Originally Posted by Dave Noble

Well - the China Embassy site uses the term transit and also says it has to be a through ticket

The wording becomes ambiguous because of the use of "transit" and that it is onward travel to a 3rd country

It is quite reasonable to infer that a transit through Tokyo en-route on return journey back to USA is not in line with this

It would be clear if it simply stated that people visiting for 144 hours or fewer do not need a visa if entering for tourism purposes