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!
AndyO. I thank you for your reply because we finally understood (without your usual ambiguities) how you think, i.e. (in a totally legitimate way) you support the de facto discriminatory policy of the Japanese government against foreigners. Also since you have no arguments you move on to insults. I also point out to you that totally free medical care (regarding all kinds of diseases and not just covid) for both citizens and foreigners (even illegal immigrants…) is present in all EU countries without the need to close the borders for years… As I told you sometimes it can be good to look beyond one’s own backyard (if one is in good faith, but this as is finally clear, is not your case). Finally, I would ask you to read more carefully what I write since you show that you do not fully understand my thinking by accusing me of what I neither wrote nor think.
Your innuendo towards me and infatuation with declaring everything you don’t like as discriminatory is childish.
Does anyone know when the fall diet is supposed to take place?
The problem is that the current situation might lead to all kinds of interpretations like
Might be a long stretch but one can even argue that one of the reasons to refuse to promptly reclassify covid is losing the ability to keep control and limit the amount of foreigners allowed into the country. (much like the chinese tracking apps were first intended to know people’s locations to track the spread of the virus but now seem to be being used by the government as a tool to keep tracking people at all times)
You know, you create a tool for one reason but it ends up fitting perfectly for another shady purpose.
That’s what the ERFS now looks like.
I just wonder why only in Japan (among democracies) they need “to keep control and limit the amount of foreigners allowed into the country”…
Yes, its a long stretch. That’s a ridiculous argument.
AndyO, thanks for your reply. Everything seems incredibly complicated in Japan, especially when it concerns foreigners, so different that it raises (unfounded of course) doubts of xenophobia. Perhaps it would be enough to look outside one’s own little backyard and not simply say “I don’t know” (and therefore don’t care about) the situation in other countries because otherwise it again arises of not being interested in changing things. Instead, it is precisely from comparison with others that one improves (if one wants to). Returning to our topic, the Japanese government has removed the only restriction on Japanese citizens and that is the pre-departure PCR test from abroad (which from a scientific point of view was the only measure that theoretically could make logical sense). So today Japanese citizens can freely travel abroad (without a visa), get infected and re-enter the country unchecked while foreigners have not even been allowed to enter the country for years now. The reason you rightly give is purely bureaucratic (i.e., the classification of covid as an emergency). I believe that sometimes one should think critically and not just say “that’s the way it is” otherwise one ends up accepting any policy by turning the other way (as history and the news teach us). I strongly believe that in this case we are facing de facto discrimination against foreigners and this, I believe, should be clearly stated. The bureaucracy, the hypothetical legal and financial implications of the government that you speak of are only the “consequence” and not the “cause” of such de facto discriminatory policies. If the whole world has solved the alleged problem, evidently in Japan there is no will to do so (and it is not just a matter of bona fide ineptitude of the political class…). Again, this must at least be clearly stated without hiding.
Your infatuation of attributing the Japanese bureaucratic and emergency policies to underlying racism (or “de facto racism”) is disturbing.
You honestly think that the systems designed for how Japan handles an emergency, ANY emergency, has roots in xenophobia? That giving free and unconditional proper health care to all who need it during an emergency is somehow discriminatory?
That’s not racism, its what responsible governments do. A racist/discriminatory policy would be to specifically NOT offer the same emergency care to non-citizens.
But in order to make such care logistically and financially available to all who need it, as well as to prevent things from getting out of hand as much as possible (you know, like when hospitals are overflowing with sick citizens, as they currently are), Japan has opted to strictly limit the number of foreign tourists during this emergency, particularly ones who have no intrinsic purpose to be here other than for their own leisure.
Did you also cry out “Racism!” when Japan closed most of Fukushima Prefecture in 2011 to foreign tourists?
If Japan did not have such an emergency classification for Covid and the foreign tourist restrictions continued without a re-opening schedule for a lengthy amount of time thereafter (not simply the week after the emergency status was finally lifted), then you may have a point.
But to say that “Japan has no will to do so” in removing this emergency status is utterly ridiculous, and to somehow currently suggest that Japan is maintaining the emergency status of Covid, along with all the stress on the health professionals, schools, event organizers, local governments, businesses, and the financial burden this all entails… only in an effort to have a reason for preventing foreign tourists from entering is a pathetic attitude.
