TOKYO - A tourism organization says the number of foreign tourists to Japan rose to a record high in 2010 on the back of booming demand from Asia but still fell short of target.

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The Japan National Tourism Organization said Thursday a record 8.61 million foreign tourists came to Japan last year, up 26.8 percent from a year earlier. The figure fell short of Japan's goal of bringing in 10 million foreign tourists by 2010.

The number of tourists from South Korea soared 54 percent to 2.4 million last year, accounting for nearly 30 percent of all foreign visitors to Japan.

The number of Chinese tourists jumped 40 percent to a record 1.4 million. The organization also said that the number of tourists from Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand rose to a record high.