The Chinese passport can enter 83 of the 193 destinations we track for it without arranging a visa in advance; the Japanese passport 156 of 193. That puts Japan ahead by 73 destinations.
| ENTRY ROUTE | China | Japan |
|---|---|---|
| Visa Not Required | 51 | 109 |
| Visa On Arrival | 28 | 36 |
| Electronic Travel Authorization | 5 | 12 |
| E-Visa | 57 | 49 |
| Embassy Visa | 70 | 14 |
A destination offering several routes is counted under each, so columns can sum past the totals above — the headline figure counts each destination once, by its easiest route.
Destinations both passports can head to without a visa arranged in advance — but not through the same door. Each entry links to the full requirements for that passport.
| DESTINATION | CHINA | JAPAN |
|---|---|---|
| Azerbaijan | Visa Not Required | Visa On Arrival |
| Cambodia | Visa Not Required | Visa On Arrival |
| Lao People's Democratic Republic | Visa On Arrival | Visa Not Required |
| Maldives | Visa Not Required | Visa On Arrival |
| Samoa | Visa Not Required | Visa On Arrival |
| Sao Tome and Principe | Visa On Arrival | Visa Not Required |
| Senegal | Visa On Arrival | Visa Not Required |
| Seychelles | Visa Not Required | Electronic Travel Authorization |
| Solomon Islands | Visa Not Required | Visa On Arrival |
| South Africa | Electronic Travel Authorization | Visa Not Required |
| Tonga | Visa Not Required | Visa On Arrival |
Where Chinese citizens travel without a prior visa and Japanese citizens do not.
Where Japanese citizens travel without a prior visa and Chinese citizens do not.
Reach counts the sovereign countries a passport enters without arranging a visa before travel — visa-free entry, visa on arrival, or an electronic travel authorisation. Both passports are scored over the same 193 countries: the sovereign destinations we hold data on for both of them. Overseas territories are excluded from the score on purpose — a country's own territories never appear in its own visa rules (Gibraltar is not "abroad" for a British citizen), so counting them would hand one side destinations the other could never have. That shared set is what makes this comparison fair; published indices count their own universes, so their totals differ from ours. Full lists: visa requirements for Chinese citizens · visa requirements for Japanese citizens.