Is Japan Open to Tourists?
Is Japan open for international individual travelers? Are borders open as normal in 2024? What are testing, face mask, and vaccine requirements for visitors? These are questions among those planning trips to Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and this covers the answers.
The good news is that we now have an answer to questions we’ve been asking for nearly two years! First, after reopening to guided tour groups, Japan reopened to individual tourists on October 11, 2022. In the year-plus since, additional changes have occurred to the extent that it’s basically business as usual for visiting Japan in 2024.
We’ve already returned to Japan, spending about a month in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and elsewhere. In various updates here, we’ve been sharing our experiences and what it’s like as a foreign visitor, what has changed, crowd conditions, expenses of visiting Japan with the weaker yen, and much more. The big one for most of you is likely going to be Japan Face Mask Rules v. Reality in 2024.
Those two posts cover essentially everything you need to know about visiting Japan as of 2024. The short version is that it is possible to enter, regardless of whether you’re vaccinated or unvaccinated, albeit with a testing requirement for the latter. There are no quarantine requirements, and travel is visa-free for the vast majority of people reading this.
Please subscribe to our FREE email newsletter and stay tuned if you are curious about how things are on-the-ground for tourists in Japan post-reopening.
In terms of the latest news, the current vaccine and testing policies ended on May 8, 2023. This is because Japan has formally decided to downgrade the legal status of the novel coronavirus on May 8, 2023 to the same category as common infectious diseases, such as seasonal influenza, thereby easing COVID-19 prevention rules.
This is a major policy shift and will relax–if not eliminate entirely–Japan’s intensive COVID-19 countermeasures, including limiting the movements of infected people and their close contacts. Japan’s reclassification of COVID-19 to Class 5 came after a panel of experts under the health ministry agreed on the plan earlier in the day.
The downgrade would pave the way for a normalization of social and economic activities in Japan, and should mean that non-residents are able to enter the country without PCR tests or additional paperwork. Essentially, there will be no (legal) basis for the current border protocol effective May 8, 2023. Of course, things could change between now and then, but it’s likely the border will revert to late 2019 status as of that date.
We typically spend a couple of months in Japan each year, and are ecstatic to be returning after nearly 3 years away. We are eager to revisit our favorite places, see friends in Japan for the first time in over two years, and continue creating this site’s wealth of free planning resources. We’re excited about this great (but overdue) news, but also go in knowing that things will be different, in ways both good and bad.
For these two-plus years, we’ve been closely monitoring the situation in Japan, watching several hours of NHK each day and reading multiple Japanese news sources. All of this in the hope for some clarity as to when the country will fully reopen and Japan will begin allowing international tourists to enter once again.
What follows is based on that research and fixation with the on-the-ground situation in Japan. We’re preserving this for posterity, but everything that follows is now (thankfully!) obsolete information.
Japan is now allowing foreign nationals to enter Japan for purposes other than tourism so long as they have a sponsor in the country. This includes business travelers on short stays, students in study abroad programs, participants in technical internships, both guided & unguided tour groups, spouses or children (and other relatives) of a Japanese national/permanent resident, others with special exceptional circumstances, and those who would provide a “public benefit” to Japan.
With that in mind, let’s cover how we got here, why Japan maintains the strictest among the Group of Seven developed nations, and what could cause that to change…
Again and again, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has said that Japan “will continue to consider how the measures should be by taking into account the infection situations at home and abroad, border control measures taken by other nations, and progress in the rollout of vaccine boosters.”
Kishida has also acknowledged that Japan’s border control measures are the strictest among Group of Seven nations, and expressed a desire/need to bring Japan in line with its counterparts. “This is the first step in our gradual easing of the [border] restrictions,” Kishida has said.
As for why Japan’s border is still closed over a year after most democracies reopened, that can largely be explained by the country’s apprehensiveness of outsiders.
For better or worse, Japan is an insular and culturally conservative country–a characteristic that is often valued by visitors. Not so much in the last couple of years, as this has been reflected in policy-making. Japan has vilified and scapegoated foreigners and had an overly aggressive approach to its borders.
Due to this and other policies, Japan has lagged behind economically, seeing slower recovery than the United States and other counterparts that have more aggressively reopened. Economic benefits of international tourists is one big reason why Japan is expected to reopen its border.
Boosting tourism was core to the late former Prime Minister Abe’s economic revitalization, and both subsequent prime ministers have indicated their intentions to maintain continuity with those plans. However, the number of foreign visitors to Japan dropped to 245,900 last year, the lowest since 1964, as the country enforced tighter border controls. Compared with the pre-pandemic level in 2019, it dropped 99.2 percent. That’s the sharpest fall on record according to the Japan Tourism Agency.
Economists fear a “double dip” recession in Japan due to the prolonged closures and restrictions. Decreased tourism plus falling exports, an increased consumption tax, reduced consumer spending, weak yen, and growing national debt. Japan’s economy has serious issues and inbound tourism was previously a bright spot.
In other words, reopening to international visitors will be important to the health of Japan’s consumption-driven economy at some point in the not too distant future. This becomes increasingly true as the yen weakens due to the Bank of Japan continuing to pursue its loose monetary policy while the United States Federal Reserve, European, and other central banks raise interest rates. Quite simply, Japan is inflicting pain on itself by remaining closed.
There are also signs that stringent travel measures, including the border closure, are having a greater impact on Japan’s economy than previously believed. This is despite Japan’s “Go to Travel” campaign that subsidized domestic travel, which was offered at various times during the last two years.
According to data from the Japan Tourism Agency, stays at hotels and other accommodation facilities hit another record low in Japan last year–breaking the previous record set in 2020. The total of guests at hotels and inns was 315.75 million, down 4.8% from 2020 and 47% from 2019. (This number includes hotels used as government quarantine facilities, not just leisure stays.)
The ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party recognizes these problems and realizes it needs to rebuild Japan’s economy. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida stated that his top priority was formulating new economic measures and implementing these goals. The government will also take measures to stimulate and jump-start the economy.
