Japan's Immigration Services Agency says only about 8,000 foreign tourists arrived in June and July.

The country eased its anti-coronavirus border controls and reopened to foreign holidaymakers on June 10 for the first time in about two years.

The number of arrivals is capped at 20,000 per day.

Tourists from 102 countries and territories including the United States, South Korea and China are allowed to come, but only in group tours.

The agency says 252 foreign tourists came to Japan in June and about 7,900 in July.

The Japan Tourism Agency says around 8,500 foreign tourists have applied to arrive between last Friday and August 31.

Officials say one possible reason for the low number of foreign holidaymakers is that China still restricts overseas travels by its citizens.

They also cite the time-consuming process needed to travel to Japan, as all tourists are required to obtain a visa and show a negative PCR test result.

European and US travelers prefer to travel individually as opposed to joining group tours.

Although the country is in the middle of the seventh wave of infections, the tourism industry is hoping that a weaker yen will encourage more foreign tourists to visit Japan.

The country used to accommodate more than 30 million foreign visitors annually before the pandemic.