So what’s next? Will you say that some evil Japanese biologists were directed by this deeply racist government to secretly create Covid back in 2019, then seeded it into arch-enemy China, all just so that Japan could have a reason for returning to Edo-era xenophobia?
(and by the way, you should really learn to properly “reply” within a comment so that you do not continually re-start threads which are simply referring to a previous comment. It confuses people).
During this Covid emergency Japan is giving free and unconditional proper health care to all who need it.
That’s not racism, its what responsible governments do. A racist/discriminatory policy would be to specifically NOT offer the same emergency care to non-citizens.
But in order to make such care logistically and financially available to all who need it, as well as to prevent things from getting out of hand as much as possible (you know, like when hospitals are overflowing with sick citizens, as they currently are), Japan has opted to strictly limit the number of foreign tourists during this emergency, particularly ones who have no intrinsic purpose to be here other than for their own leisure.
Did you also cry out “Racism!” when Japan closed most of Fukushima Prefecture in 2011 to foreign tourists?
If Japan did not have such an emergency classification for Covid and the foreign tourist restrictions continued without a re-opening schedule for a lengthy amount of time thereafter (not simply the week after the emergency status was finally lifted), then you may have a point.
But to say that “Japan has no will to do so” in removing this emergency status is utterly ridiculous, and to somehow currently suggest that Japan is maintaining the emergency status of Covid, along with all the stress on the health professionals, schools, event organizers, local governments, businesses, and the financial burden this all entails… only in an effort to have a reason for preventing foreign tourists from entering is a pathetic attitude.
AndyO, I can understand the argument, but I’d also like to compare it to the healthcare system in my country (the UK). Here, the government also pays for everything COVID related, unconditionally, including for foreign visitors etc with no questions asked. This is an exception to the norm, because usually foreign visitors need to pay for medical treatment. We have had unrestricted and very busy/active tourism for most of this year, and never at any point banned foreigners or suspended visa waivers (at most, quarantine was required from some countries for short periods). Everything is completely normal, there’s no state of emergency. Hospitals are fine. We just passed a massive BA.5 wave without issues.
Japan is not a third world country with a poor healthcare system. In fact, they have significantly more hospital beds per capita compared to the UK. They are
very well placed to deal with COVID.
Why do they need to have an “emergency status” with all it entails in order to pay for COVID related stuff? Why not just do as the UK has and say “we will pay for COVID treatment as an exception” while essentially operating as normal? Rhetorical question obviously as we don’t know the answer. But Japan seems to be shooting itself in the foot with its own unnecessary rules here.
Gav, I can’t make international comparisons and doing such for the most part is meaningless with any health, social, or policy issue. Every country has its own way, so either accept it or leave it.
But sadly, I just found out a few minutes ago that my local hospital today has closed to any new patients since too many of the staff currently have Covid (aside from being the only one in the area, it is one of only 4 hospitals in my prefecture that is a qualified Covid treatment hospital). Somehow I don’t think this is presently comparable to the situation where you live in the UK, so let’s agree not to compare.
But you really nailed it perfectly with “Japan seems to be shooting itself in the foot with its own unnecessary rules here.” I’ve said this repeatedly (I often say “painting itself into a corner”) and I couldn’t agree more.
(and yet, somehow this makes me an apologist for claims of racism and discrimination)
AndyO, your argument up until now can be summarized as:
“Well sure I agree Japan’s rules are stupid and don’t make sense. But they’re also completely understandable. Here’s a list of reasons why Japan is special in this regard. What? No, I never said Japan was special. In fact, I agree that what they’re doing is stupid and doesn’t make sense. But it’s also completely understandable…”
Let me adjust that for you Jake, its a bit off:
“Well sure I agree Japan’s rules may seem stupid and don’t make sense TO YOU. But they’re also completely understandable FROM THE JAPANESE POINT OF VIEW. Here’s a list of reasons why Japan HAS CONFIGURED THEMSELVES TO HAVE THESE RIDICULOUS ISSUES. What? No, I never said I agree, but considering the corner they painted themselves into with issue after issue after issue, it’s also completely understandable that they can’t simply click their heals and throw the doors open immediately.”
Fixed it.
That…was one hell of a convoluted way of agreeing with what I said.
The below is from HIS USA YouTube, upload 7 Horus ago. I found it interesting how they are talking about the “next” phase involving visa waiver as per digital minister tweeted. Don’t read too much into it but for HIS Travel to state that seems we are onto the right path, just a matter of when …
https://youtu.be/p_gPMpQkjT8
Thanks for the updates.