Despite the aforementioned numbers, Japan is maintaining its goal of attracting 60 million foreign visitors by 2030. Additionally, the Japan National Tourism Organization has set 2024 as its goal for recovering to 2019 international travel levels. Both of these statements are reassuring given the current border closures, and indicate that Japan will unwind its travel ban in months, not years.
Against that economic backdrop, let’s take a look at the latest changes to Japan’s reopening plans…
We have more good news! Multiple media outlets, including NHK, Kyodo, Nikkei, and Fuji TV are all reporting that Japan’s government is planning to further relax restrictions and border measures with an eye to implementing the revisions by the start of October.
The specifics are not consistent among outlets, so let’s start with where they’re in agreeance.
First, there is consensus that the daily arrival cap, which is currently set at 50,000, will be eliminated entirely.
This is a necessary prerequisite for further reopening and the resumption of more inbound international flights, but this alone was not an obstacle dissuading most international visitors. While the daily number of arrivals was higher pre-closure, we assumed that 50,000 is the level at which this cap becomes immaterial with China still sidelined. Regardless, it’s good to have this removed as it eliminates an element of uncertainty and could have been an issue during peak travel times for the Japanese.
Another possibility is that Japan will allow individual foreign tourists to enter the country and exempt them from visas if they have been vaccinated three times or submit a pre-arrival test result.
This is where there is disagreement among the major outlets. Kyodo, Nikkei, and NHK are reporting that this is to be determined, with government officials still deciding whether to proceed with this plan or start with lifting the daily arrival cap. By contrast, Fuji TV is treating this as a done deal, using less ambiguous language.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reportedly plans to make a decision as early as the end of this week, according to the news outlets’ sources.
These “leaks” came after Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiji Kihara spoke on Fuji TV over the weekend and stated that Japan will consider easing all three restrictions–the daily arrival cap, ban on individual tourists, and visa requirements. “We will review all three restrictions together. We have to carry it out in the not-so-distant future,” he said.
“Japan has seasonal attractions in fall and winter. We know there are a lot of people overseas who want to come to Japan,” Kihara added. “Amid the weakening yen, inbound travelers will have greatest economic effect…There are many foreign visitors who want to come visit Japan.” Kihara added that eliminating the arrival cap alone was not enough.
Kihara isn’t the only one who has been vocal about fully reopening to tourists recently. During the Bloomberg New Voices panel, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said she would open the country’s doors “tomorrow” if it were her decision. “Tourism is a big industry in Tokyo, as well as in all Japan, so this is the time to greet more foreign tourists by using this advantage of the depreciation of the yen,” she said.
Koike said that Japan’s borders would fully reopen soon. “The national border is under the management of central government,” Koike said. “As governor of Tokyo, that would be tomorrow.”
The yen has fallen to a 24-year low of ¥144 to the dollar, likely contributing to the sense of urgency in the aforementioned interviews.
Japan eased its border restrictions last week, raising the daily arrival cap from 20,000 to 50,000 and dropping the requirement for pre-arrival PCR testing for vaccinated travelers.
Japan also began allowing unguided tours, meaning ones not accompanied by tour conductors. This is specifically for “unguided tour groups” or “non-escorted visitors on package tours” and not individual tourists.
In Unguided Tours in Japan – Reopening Phase Rules, we cover what this entails and the recently-released guidelines and FAQ for these tours. Prior to those guidelines being released, we speculated on how this would work given basic logic and past precedent with prior groups who had been allowed to enter Japan. We were wrong–the unguided tours offered two steps forward but one step backwards.
We mention this in part to own past mistakes, but also as a cautionary tale. While it certainly sounds like the end is near for the Japan travel ban, it’s premature to have a high degree of confidence.
Kishida’s government has been trying to take advantage of the weak yen and accelerate growth by attracting more foreign visitors. It thus stands to reason that opening to individual tourists necessarily needs to occur–that raising the entry cap will do nothing in furtherance of their stated goal. However, as we have seen time and time again, the patently obvious conclusion often is not the outcome reached by Japan.
Moreover, how this played out with Japan’s last announcement is also instructive.
On August 23, specifics of the September relaxation measures were leaked to the same media outlets. At that time, it was unclear whether unguided tourists would be allowed to enter. On August 31, Kishida made an official announcement encompassing all of the rumored changes, including unguided tourists. (It took a few more days for the guidelines to be released, and the clarifying FAQ is still being updated.)
While presenting the above as a cautionary tale against optimism or over reliance on logic when assessing Japan’s decisions, that’s exactly what I’m going to do. (I’m sorry, I can’t help myself. Like a moth to a flame.)
First, there’s already the realization that unguided tours–like guided tours before them–will not move the needle on inbound tourism in any meaningful way. It’s another symbolic measure, and coming at a time when an increasing number of international visitors have already moved on to other destinations and pent-up demand has begun fizzling out. The number of people anxiously awaiting Japan’s reopening is shrinking, not growing.
Second, there’s awareness within the Kishida administration that the window of opportunity to reopen the border is closing. This is something we’ve pointed out in our best and worst case scenarios in prior updates, but there’s only a limited amount of time between waves.
Over two years into this, the seasonality of COVID transmission is well-established. Cases are currently in freefall and will continue decreasing next month before bottoming out sometime between late October and early November. There will be a winter resurgence. It could start as soon as late November, but is more likely in December.
Reopening to individual tourists in October presents minimal (political) risk and maximum (economic) upside. Public opinion polls show that most voters have already moved on from COVID to assorted scandals; the minority who still care will see no immediate increase in cases correlating with the border reopening.
Frankly, the miscalculation here by the Kishida administration is thinking that this will have an immediate impact on inbound travel. Those reading regular updates on Japan’s reopening are not representative of international travelers at large. Most people need months of time between booking and traveling; very few plan and take last-minute trips–especially international ones.
Obviously, the easing has to occur at some point and this lag will always play out, but the notion that this moves the needle for fall is misguided. Autumn is already a lost cause. At best, this helps with winter. More likely, the impact won’t be fully felt until next year’s cherry blossom season.
