Storyline Japan's tourism, fishery suffer losses after PM's erroneous remarks on China's Taiwan [Voice_over] Fallout over a diplomatic dispute between China and Japan continues to negatively affect Japan’s tourism industry. Last month, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said a hypothetical Chinese mainland attack on Taiwan could trigger a military response from Tokyo, language that China says is an act of aggression. China issued a swift rebuke of Takaichi’s comments prompting a massive 'canceling' of Japanese products and services by members of the Chinese public. One of the most severely affected sectors is Japan’s travel industry which local media say is seeing a slump on par with the one experienced during COVID-19. From Osaka to Okinawa, inbound flights, hotels, tours, shopping, and restaurants are all reporting a drop in reservations and revenues. [Sound_bite] Osaka tax-free shop manager: "I feel that our store is experiencing an obvious reduction in the amount of group tourists, with that of individual tourists having dropped by over 50 percent. Our store is basically completely dependent on inbound tourists, so if this situation persists, the number of customers will further decrease. Now I'm very worried about the sales volume.” [Sound_bite] Okinawa fishery merchant: "Takaichi's erroneous remarks do have impacts on us. The supplier we serve largely depends on Chinese tourists, so now it receives almost no orders. This has led to my orders being reduced by more than 50 percent of before. Business will be very difficult for us if the current situation goes on." [Voice_over] According to data released by the Japan Tourism Agency, tourists from the Chinese mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region contributed approximately 30 percent of total inbound tourism spending in Japan during the first three quarters of the year. [Restrictions: No access Chinese mainland]