Like many other people I have rescheduled multiple times and currently am scheduled for 12/5/2022. I’m experienced and don’t need a group or a guide. I just want to go back.
I think the ski resorts would really appreciate getting open as soon as possible. December would probably be OK for them. They’ve had a really rough time for 3 winters in a row now, they shouldn’t have to suffer anymore.
To avoid chaos, it will be better for Japan to open its broders “off-season”…….say..in December 2022.
Doesn’t the next Diet only convene in Jan 2023 ? I thought it was something like Jan-April. If this requires a change in law and they only meet once a year it won’t be December.
They can hold sessions in the Autumn, so it doesn’t necessarily have to wait until then.
They can but nothing is scheduled as of now besides the extraordinary session at the beginning of August (?). It doesn’t sound like any package is going to ready for consideration anytime soon.
Isn’t the so awaited extraordinary Fall diet supposed to happen this September?
Anw I also think that while November is still a possibility, December is a better bet.
For those who “hur dur” winter, it’s important to know that this is assuming the reclassification is approved. This means Japan would finally see covid as influenza and thus rendering the border control useless. Also, for those who remember, if it wasn’t for Omicron, the infamous monitored tours would have started December last year.
With autumn gone, december would also be perfect for them to have some time to prepare for what will surely be a MASSIVE influx of tourists next Spring lol
“Off Season” would be after the New Years period, starting about the second week of January after the Coming of Age holiday.
I don’t know what chaos we foreigner will bring to peak season, especially if there still will be daily cap on arrivals. Also, the largest percentage of tourists in Japan were Chinese and they cannot go overseas any time soon so I doubt there will be any overwhelming effects
I just wanted to leave a comment regarding the future return of visa waivers for Japan, since some commenters have said it will never return. Apart from Taro Kono’s tweet today linked further down, there is evidence that Japan has been developing a dual electronic system, comprising eVisa (already active in North America) and JAVES (JapanVisaExemptionSystem). Here is link to a document, which is outdated, but presumably part of the pre-COVID preparations for this system since it mentions being implemented in 2020. It’s in French, and pertains to Chinese (eVisa) and Indonesian (JAVES) nationals. Presumably they were intending to roll it out to those countries initially to test the systems. The visa waiver for Indonesia is shown as 15 days as long as you have a biometric passport, the same rules as pre-COVID. The JAVES system is explained as an electronic authorization to travel, similar to K-ETA and ESTA. The current private policy of the North America eVisa application site mentions JAVES, so it does not appear to have been scrapped, it is just not active yet. I suspect we will see this system activated when they decided to reinstate visa waivers, the timing of which remains to be seen. Perhaps they will bring back visa waivers for certain countries first, rather than all 68 at one time.
https://www.evisa.mofa.go.jp/pdf/top_before_use_fr.pdf
AndyO, you write: “If Covid is still considered to some degree an emergency, having a responsible “sponsor” would diminish the legal (and financial) responsibility of the government over any foreign tourist who caught the disease while in the country.” Sincerely assuming that you are right, I wonder if all the other governments in the whole world have had this same question about their responsibilities in case any of the millions of tourists who are visiting e.g. European capitals right now get covid disease. Does only the Japanese government have this kind of legal (and financial) responsibility?
I can not speak for what other countries do since I neither live there or participate in their health system decisions.
As far as Japan, I can only explain the situation as it currently exists (to the best of my knowledge). I shall not debate on its merits or compare with elsewhere. It is what it is.
Currently, with Covid classified as an emergency, fees for everything related to Covid are free to everyone. It does not matter how or why the person is in Japan. Since it’s an emergency, no questions are asked (this would also be the case in any emergency situation like a tsunami, flood, or earthquake). So if a person is in Japan right now and gets Covid, their fees are covered, including testing (when directed by a doctor due to symptoms), treatment, quarantine, food and check-ups during quarantine, hospital and ICU if necessary, and even special transport to/from anywhere when needed including initial pick-up to be taken to quarantine.
I personally know of 3 people here (two as visiting family, one on a business visa) who have caught Covid in the past couple months who had everything paid by the government (and the business person needed quite a lot since he had no home to quarantine in and was sent off to a special hotel for a week).