One wildcard is the downgrade of COVID’s legal status. Several recent updates have centered around Japan’s internal debate over whether to strip COVID-19 of its special status and downgrade it to the same level as the flu in Japan’s infectious disease categories.
It’s been our perspective that this was a necessary prerequisite to welcoming individual tourists as there would no longer be a need for a responsible receiving party to monitor travelers and act as a liaison for infected individuals. Given that none of the recent reports have even mentioned COVID’s status in regard to reopening, it’s possible our perspective was wrong. Or, that this barrier does still exist and Japan will have to create a “solution” for it (travel insurance?) for individual tourists. Either way, that’s something to continue keeping in mind.
Also as previously mentioned, recent poll data also shows the public is now far less concerned with COVID than the economy, Unification Church scandal, Abe’s state funeral, and other issues. It’s entirely possible that Kishida sees this polling and his sagging approval numbers and realizes that it’s time to move forward. That there’s more upside than downside risk in reopening and encouraging more economic activity.
As we’ve stressed repeatedly, Japan’s populace has been among the most cautious in the world with regard to COVID-19. Human behavior and sentiment don’t change overnight, even if it’s economically advantageous and objectively safer to do so. Statements by politicians and medical advisors, gradual border relaxation measures, and other changes could be interpreted as Japan laying the groundwork for a resumption of normalcy and the country’s eventual reopening. It now appears that the time is here–or coming very soon.
With all of this said, I’ll present my revised best, worst, and base-case scenarios for Japan’s reopening to individual tourists…
Let’s start with the best-case scenario. This assumes that Japan downgrades COVID-19 from its special status to Category 5 literally any day now or that this is not a necessary prerequisite to an individual tourist reopening. (With the possible workaround of travel insurance or some other awkward “fix.”)
Critically, this would eliminate the legal requirement of a responsible receiving party for visitors to Japan. In such a scenario, the borders could almost immediately return to their normal pre-closure status in early October. With this, the visa exemption would be reinstated, making that a non-issue. The arrivals cap would also be eliminated in this scenario.
Then there’s the middle ground or base case. This is now the same as the best-case scenario. In short, the early October reopening is not just our most optimistic view–it’s now what we expect to happen.
To differentiate the two, I’ll also allow for a middle ground possibility of a bifurcated decision with the individual tourist reopening a few weeks after the entry cap elimination. Let’s say that happens in early November.
This is would allow a bit of wiggle room for Japan’s slow and belabored decision-making process that involves a lot of “careful consideration” and “evaluating the situation.” If anything has been well-established during the last two-plus years, it’s that inaction is Japan’s baseline, and anything that does happen occurs gradually and in stages.
Finally, the worst-case scenario is that Japan instead opts to revive its “Go to Travel” campaign just in time for fall colors season, and uses that to buoy the tourism sector through December. It’s possible the country views this as sufficient for tourism businesses to stave off bankruptcy or other financial hardship for another few months.
If/when there’s another winter resurgence in cases, the reopening can would effectively be kicked down the road for a few more months. That would mean individual tourists would not be welcomed back to Japan until sometime in the first half of 2023. I’m inclined to say Spring 2023, but it’s easy to envision a worst-case that isn’t until summer.
Our view is that the worst-case scenario is now highly unlikely. Japan relaxed its border measures earlier in September while still being #1 in the world for new cases. This indicates that Japan is finally ready to move forward and sets the precedent for future changes during waves. Who knows–it still may take until early 2023 to fully downgrade the legal status of COVID. But whatever winter wave occurs (and one will happen), that’s unlikely to be an obstacle to reopening progress, as was the case last year.
With all of that in mind, we remain cautiously optimistic that individual tourists will be allowed to enter Japan sooner rather than later. The political and economic appetite for fully relaxation now clearly exists, and there’s a vocal chorus of politicians in Japan–including those who were previously in favor of closed borders–championing reopening. It’s now the popular position being advanced publicly by politicians, not just being advocated by Keidanren or Japan’s business lobby.
Japan fully reopening in full is all but inevitable at this point. It will happen soon. The end is near.
It’s thus our view that Japan reopening in some capacity to individual tourists in October is a very realistic scenario. As improbable as it might’ve seemed even a week ago, Japan welcoming back international visitors who are not part of tours (guided or unguided) sometime before November is likely. It’s pretty clear the government is focused on moving forward. As frustrating as this whole process has been, Japan is not still (completely) stuck in March 2020.
As always, Japan is cautious and conservative, with a slow and belabored decision-making process that often embodies “analysis paralysis” and usually defies logic. That’s a wild card that could further extend any timeline. However, Japan is now joining the rest of the world as people are ready to move on with life.
We’ll keep watching the news and keep you posted if/when there are further developments about Japan reopening and allowing entry to travelers from the United States, Canada, Europe, and beyond. Again, if you’d like to be notified as soon as more details are released or rumored, subscribe to our free email newsletter for ongoing updates and alerts:
If you’re planning a visit to Japan, our recommendation at this point is to target sometime in November at the earliest. In our view, koyo (autumn leaves) season is a good bet, and that takes place from mid-November through December. That’s simply a good time to visit Japan and, hopefully, the country will be open to individual tourists by then.
Speaking of which, check out our Japan Fall Colors Forecast & Autumn Foliage Viewing Guide to get started on planning your trip to visit Japan’s popular fall foliage cities, including Kyoto, Tokyo, Mount Fuji, Miyajima, Hiroshima, Himeji, and Nara. That also offers tips for avoiding crowds and strategy for visiting the best temples, shrines, and evening illuminations.
If you’re planning a trip to the Japan, check out our other posts about Japan for ideas on other things to do! We also recommend consulting our Ultimate Guide to Kyoto and Ultimate Guide to Tokyo to plan.
