TOKYO - Japan issued a record number of visas to Chinese nationals in 2015, up about 85 percent from the previous year to 3.78 million, as Chinese tourist arrivals increased on a weaker yen and relaxed visa rules, the Foreign Ministry said Monday.

The visas issued to Chinese accounted for some 80 percent of the total issued to foreigners last year, which came to a record 4.77 million, up 66 percent.

The number of visas issued to visitors from the Philippines came in second at 225,676, up 38 percent, followed by Indonesia at 162,273, up 15 percent.

The ministry said separately that the number of Japanese living abroad for at least three months or permanently totaled a record 1.32 million on Oct. 1, 2015, up 2.1 percent from a year earlier.

Of those, 485,864 people, or 37 percent, were in North America, followed by 385,507 people, or 29 percent, in Asia outside Japan and 211,445 people, or 16 percent, in Western Europe.

Amid concerns about China's air pollution and slowdown in the economy, the number of Japanese living in the country fell 2 percent to 131,161 for the third straight year of decline, the ministry said.

China was second only to the United States, where there were 419,610 Japanese as of Oct. 1, who made up the largest group among Japanese nationals living abroad.