人观光査証: https://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/toko/visa/topics/china.html
• Shanghai designated-agency list (current page): https://www.shanghai.cn.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_ja/11_000001_01947.html
• Beijing designated-agency list: https://www.cn.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_ja/visa_dantai_daili.html

Compiled from the pages above as of 30 August 2026 (Wayback where live access was denied). Not a promise of issuance or landing. Before filing, use the mission site and the written list from that agency.