With the ever-increasing number of tourists worldwide, tourists’ experiences typically involve social interactions with various social actors. Previous studies on social interactions in tourism primarily focus on the western tourists in western destinations, and have neglected East-Asian tourists and destinations. This study addresses this gap by focusing on the important source market of Chinese outbound tourists visiting Japan. Using the grounded theory method, we uncover three types of social interactions: protocol-oriented interaction, help-related interaction, and sociable interaction. We also report on factors influencing the occurrence of tourist direct social interactions and on the Chinese outbound tourist motivation and hesitation towards social interaction with others. We then discuss managerial implications for destination marketing and suggest avenues for further research.