Your Thoughts
Would you consider visiting Japan later this year, or is international travel out of the question for you anytime soon? How do you view the news about guided tours? Think those will stick around for several months, or are simply theater to shift public opinion? Think the need to adapt and live with the endemic virus will outweigh fear when it comes to Japan’s reopening plans? Any thoughts or tips of your own to add? If you’re planning your trip to Japan, what do you think about these itineraries? Any questions? Hearing your feedback about your experiences is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts or questions below in the comments!
Sharing what the tour experience is like here for a laugh, this is from https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/05/27/national/package-tour-trial-conditions/
“Every morning, local tour staff check their temperatures and health status. Each time they get on the bus, someone is at the door to spray their hands with sanitizer. The small group has been asked to keep their masks on as much as possible, and refrain from eating on the bus. Talking in restaurants should be kept at a minimum.”
My niece, her husband and their children live in Japan (US citizens on work Visas). I am hoping to go see them in September 2022. After reading updated info we are thinking I can put in a request for Visitors Visa to see family. If Covid restrictions lift for individual tourists in August, would I need a Visa to travel there in September?
Just want to make any international non-married couples aware that as of today, you can apply for a visa to see your partner. I believe you’re meant to be engaged as a minimum, but in reality, I don’t think it’s going to be much of an issue as it would be hard to prove either way.
See here for more details; https://t.co/9WNJLzaoFi
Another detail is that I believe you can now apply for a visa to attend a wedding or funeral.
Shame this didn’t happen sooner as I’ve missed one of my best friends weddings as a result of the border measures, but still, good news for everyone else.
This is interesting but there is not much information. How would one go about apply for this do you think? I have tons of photos, messages, flight tickets and hotel reservation receipts that I could use as proof. Also both of our parents would be willing to say the relationship is genuine.
I used to think that asians in general were smart but they’re just as stupid as a human can be… covid cases will never disappear, sometimes they will be on rise and sometimes they won’t, virus is never going away so closing a country based on these numbers is stupid, governments actually hurt more they’re own country and its people with restrictions on the economy that the actual damage the virus caused.
https://newsdig.tbs.co.jp/articles/-/58803?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
To me, it looks as though they’re heading down the route of requiring tourists to take out private medical insurance. Personally, I don’t feel like this is an issue for Western tourists (I always take it out when travelling outside of the EU), but admittedly, I have no idea how common it is for Asian tourists.
Anyway, this takes care of part of the issue of “what happens when tourists get covid”. The only question left to answer is “what happens when tourists test positive, but aren’t ill enough to require medical attention”. For travellers that spend the majority of their time at one hotel, I believe the guidance they already have for quarantine hotels would surely be sufficient enough as a starting point to base the policy on. I also think that the APA chain of hotels is already using some of their hotels for outpatient covid cases, so I’m sure there is lessons that have been learnt there. Issues remain for tourists that aren’t at one hotel for an extended period of time. Perhaps the current facilities that cater for positive cases that aren’t isolating at home could be extended, as foreign tourists have been shown to not result in large numbers of additional cases worldwide.
As I’ve said before, I’m not entirely sure what the difference is between a foreign tourist in Kyoto or a Japanese one from Tokyo that tests positive and can’t use public transport to get home or leave their hotel to get food, etc, but apparently some people feel like there’s a difference and a problem to be solved. Perhaps they feel like the language barrier could be an issue, but this issue has arisen thousands of times around the world and no major issue has ever come of it, and isn’t really any different from any other medical emergency in which the vast majority end up getting by.
While I think it’s ridiculous that Japan is ignoring how the rest of the world got through this issue, it is still a solvable one using protocol Japan has already or will soon come up with.
Whether tourists will respond kindly to the requirement for medical insurance is up to them (as in, the people reading this), but it would be again out of sync with Japan’s G7 peers or most other advanced nations (mainly it is developing countries which now require insurance).
Yet for the time being, the protocol Japan has come up with is to clump all tourists into groups and constantly affix an interpreter/guide with them for their entire trip to handle any issue, and then have the backing of an overseeing tour company to provide support as needed. Obviously, this is neither replicable at a mass scale nor possible with individual tourists.
But I hope the example of the Thai travel agent who got Covid on the “test tour” isn’t used as the way forward: the other 3 people traveling together were all sequestered (actually, they may still be in isolation now) and the rest of the tour was cancelled. If this is the protocol for the upcoming tours, that would be ridiculous. I doubt tourists will respond kindly to possibility of having their whole tour wrecked because someone else got Covid. But at least they might get some of it reimbursed by their travel insurance (perhaps that’s the real reason it will be required).
Once again, Japan is painting itself into new corners with more unique requirements to mitigate any situation which make it even more logistically unfeasible for solo tourists.
Even without Covid, Japan is layered with contingency planning for nearly all aspects of governance (its just how they do things), so how they ultimately create a playbook for all things of Tourism+Covid will be either a fine-tuned machine, or a massive illogical fiasco (I’ve seen both in the way things are done). But if lucky, they will just scrap it all and just throw open the doors as if Covid never existed (its rare, but that give-up response does happen too)
Supposedly, I saw that on June 7th (3 days before the tours are to be allowed) the new “guidelines” for the tours will be announced.
Yeah, I can’t see many people paying for overpriced tours with the risk of having it completely cancelled because of a singular covid case in the group.
I agree, and hope for the same thing, I was just posting to show there are definitely ways round the problem, if Japan continues to see it as one (despite the rest of the world not doing so).
As you say, Kishida said that the protocols will be announced on the 7th, so let’s wait and see. Hopefully, there will be some small hints about how they plan on going forward with regular tourism.
Yeah, I think many things will indeed be leaked (to the public) about the plan but agencies will certainly be given inside info.
According to Thai news (which quotes JNTO) the tour groups will be 10 people max, include all meals (so no free movement probably), and people need to get visas themselves (the already backlogged embassies will love that).
(in English)
https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2318470/pricey-japan-packages-set-to-go-on-sale
And somehow Hong Kong travel agencies are already selling tours for June (which include 7 day hotel stays back in Hong Kong for their mandatory return quarantine).
