Snapping up four Japanese luxury Seiko watches as if they were cheap chocolate souvenirs, a 36-year-old Chinese tourist plunks down $4,500 in cash at a glitzy store in downtown Tokyo.

"One is for me, and the other is for my father. The rest are for my friends," says Li Jun, a computer businessman from Shanghai.

No Buddhist temples or tranquil rock gardens for him. Li and his wife are in Japan on a single-minded mission: shopping.

"We want to buy Japanese products because they are known for very good quality," Li says. "We are here for shopping, not for tourist activities."

For years, Japanese auto and electronics companies have been expanding in China as its economy boomed to offset slow growth at home.

But now, Japan's languishing economy is getting a lift from hundreds of thousands of Chinese tourists who are eager to flaunt their newfound wealth by purchasing brand name goods, from Canon digital cameras to Shiseido cosmetics.