Also, when sick and in a special quarantine facility (especially when alone) the person gets multiple daily calls, texts, and Skype chats to update on their condition (and the rooms are equip with thermometers, oxygen level checkers, blood pressure machines, emergency contact buttons, etc), and for foreigners these daily contacts are done through additional translators since the health officials and/or doctors aren’t fluent in non-Japanese languages, including English.
I won’t debate that such measures are probably overkill at this point (though the number of daily Covid deaths in Japan have been at all-time highs for the past week) but obviously none of this would be (or should be) financially or logistically tenable to hundreds of thousands of unregulated tourists floating around the country willy-nilly.
As it stands, if someone shows up sick at a countryside clinic with Covid it is the local government’s responsibility to deal with them, particularly if they are a non-resident to the area (like a tourist). Obviously they do not want any cash-strapped, illiterate, essentially-mute, essentially-homeless, feverish foreigner to be left on the street coughing up a lung with nobody to support them. Fair enough? But by having tour agencies as sponsors, it relieves the burden for local governments to arrange whatever is necessary. Yeah, it may seem like a far fetched scenario, but they make contingencies for everything here, and officials in non-urban areas can get particularly flustered when confronted with a foreigner in distress. Having a sponsor to be responsible as a contingency would give peace of mind to the local governments and hotel operators.
Would simply requiring health insurance change this? Aside from the physical management of a foreign person, as an emergency, again, the system is designed so that all fees are paid without question (that’s what a responsible government would do) so to alter this it means that if seeking medical help in such cases it would require revising the existing laws and systems to somehow exclude tourists in cases of Covid, and I am pretty sure that this is not being considered at all.
Therefore, the only way forward would be to declassify Covid and incorporate it into the existing health system where insurance is actually applicable (see below a response I gave which details what this declassification actually entails, as well as some points regarding the Go To travel program).
https://twitter.com/konotaromp/status/1562666716991086592?t=3HgOlikzYQTl25Y0J8zkeA&s=19
At least one member of Government is public with their desire for visa waiver resumption. Shame it’s not the right one…
It’s good to at least see someone mention “visa waiver”. They have been suspended for nearly 2.5 years and up until now, it hadn’t been mentioned. Some people have been speculating that Japan will require visas permanently going forward. We shouldn’t hang off the words of one MP though. Kono said earlier in the year that he saw the border measures of Japan as unscientific/discriminatory (he questioned why foreigners are subject to different rules to Japanese people, when COVID risk is the same), and nothing changed.
South Korea responded to COVID in a similar way to Japan initially by essentially closing off the country, and next week it will be exactly 1 year since South Korea reinstated visa waivers (in the form of K-ETA on 1st September 2021). It just goes to show how painfully slow Japan is being on this issue.
If visa-waiver programs or visa exemption arrangements are permanently suspended full reciprocity from formerly participating countries is absolutely certain. At least that is under EU, Canadian and US laws (pre-Covid ?) as they currently stand.
Yes, please see K-rin’s post further below for the EUs response from May. Once classification is lowered, there is no excuse left.
Taro also said about Japan needing “new tourism” and having less tourist but more wealthy, so I wouldn’t trust him too much…
I find it weird how Kono mentioned “visa waiver” instead of visa exemption or individual tourists.
Seems like they might be starting to worry a bit about the reciprocity thing since they have zero perspective on accepting individual tourists again.
More like a message in the sense “Hey EU don’t think we forgot about that visa waiver thing alright? Haha” *does nothing about it*
Go To Travel campaign has been suspended again, this time to the end of September: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20220825_17/
I personally don’t expect any major changes for foreign tourists until this domestic campaign is kicked off properly. Hopefully cases will start dropping soon, allowing the government to change the Covid classification and reinstate the Go To Travel campaign, which hopefully paves the way for further relaxations.
I don’t expect any major changes for foreign tourists until the Go To campaign has been completed.
But the supposed next step idea of allowing non-guided self-tours (with all booking done through travel agents) may be installed in the interim while Go To is still happening. The money already put aside for Go To is intended for domestic residents and citizens, and with the requirement for foreign tourists to book via an agent it prevents them from utilizing those discounts.
Also, with the self-tour-via-agency plan it would (maybe?) allow these tourists to enter while the downgrade classification of Covid is still being hashed out (this downgrade will probably not happen with the flip of a switch as most here seem to imagine). If Covid is still considered to some degree an emergency, having a responsible “sponsor” would diminish the legal (and financial) responsibility of the government over any foreign tourist who caught the disease while in the country.