(in English)
https://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking-news/section/4/190723/Five-to-six-tours-ready-to-visit-Japan:-travel-agency
(in Chinese)
https://www.wwpkg.com.hk/tour/landing?
How perfect:
One of the people (a Thai travel agent) in the trial tours got Covid. All traveling together are now quarantined.
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/3d211ad5c273265bce6eeb21f97e885049c45349
Article in English:
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/05/30/national/trial-package-tour-covid19-case/
You win. Congratulations. Very happy for you. Bravo. Wow amazing just amazing prediction omg I’m staggered
If you thing I’m somehow happy about this, I’m not.
I wonder how the optics of this will shape out. It could be seen as reinforcing the “dirty gaijin” stereotypes, but it’s equally possible that it was contracted in Japan (especially since I believe they’ve been doing regular testing prior to and during these tours). So maybe it would reinforce that the virus is indeed endemic, and that it won’t always be the gaijin passing it onto the Japanese.
Regardless, whether reasonable or not, it’s sure to create negative ripples in Japanese opinions when it comes to hospital capacity and other logistical concerns.
Hopefully it’ll result in guidance for when tourists contract the virus more quickly than it would’ve done before. This was always going to happen, Japan has higher case rates than the majority of countries that are able to travel to it from June. I don’t really think this changes anything outside of news articles for the week.
https://t.co/YrnCazYwCE
This is a helpful step. Andy, I believe you said this might be against the constitution back when I mentioned it in April, despite it being planned since 2020, but honestly, I think it’s a good policy, regardless of the pandemic, and no doubt it’ll be required for the foreseeable.
“.”, I always appreciate your optimistic but level-headed and grounded opinions. Thanks!
I’m not against medical insurance necessarily, but it would affect the Japanese goal of attracting an ever higher number of tourists (the target is still 60 million for 2030, about double of 2019). Any extra hinderance only dissuades people, especially short term visitors of a few days. (but who knows, maybe it will be pretty standard for everyone to continually have someday)
There would probably be legal considerations for requiring it with regular visitors and tourists, particularly those entering with visa-exemptions (EU, US, AU, SK, etc). Within a tour (which currently needs a visa) they can probably stipulate such a requirement without much issue. But for future non-tour tourists, I think they will need a legal mandate.
Well, let’s be honest, they aren’t getting anywhere near those numbers when China is pursuing Zero-Covid. I believe they make up around a third of the pre-pandemic tourists. A lot of the Japanese media and citizens forget about this when it comes to a number of issues.
https://t.co/WijQorwrma
Definitely seems like it’s heading in the direction of being mandatory for tourists. Personally, I’ve always taken it out while travelling and I don’t really think it’ll be an issue with western travellers, but admittedly, I have no idea how common it is among Asian tourists.
What a joke. Group tours… If I want a group tour I go and visit Nork Korea.
Currently visiting Singapore (before South Korea trip) and the more annoyed that I have seen many Japanese tourists here. It is beyond parody
Yeah makes me sick to see JP tourists walking around in UK. Not only that but totally maskless too. Unfair for sure but when has the world even been fair?
Our countries are a bunch of cowards. This would end the day EU, UK and US grow some balls and start applying visa reciprocity.
The EU have already said revoking Japanese visa free status is a possibility. It’s likely to become more of an issue if it isn’t resolved by August.
Yeah, EU is monitoring the situation up close and trying dialogue with japanese authorities. They praised South Korea and criticized Japan lack of reciprocity.
If no sign of “normal reopen” is given by mid-August things will start to get bad.
EU might be the main responsible of a proper reopening sooner than later, since it would hurt hard losing visa free to Europe.
The screwed up part is Kishida got his headlines for free. Western news outlets claiming Japan has opened for tourism after 2 years. It’s infuriating but hey that’s the world we are living in. Eventually they will reopen for real but I for one will never look at Japan the same way again. Trust is broken and genie is out of the bottle
Again whats in it for AndyO? You live in Japan and are able to weasel in and out freely so why bother posting here?
AndyO, once again, the logistical problems you speak of are not the “cause” but the “consequence” of the Japanese government’s political choices. Japan is different from other countries because its government has deliberately made different decisions from the rest of the free world. Japan is different because it “wants” to be different (i.e., prohibiting the free movement of foreigners but not of its citizens).
A little anecdote regarding the Japanese mentality and the pandemic: a friend of Japanese nationality with a foreign spouse had managed to obtain a visa last Spring and had arranged to travel back to visit her elderly parents whom she had not seen for 2 years. Upon informing them that she would be returning for a couple of weeks, the parents themselves specifically told her not to come back because the presence of her foreign husband would have embarrassed the family with neighbors and friends (a city near Tokyo, not exactly in the countryside).
My Japanese wife’s family feels the same way, but not because I’m a foreigner.
They don’t want my wife driving to their house in her car because we live several prefectures away and they are concerned about their neighbors seeing her license plate (saying its from a different prefecture) parked in their driveway.
The covid anxiety (ramped up by the gov) isn’t exclusively based on foreigners.
Sorry to disagree with you again, in the case I was talking about, it was instead explicitly related to the fact that the spouse was a foreigner (no license plate but gaijin face). However, even in your case there would be much to comment on….
PS
The logistical problems you speak of in a post below are not the “cause” but the “consequence” of the Japanese government’s political choices.
Agreeing with Cali43
Oh really Cali43? I can travel freely?
Due to Japan’s inept system of vaccine and booster distribution which is administered by local governments, I am not scheduled to get my booster until next month (June 9th actually). I’ve mentioned this repeatedly, if you recall.
Therefore, under the rules still in place, if I tried to re-enter Japan today I would need to quarantine. This has been the case for me ever since April 2020. This also applies to my wife (a Japanese citizen). She will be getting her booster with me in June.
I find this particularly annoying being that three days ago Japan started giving out 4th booster shots to the elderly, while my wife and I can’t even get our 3rd.
Thankfully on June 1st Japan is finally removing its vaccine requirements to enter, So we no longer would need to quarantine on return… but where can we go? Many countries still require a booster to enter, so we still need to wait to “freely” travel until we get that booster.
