By Takeru Makino

If you take a walk around Tokyo's Ginza district these days, it is impossible to miss the hordes of Chinese on shopping tours. But what have they come to buy, and do they spell good times for cash registers?

I recently accompanied a group of 25 Chinese tourists that included company employees, female office workers and teachers on one such tour. Their first stop was the Akihabara electronics stores district of Tokyo, where they popped into some duty free shops. The tour was organized by Nippon Travel Agency and an agency based in Qingdao, Shandong Province.

Before too long, a middle-aged woman started bargaining with a clerk at a digital camera counter.

"Please, can you give me a bigger discount?" she asked.

The clerk, however, was no pushover, replying, "How much can you pay?"

The woman continued to push for a cheaper price, but she did not argue and make a fuss. Such a scene, although unusual in Japan, is said to be common in China.

The store only sells Japanese-made goods. The tour's guide, Tansei Hayama, said this was just what his clients had come for.

"Chinese prefer high-quality Japanese goods," he said. "They're quite picky about this."

The shop was well catered to handle such a tour. Language was not a barrier as many clerks are Chinese, including some who came to Japan to study. Shavers, cameras and novel products such as ear picks with lightbulbs and nail clippers with mirrors were eagerly snapped up by the tourists.

Most Chinese tourists are not especially wealthy. The monthly income of Liu Weihua, 36, a female office worker who took part in the tour, is 5,000 yuan (75,000 yen). But as Beijing reforms its policies, more and more Chinese, like those on the tour, will be able to earn enough to travel abroad.

The women in the group could barely contain their excitement as the bus approached Ginza, a shopping district lined with upmarket stores.

"Don't ask for a discount here because most shops are expensive so they won't give one," Hayama warned them. Undeterred, the female tourists piled out of the bus as soon as the doors opened.

They looked only at Japanese cosmetic products, like those made by Shiseido Co., even though other brands such as Chanel and Guerlain were available nearby.

Liu said she preferred to use Japanese cosmetics.

"They suit our skin since we're also Asian," she said.

Chinese magazines often feature Japanese fashion brands, so Liu had decided what she would buy before coming to Japan. She purchased a set of lotions for 5,000 yen.

However, she did not feel as though she was flaunting her wealth because most of her friends bought similar products. After several hours in the stores, the tourists got back on the bus and filled the overhead shelves with bags of familiar logos from Sony to Mitsukoshi. Hayama said they were proud they could take such expensive brands back to China.

According to the Japan National Tourist Organization, about 940,000 Chinese tourists visited Japan in 2007, a massive increase from about 270,000 a decade ago. The rise has been attributed to the fact Chinese have since 2000 been allowed to visit Japan in group tours. Previously, they were permitted to visit Japan only for the purpose of seeing relatives.

The number of Chinese tourists is expected to rise further after the Japanese government decided to accept tourist visa applications for families of two or more people from March.

Department stores have raked in growing profits since these tours started. Tax free sales at Matsuzakaya's Ginza store rose by about 60 percent from the year before, while the Mitsukoshi store reported growth of 70 percent. Chinese tourists undoubtedly contributed significantly to this jump.

Chinese tourists who have been to Japan to shop said it was a friendly place to visit.