东京——官方数据显示，由于中国游客锐减，日本的外国旅游消费增长放缓，削弱了对数字进口成本的重要平衡。
TOKYO -- Japan's influx of foreign tourism spending has slowed due to a sharp decline in Chinese visitors, official data released Thursday shows, sapping an important counterbalance to the cost of digital imports.
当外国游客在日本的消费超过日本人在国外的消费时，就会形成旅行顺差。
When spending by foreign visitors in Japan exceeds the amount spent by Japanese abroad, it creates a travel surplus.
截至今年八月，财政省称该顺差为4.45万亿日元（282亿美元），比去年同期下降0.6%。
Through August this year, the surplus amounted to 4.45 trillion yen ($28.2 billion), according to the Finance Ministry, down 0.6% compared with the same period last year.
在这八个月里，日本国家旅游局的数据显示，中国游客数量骤降56.7%，外国游客总数下降2.7%，至2762万人。
During those eight months, Chinese tourist numbers plunged 56.7%, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization. Total foreign visitors dipped 2.7% to 27.62 million people.
日本的入境旅游曾如此强劲，以至于旅行顺差开始超过该国的数字贸易逆差，即日本为音乐下载和云应用等海外服务支付的费用超过其出口额。现在旅行顺差正在失去动力。
Japan's inbound tourism had been so strong that the travel surplus was starting to eclipse the country's digital trade deficit, which refers to how much more Japan pays for goods and services like music downloads and cloud-based applications from overseas providers than it exports. Now the travel surplus is losing steam.
与此同时，1月至8月的数字逆差达到4.49万亿日元，标志着连续第三年保持在4万亿日元区间。海外开发的生成式人工智能模型的使用增加可能促成了这一趋势。
Meanwhile, the digital deficit for January to August reached 4.49 trillion yen, marking its third consecutive year in the 4 trillion yen range. The mounting use of generative AI models developed overseas could be contributing to this trend.
“个人和企业依赖海外数字服务，寻找替代品并不容易，”Sompo Institute Plus的高级经济学家小池正人说。
"Individuals and businesses are dependent on overseas digital services, and finding replacements is not easy," said Masato Koike, senior economist at Sompo Institute Plus.
“由于旅行平衡受入境需求和其他因素影响，无法轻易以稳定方式弥补结构性数字逆差，”小池补充道。
"Since the travel balance is influenced by inbound demand and other factors, it cannot easily cover a structural digital deficit in a stable way," Koike said.