I still remain unconvinced that the election is unrelated to the border measures. I’m not saying the election is the ONLY reason, but there is absolute zero risk (or reward, in reality) letting in monitored tourists, but gives business the impression things are moving forward, whilst providing “security” to the voting population. It’s win-win. I predicted something along these lines a couple of months ago, as it’s an easy political win across the board, “helping” business and “protecting” everyone else.
I’m not predicting them to throw open the borders right after the election, but I expect significant movement late summer, which also happens to be around the time Germany & Poland (and the EU has a whole) might want visa-free reciprocity, too, as these group tourists are required to get visas via their travel agents.
https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/coronavirus/20220526-31952/
Ahh!!!!!!! So frustrating, however Japan is reopening, albeit at glacier pace. Skoshitsteu
Excellent news! I for one love the peace of mind of having a tour guide grasping my movement and telling me what to do/where to go. This was there will be no surprises + I love riding buses.
What, it shall be tour-only as the first step well into the summer if not autumn??!!
I never could have guessed.
I mean, the majority of the “logistic” issues you’ve mentioned will be removed as of next month, and this also supports the election a huge part of the decision making, so why are you being so needlessly sarcastic to others when you’ve been wrong yourself?
Wrong? Actually, I specifically said that Japan will not re-open unless it somehow manages its logistic issues regarding how they wish to deal with Covid.
For one, I repeatedly noted that the entry restrictions for testing on arrival were untenable in a large scale due to their own capacity limits, so testing would need to first be scrapped to allow any normal tourism in significant numbers (yes, they scrapped them sooner than anyone including me ever imagined, but as noted, Japan was logistically incapable with maintaining arrival testing if seeking to increase arrivals in a meaningful way.)
I also noted that Japan needs to logistically manage any tourists within the country who may feel sick, actually catch covid and need to isolate, or just simply have a fever but are refused entry to their hotel. Did they manage this? Not for individual tourists, hence why they went with the tour groups (I also noted that they would most likely go the group route). But that issue still remains for any future non-group tourists, so it still need to be addressed.
And by going with the tours, the tourists can have their tour company be responsible to logistically arrange their departure testing if necessary (it is still required to return to the US and elsewhere), so the government sidestepped dealing the issue of finally offering widespread, easily-available, multi-lingual testing (yeah, I called that too.) But again, unless pre-flight tests are scrapped worldwide, then this is something which needs to be allowed for individual tourists to easily do within Japan if they are to be let in.
And if someone does catch Covid while in Japan, particularly if they test positive the day before they intended to depart due to the pre-flight test their home country may still require, then the tour company will be able to logistically manage their quarantine, treatment, further testing, and re-scheduling of new flights. Japan still has no arranged guidelines or methods for individual tourists to do this, and until they do, individual tourists will not be allowed (again, I noted this issue long ago too.)
So again, until Japan is able to logistically manage all those things without the need for tour companies to act as middle-men (and/or translators), then it will not fully re-open to unrestricted individual tourists… just as I’ve been saying the whole time.
But go ahead, judge me, call me names, say I’m a gov shill, or just ignore me, but how this is playing out is not a surprise to me. Its not xenophobia, racism, politics, or a suicidal death-wish towards the tourism industry which is keeping Japan closed (well, maybe its a little politics…). The main reason Japan remains closed is logistical ineptitude due to archaic methods and illogical thinking.
I think the salient point–and one that others repeatedly tried to hammer home–is that Japan is not unique, it could simply do what every other country in the world has done when it comes to reopening in order to not overwhelm infrastructure. If I recall correctly, you didn’t see how this was conceivably possible, much in the same way you’re now creating these insurmountable barriers for logistics post-arrival.
As before, the answer can be found in literally every other country that has been accepting tourists for the better part of the last year. The rest of us know it can be done, because it has been done.
I don’t think you’re a government shill or any of that, but your long list of problems ignores the lived experience of…everywhere else. And it no longer works to claim that Japan is logistically inept, slow-moving, etc. They’ve demonstrated with the new arrival process/policies that they’re now willing to take big steps.
Jeez, are you really incapable of saying you haven’t been wrong about anything?
I’ll refrain from making a list, but it’s no wonder people will call your names if you reply to people with such arrogance,when the reality is you’re as clueless as the rest of us.
Funny Tom that you say Japan is not unique… yet Japan continues to uniquely only allow group tours (something no advanced country attempted or considered. So it seems like Japan found its own answer without looking to any other country).
But let me honestly say, I do love your article photos. They are well done and certainly capture Japan’s (for lack of a better word) uniqueness.
And you say that Japan is no longer slow moving, when you yourself complain how its taken 2 years for Japan to finally catch up to the rest of the world (but unlike the rest of the world, it is still not yet fully re-open… which, umm, does mean it is still quite slow).
I mainly said that it was not conceivable possible for Japan to maintain its own self-imposed restrictions (border testing, vax requirements, booster need, internal testing availability, isolation issues, etc) due to its own logistical limits.
The fact that Japan is removing the border restrictions (as opposed to trying to logistically maintain them in a mass scale that allows tourists) doesn’t mean those issues never existed. They simply solved the logistics by scrapping the restrictions.
But as noted, it still hasn’t explained how it intends to handle a sick tourist without a tour company to manage them, or allow tourists to get easily tested to go home. Can they solve this? Sure. I won’t speculated how, but it would still be a logistical challenge if only due to the language barrier.
I clearly said, repeatedly, that Japan would need to somehow solve and/or scrap many of these restrictions if it was to ever fully re-open to unrestricted individual tourists, and until they did, it would at best only allow limited group tours, which is what they are doing.
Andy, I’ve a question.
The main point you keep telling us that would prevent a full individual reopening is “what to do with a sick tourist if he gets covid”
Why is this a thing? Why it would be so much of a hassle if a foreigner catches covid? Why not just isolate the person at the hotel? How is it different from a japanese testing positive? How would they know, once inside the country?