So, once Covid is fully downgraded and its implementation into the existing health system has been fully settled, and then once all Go To money is spent and the program is over (you know, all those lingering logistical things which still need rectifying), you can then expect a more proper re-opening to tourists (though who knows what other junk they will come up with to impede things even more in the interim…)
Genuine question; with the way the Go To travel campaign works, would it even be possible for a tourist to take advantage of it?
Also, whilst I agree it may take time for covid classification to change (it already has considering it has been recommended by the covid panel), does the Government have the power to unilaterally change it on their own, or is parliamentary approval necessary?
I must admit I wasn’t paying attention when things were actually put in place, but other aspects about Japan’s lack of actual laws for covid measures and restrictions are widely known.
In the previous national Go To there was not way to discern if someone was a foreign tourist (then again, why would they since none existed). But the local Got To programs (offered by cities and prefectures) did sometimes limit it to those who were coming from only within the same or sometimes neighboring prefectures. But the bookings were always done via Japanese OTAs (like Rakuten, Rurubu, etc) and details were usually only taken for the person booking/paying (so not with everyone in a group). And the Go To campaigns aren’t just for hotels, but also included day trips, activities, some transport, and even had cash-equivalent vouchers given out that could be used at local businesses.
I would assume they could make a verification system to block foreign tourists, but previously the whole system was fairly loose to encourage people to use it. So any further complexity (and Japan is very good at do such) would probably just clog things up. To be honest, I thing they kinda regret creating this whole repeatedly-delayed campaign now (if I recall, it was first developed way back when Abe was still PM) and they just want it done and over with.
As far as declassifying Covid, I think its actually a Health Ministry decision and doesn’t need central government approval (I’m not certain though, but I would hope its a decision of health officials and doctors, not politicians). However, I doubt they would do so without a go-ahead nod from the diet since it would then lead to a chain of events that would have far reaching implications.
These issues include how to incorporate Covid testing/treatment/prevention into the existing health system (and the additional funding for it), getting non-Covid hospitals and clinics in step with treatment (only about 25% of hospitals currently handle Covid patients), establishing systems for local governments to manage Covid as an endemic illness, and dealing with all the financial issues declassification creates, which is a massive can of worms (aside from people needing to pay for their own treatment, which would annoy people, it would be done via the national health insurance system for which all people are enrolled. In this, most people would pay 30% of medical costs while the insurance covers the other 70%. But every single fee is heavily regulated to prevent price gouging, which means all treatment is also carefully controlled with any procedure, from brains surgery to a broken finger. Being that there are still many debated aspects of Covid treatment and ongoing new strains, settling on what is offered and how much it costs would be rather complex I imagine).
Hi Tom,
I have already booked flights and hotels for my trip in Jan-Feb 2023. If Japan doesn’t allow true individual travelers by then but permits “unguided tours,” I would consider paying for the sort of “hostage fee,” you mentioned in one of your posts below. However, I am unable to find any travel agencies that offer this service, ie: to sign off on an itinerary for a modest fee. The ones I spoke to (eg: Inside Japan Tours) offer the sort of self-guided tours mentioned in this blog but they insist on booking all accommodation and transfers, and it’s very expensive compared to the hotel rates I have secured. Our family can’t afford the trip if we book accommodation with these types of agencies. Some of the hotels we booked will be non-refundable soon if we don’t cancel in time, so I’m planning ahead to figure out our options.
It’d be really helpful if you or anyone else on this blog would please recommend a travel agency/website that would provide the sort of “sign-off,” service that I need; if Japan goes forward with this step. I’m from Australia. Could you please help?
Many thanks!
At this point, nobody knows if that sort of “sign-off” service is even going to be an option. It’s just something that people are speculating MAY be an option since we don’t know yet what they mean by “unguided tours” so I would be surprised if anyone will have specific recommendations for you at this time. I hope to be proven wrong, because I too could benefit from that information, but I don’t think it’s an offering yet, if at all.
