shefgab, you must be that guy which prefers to continue fighting even when everyone around you is telling you it's game over, isn't it? Seriously..

China is fine with whatever OP is doing.. just as China is fine with what I'll be doing next week, TWOV, entering from Austria, exiting to Switzerland (two countries which have a common boarder, several thousand kilometre away from China) - regarding Visa/TWOV, it's not about what is "logical", but what is allowed. And if you enter China (single airport) from a flight from Japan and depart it to the USA, you're clearly using TWOV, no matter how long you're staying in Japan, China, or the US for that matter.. case closed.