And most important: Why methods that have worked in any other country, including Japan’s close partners like South Korea, Australia or even SEA nations, doesn’t work on Japan? Why they just don’t copy other countries if they are not capable of coming up with a “logistic resolution” of their own?
Leonidas, honestly, I do not truly know the full reason “why” it is such an issue, it just is. But I do hope to create understanding here:
Perhaps the foundations of the Covid-related concerns come from the Diamond Princess debacle (that was the cruise ship full of early Covid mostly foreign passengers that was marooned at port in Japan in Jan/Feb 2020). At that time, the government had no idea what to do, and it turned into a mess. This was essentially how Japan was introduced to Covid.
But if anything, the government’s “solution” to this issue for the following 2+ years was: “well, if there are no foreign tourists, then dealing with anything like that again won’t be a problem.”
Afterwards, all further “solutions” to managing Covid were based on a person’s residency (the “koseki” system) and handled by their local government, from vaccines, to treatment, to insurance, to financial support payments, to covid layoffs, to quarantine, etc etc.
It was all managed top-down through koseki (residence registration) based on the person’s municipality, which is something a tourist doesn’t have. But notice, which foreigners did they finally let in first 4 months ago? It was new residents (students and workers) who would be getting a koseki since they would be establishing residency, as well as sponsored business people with a sponsoring company that was acting more like a covid-system koseki guarantor in lieu of a local government.
And now, who comes next? Its group tourists with coverage just like those businessmen, with the tour company being the sponsoring guarantor.
Individual tourists have no guarantor, hence why there are none let in yet. So the covid-management system needs to be altered if they are to be let in.
If a Japanese gets Covid (in theory) their testing, treatment, quarantine, follow-up, insurance, etc is all managed through their municipality. Yes, many people go unreported, and many get sick far away home, and when that happens, its a stack of (probably faxed) paperwork to figure it out, particularly with the insurance issues. And normal hotels or any other accommodation are not sanctioned as places for isolation and quarantine. Thats just how it is.
But aside from this top-down Covid management which does not currently allow for alternatives (such as tourists who are not in the “system”), there is also the latent anxiety most Japanese have towards foreigners. And this anxiety goes far beyond Covid.
Many non-Japanese see this worry as “xenophobia”, and while I will agree its a phobia, and indeed one based on foreign-ness, its not actually a racist attitude. It’s more like an inferiority complex (I will probably get a heap of scorn saying that), but they also have a strong sense of responsibility born into them through society.
To illustrate, all Japanese under about age 60 spent 6 years in school studying English (add 4 more years if they went to college) and anyone 50 or younger did so with an actual native speaking foreigner teaching them the whole time. Yet, good luck finding a competent English speaker in Japan. But again, they ALL learned it, so when confronted with a situation of needing to speak English, they clam up and feel inner shame. This shame/fear gives anxiety for dealing with a foreigner in any situation (I’ve literally gotten out of driving tickets by acting to the police like I spoke no Japanese and only English, and they couldn’t respond so they just let me go), which runs counter to their inner call to be helpful and responsible. And aside from the police, there are hotel staff, restaurant waiters, taxi drivers, nurses, and especially government workers who all feel the same way inside: “yeah, I really should be able to communicate with this foreigner here, but I just can’t. What do I do? Ahh! Inner meltdown…”
Multiply this by every ryokan, hotel, guest house, AirBnB, minpaku, campground, koban, clinic, and hospital within Japan… yet now the government needs a way to get them to also function with the added stress called Covid.
But if you got a solution, please come to Japan (as soon as you are allowed) and spread your gospel. Don’t waste your time saying to me: “Well, why don’t they just do this…”
There’s going to be some sort of announcement tomorrow, FYI.
Looks like an intentional leak given that it’s hitting many major Japanese news sources simultaneously: https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2022/05/07c03f97fe7d-breaking-news-japan-mulls-resuming-foreign-tourist-entry-in-june.html
My girlfriend lives in Japan and according to her the Japanese news is saying its an announcement for monitored tour groups only. Hopefully that is wrong and we finally get the announcement we have all ben hoping for tomorrow.
More than likely. I’m hoping we get some sort of roadmap out of it, though. Probably not all that likely given what we’ve had to deal with so far, but still, a man can dream.
Here is the Japanese article I was referring to in Japanese and English translation.
政府は、6月1日から1日あたりの入国者数の上限を現在の1万人から2万人まで倍増させる方針で、観光客もこの2万人の枠の中で受け入れる。感染予防の観点から、行動が管理しやすい団体客からの受け入れを想定している。
From June 1st, the government plans to double the maximum number of immigrants per day from the current 10,000 to 20,000, and tourists will be accepted within this 20,000 limit. From the viewpoint of infection prevention, we are assuming acceptance from group customers whose behavior is easy to manage.
“From group customers who’s behavior is easy to manage”
To be fair, there are plenty of Japanese outlets not assuming that, so we’re just gonna have to wait and see. It’ll be a step in the right direction anyway, as stupid as limiting it to group tours is.
The announcement is they are allowing some more package tours from June 6th.
Looking that way.
Why bother, IMHO, if your travel isn’t necessary? 65% of the population doesn’t want us. I’m going to Korea.
Enjoy your time in Korea. Be sure to (not) visit one of the many “Members Only” nightclubs and bars!
Latest polls from multiple outlets show a (very small) majority for reopening now, actually.
We are hoping to visit our daughter in late June but have refundable tix. I am curious about the Japanese voter: do they vote on macroeconomic issues, with sentiments fixed months in advance like the US? Or will they respond the theater of a couple dozen tourists as economic stimulus? Or real stimulus of opening to tourism? Or will the politicians be afraid of the anti-tourism sentiment of the older voter and delay any meaningful opening until after elections? It’s really fascinating, as long as your business isn’t dependent upon this. As a physician much involved in this pandemic planning, I am baffled by Japan’s current response, as the virus cannot be “kept out,” and the hundred of thousands of humans already traveling overseas are no different than tourists as vectors. Smacks of xenophobia.