Tom Bricker, I believe that the situation in Japan is somewhat different from the other countries you mention. First of all, in Europe and the USA there is a more active public opinion (also at the level of the media) and, secondly, the hostility of a certain part of the population towards mass tourism is much less present (also for reasons of economic interest…) than in Japan. Finally, from a more general point of view, as is well known, the Japanese tend to passively follow the decisions of the “authorities” something this much less present in other democracies. All of this by the way, is confirmed by the topic of our discussions: the whole world has returned to normal with respect to international travel but Japan has not. Will there be a deep cultural reason why Japan is completely open internally (everyone enjoys and travels as usual) but the country remains closed only to foreigners? Finally, let’s not forget that the much “infamous” number of foreign tourists (until 2019) was still much lower than that of many European countries, not to mention the number of immigrants, which is practically nonexistent. Doesn’t it seem like it’s all tied together in the end?
Does anyone know how crowded flights to Japan are from the U.S.? Are they just about full-house because of reduced number of flights between Japan and the US, or 50%, 75% full or what are they like – August 2022?
From doing a quick look at available seats on the AA flight from Dallas to Tokyo over the next few days, looks to be in the 50% to 75% full range. Though the seat map does not take into account passengers who do not yet have assigned seats.
Voter apathy, civic disengagement, single issue voters, an uninformed populace, and pretty much every other political and social angle to this is not unique to Japan. The same things are observable in the US and other democracies.
The reality is that many people are clueless about things that do not impact their daily lives. These are not kitchen table issues–they only matter to those with a vested interest, politically-engaged, and the very online. (How many ordinary citizens in your own countries had a firm grasp of border policies in 2021?)
Heck, the comments here are a case in point of this. Many are acting as if this is something new, when it is not. It’s consistent with decades of political (and economic) analysis paralysis. The only difference is that it now impacts us, so it’s a more pressing issue (for us).
To be clear, I’m not defending the lethargic pace of reopening or the endless bureaucracy–and even I have been surprised by how long this whole process has taken–but I don’t view this as some personal affront.
Tom, given that Kishida’s announcement was more measured than had been reported, are you still optimistic about a November opening (and beyond)?
I’m still expecting more details/another announcement before September 7.
It didn’t sound to me as if they had delayed the decision or were still “taking into consideration…” but were working out specifics and would reveal more soon.
Japan can’t handle the number of visa requests it’s getting now. The wait times even for an appointment are horrendous, and it’ll only get worse with the next stage of border measures. The eVisa system introduced in North America doesn’t seem to be helping much there, either. This upcoming stage is a stop gap between now and lowering the covid classification level.
The visa requirement will be dropped after the covid classification is lowered. I would bet my house on it.
They have been hinting at lowering the classification for a while now. When do we think this may happen? Once this wave is on a nice downward trajectory?
I tend to agree with this take about the visa requirement, and due to the same logistical issues.
With that said, I’d stop short of betting my house on it. If I bet my house on everything I thought was a “sure thing” when it came to Japan’s reopening…I would be homeless several times over. 😉
Agree with the notion that the visa requirement for countries with which there are visa waiver agreements will not be permanent. Think once they drop the Covid categorization they will need to restore reciprocity sooner or later.
Right now the only reason why the EU for example is not pressuring Japan on the issue of reciprocity is because Japan has tied the border measures to virus containment (even if it is not really sensible), as can be seen from the report of the Commission in May on the topic of visa reciprocity with South Korea and Japan:
“Regarding Japan, whilst the Commission does not see visa measures, such as suspending the visa exemption, as an effective way to fight the spread of COVID-19, due to the time-lapse between the time of visa application and actual travel, it acknowledges that Japan appears to see such visa measures as an essential part of its COVID-19 response and of controlling the travel flow. In this context, adopting measures based on the visa reciprocity mechanism in
order to prompt a policy change in Japan could be seen by the Japanese authorities as an attempt to undermine their efforts to fight the spread of COVID-19. This could negatively affect the external relations of the EU with Japan as a like-minded partner.”
The Commission further concluded ” that, at this stage, it would not be appropriate to adopt suspension measures. Progress can be better achieved through continued engagement and diplomatic contacts. This position may be reviewed in the light of possible developments.”
Since the goal of the EU is to restore full visa-waiver reciprocity, if Japan can no longer fall back on virus countermeasure as their excuse for visa requirement on EU countries, it’s I think safe to say that the EU will put the suspension card on the table.
Reading the above made my head hurt. It sounds like the commission is basically saying “we know Japan is full of crap, but they seem to believe their own crap so we’ll put up with it because we don’t want to get on their bad side”.
Yeah like,
the reason Japan is getting away with the lack of reciprocity is because everyone entering the country is “under special circumstances”, so they can use that as an excuse.
