Beijing - Japan is to issue multiple-entry visas to individual Chinese citizens beginning this summer in a bid to entice members of China's mushrooming middle class into visiting and spending money in the country.

The Kyodo News Agency quoted sources as saying Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara and Japan's Tourism Agency chief Hiroshi Mizohata have already started talks to introduce the system so that Japan can take in more money from the Chinese tourists.

This is the second move for the Japanese government to relax its visa rules to lure the big-spending Chinese tourists in a half-year's time.

Last July, Tokyo cut the income requirement of Chinese applying for tourist visas from 250,000 yuan ($37,000) to 60,000 yuan - and for those who own gold credit cards. It also increased the number of consulates in China accepting visa applicants to seven from three.

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To further those efforts, Tokyo has now decided to issue the multiple-entry visa so that individual Chinese tourists may enter Japan as many times as they want during its period of validity.

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has aimed to attract 25 million foreign tourists annually by 2020 under its new economic growth strategy.

Statistics show that a record number of 390,000 visas were issued to Chinese tourists in 2009 - and the number keeps growing.

However, after the collision between a Chinese fishing boat and two Japanese patrol boats in waters near China's Diaoyu Islands last September, fewer Chinese tourists tended to choose Japan as a travel destination.

And in another effort to improve the soured bilateral ties, Kan is reportedly considering a visit to China in the coming spring.

Li Wei, director of the Institute of Japanese Studies with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said the policy by Tokyo to ease regulations for Chinese visitors has been a consistent one.

"It aims to encourage repeat Chinese visitors' consumption. And the Japanese government hopes Chinese tourists can improve their image toward Japan through sightseeing," she said.

She said that Japan's business circle was dissatisfied with how their government handled the fishing boat crisis, because of the urgent need of Chinese tourists with strong purchasing power as well as the huge market in China.

"The incident has not affected too much the Japanese government's decision to issue the multiple-entry visa. It must have been promoted by Seiji Maehara, Japan's foreign minister and it shows they still choose to start with economic field to improve relations with China," she said.

Wang Chenyan contributed to this story.