Yes its a curious mixture of cowardice, ineptitude and xenophobia but thats one of the reasons why Japan is Japan and why foreigners are intrigued by it.
Somehow Japan already put together these tours and the first one from the US arrives today (May 24).
A total of 7 people, split into 2 groups.
On a positive note, I can attest that this was one of the fastest reactions of actually making something happen related to anything Covid in 2+ years of the pandemic, so maybe they really do wish to get the country open ASAP.
Here’s an article about it (Japanese):
https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/179056
Here’s the follow up about their arrival yesterday.
But judging from the article picture, Japan obviously doesn’t want to somehow scare any local people with a tour of foreign-looking people.
https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2022/05/319e72619a1c-7-from-us-land-in-japan-for-1st-test-tours-before-tourism-reopening.html
That photo gave me a chuckle for the same reason, but it’s also a good reminder for the Japanese that they aren’t just shutting out unruly Westerners. These are presumably JTB travel agents, and many of the groups from California and Hawaii look almost exactly like this.
My wife and I recently returned from Japan having been able to obtain visas to visit our son, his Japanese wife and our granddaughter living in Kyoto. We travelled from Heathrow on 3 May via Frankfurt, Tokyo and Osaka. The entry process in Tokyo was efficient but took quite a time to get through the various procedures for Covid checking and PCR testing. The SOS App was a must for all passengers, and the process would be impossible with it and all the necesssry documents having been uploaded successfully. Quite a task. Because we both had our three vaccination certificates and tested negative on arrival, we did not have to isolate for the three days, although the SOS App did follow our movements for the first three days. We were obviously delighted to be with family and the very few western tourists made the whole trip easy and memorable. We returned on ANA airline following the same route as before. ANA are a superb airline and we can recommend it. Hope this helps.
Thanks for this analysis. I am a business owner in the inbound tourism industry in Japan, and my business has been nearly completely wiped out since February 2020. I obviously follow the news about re-opening and have formed my own opinions about what we’re hearing, but it’s good to see what other well-informed people who have skin in the game think about it. It has been pretty demoralising over the last year watching country after country open back up, and to hear nothing yet from our government about when that might happen for us here.
If they would just come out and tell us what their plan is, we wouldn’t have to speculate like this. Rumours thrive in an absence of authoritative information. It would also let me set a timeline for when I can take bookings, instead of telling everybody who contacts that, “I don’t know”.
My husband and I are visiting Japan now. We finally managed to secure visas (after being rejected many times) because our son and his family are living here. We made a case that we would be providing essential child care for our two small grandchildren, which we are, and eventually the consulate in NYC agreed to let us go. We arrived at the beginning of May and will be leaving in June.
When we arrived we were tested at the airport but were not required to isolate because we were vaccinated and boosted. We were however required to download the Myos app to stay in touch.
We are staying in Tokyo and it is delightfully empty compared to the other time we were here pre-pandemic.
Why did you need a visa?
By mid-June I think we’ll get a definitive picture.
It’s really hard to believe that Japan, after such absurdly strict measures for so long, would next month just go “hey y’all, we’ll be open from July 1st, just come in!”.
But at the same, how would they manage reopening only for Group Tours?
Australia and some other SEA countries also went from almost fully closed to tourists to reopening massively at once so it wouldn’t be exclusive to Japan, but just very, very, VERY surprising lol
Thanks Tom, interesting article. I have booked flights with Japan Airlines – SYD to FRA via Tokyo. Noting the current uncertain situation I still took the risk of booking given I was only transiting through Tokyo. However, I was a bit eager to lock in flights at a pretty good price and neglected to fully consider the fact that I arrive in Haneda (from Sydney) but fly out of Narita to Frankfurt the next day. So I will have to ‘enter’ Japan in order to transit. If the current situation remains or other restrictions impact my capacity to enter Japan, then I’m going to be out of luck. My back up plan might be to change my outbound flight to Paris, as it leaves from Haneda. Meaning I could stay airside overnight in a hotel or sleep on the terminal floor if necessary. Would staying airside mean I would not be subject to any entry conditions/requirements?
Neglected to say the flight are booked for first week of December 2022
Bro, by December this year even the most anti-foreigner old citizen in Japan will be getting used to seeing tourists again.
You won’t find any restrictions anymore by the time of your flight, even on the worst possible scenario.
“worst possible scenario”, really??!
I can imagine many possibilities that can happen.
Pi variant? Monkey-pox? Taiwan War? Hyper-inflation? The long-awaited covid wave that finally infects 50%+ of Japan?
Don’t even suggest what may be “worst case”.
well, you are AndyO, of course you will bring out things not even Covid related, like Monkey-pox, hyper-inflation and Taiwan War, so that you can keep hopes up of foreigners being out of Japan or return to be banned later.
Please Andy, please. And then you complain why most commenters here judge you.
Andy, you forgot nuclear annihilation.
Ah Leonidas, you think I am trying to damage the expectations of people by stating reality?
Just a few weeks ago here you were telling people, with no evidence to support your feelings, to not get your hopes up and that Japan would be closed for many many months if not the rest of the year.
Well, that’s what Japan is making everyone feel with its uncertainty.
Yes, I was skeptical back then, like Tom was, and many people. You gotta admit that this change of posture is kinda sudden. Many people were believing that no news would come until the election. You said a lot back then that reopening for tourists in a normal way would start only in Fall, in a best case scenario.
Now look at the current headlines about the borders. Can you really blame me for changing opinions? lol
I found one “evidence that supported my feeling” to make that comment back then:
https://www.jcci.or.jp/news/2022/0425144854.html
This was the tone being used by the government exactly 1 month ago: “We would like to do so by the end of this fiscal year if possible, although inbound tourism is still unpredictable”.
“You said a lot back then that reopening for tourists in a normal way would start only in Fall, in a best case scenario.”
Yeah, I’ve been saying that since March… and I still believe that.
These fixed tours that are starting, which exclude individual unrestricted tourists, will probably run through the summer. Such tour-only travel in not “normal”.