The moment covid reclassifies and they end up having to drop the “special circumstances” is when EU and others might come in since we will have again the normal tourist visas and all others.
Things will get bad if they start asking for actually tourist visas for US and EU.
What? Japan painting itself into a corner and causing more delay through untenable logistical issues?
I thought it was all political….
The reclassification of covid is very much a political issue, as is not reinstating visa waivers. Once both of those political issues are solved the logistical issues mentioned disappear, correct?
The Government’s own Covid panel have told them to downgrade Covid asap, partly to help solve logistical issues, so please tell me how it isn’t political?
How did Japan paint itself into a corner then? By the political choices it has made and continues to make, the logistical issues we’re talking about weren’t there before they made those decisions.
Umm, I didn’t mention logistical issues, you and Tom did.
And of course any logistical issue would be due to policy choices (which can often come from political positions) but I do remember once upon a time in May and especially June when everybody was harping on how “once the election is over there will be a major change, because its all a political calculation”. Well, the election came and went, and that change failed to materialize.
Oh right, the post-election delay is now due to the totally unpredictable massive wave of new Covid cases, which has been world-leading the past 4 weeks. Right, but I also remember everybody here harping on the belief in May and June that despite Japan having extremely low historic case numbers (lower than nearly every other country) and correspondingly low death numbers, that Japan was somehow actually full of natural immunity, high T-cell counts, millions of unreported infections, bla bla bla. Actually, I got continuously lambasted attempting to point out that this massive wave Japan is currently in the midsts of wasn’t just inevitable, but the government knew it too and was probably holding off any re-opening until it finally came, did its damage, and went. Actually, you should all be happy Japan didn’t open in June or July as you demanded, since it’d be even more of a mess right now and would have probably caused a reactionary re-tightening of the border.
But as far as the visa requirement, yeah maybe a full-scale “visitor’s visa” or “tourist visa” won’t be required for independent tourists, but mark my words, this new “eVisa” is here to stay, along with any logistical madness that comes with it.
You’ve never mentioned logistics issues on this website? You’re entire point about tourists not being able to navigate the way in which covid is currently dealt with is a logistics issue, as well as other points regarding airport testing etc you’ve made. Testing issues were easily solved by a political decision, weren’t they?
I’m sure the eVisa system is here to stay, but not for tourists that didn’t need one before, that was the point. Glad we agree on that one.
My point has always been, that despite any political will, public demand, business interest , or international pressure, Japan’s re-opening is being hampered by a wide range of logistical issues which few know of and/or wish to acknowledge.
Some issues pre-date covid, some came about because of it. Some are relatively easy to remove or remedy, others are not no simple. But all are self-imposed and regardless of whether they make logical sense or are even helpful anymore, these things need to be dealt with, removed, and/or addressed in some way in order to fully re-open to independent tourists.
There is no argument from me about these issues needing to be managed by the government, but every policy decision isn’t automatically “political”. Governments make policy choices, parties make political ones.
Removal of PCR testing at airports wasn’t political (how did it benefit the governing party?). But downgrading the classification of covid would have both a public health function as well as political ramifications (it would mean treatment would be stop being free, which would annoy citizens, and budgeting for the current health and insurance system would need an injection so as to include covid mitigation since its no longer funded as an emergency, and that would require some inevitable “consideration”).
But as you said, now Japan has gone down the road of visa requirements and this is clogging up the embassies. Was this a political choice? I’ll tell you what, maybe making that choice isn’t necessarily political, but abruptly removing that requirement may very well be (it would make whoever decided to do it to lose face and seem like they wasted time and money by creating it).
But sorry, unless it is an unmitigated disaster (like the Covid Tracking App) you should expect that the eVisa will remain for everyone who enters as a non-resident, including anyone who previously entered via visa-waiver such as yourself. Its Japan’s version of ESTA, and was being planned well before Covid.
I won’t argue issues of semantics again, but I’ll clarify. What I meant was the current way in which the eVisa system works in North America won’t be the way it works for the foreseeable future, like some people on this website fear, but I suspect you knew that what I meant already. I’m sure you’re aware how different the eVisa system is to something like ESTA.
I think everyone here would be happy if they could fill out the paperwork required even for visa free travel digitally before hand.
“natural immunity, high T-cell counts”
AndyO, there’s no shame in admitting not knowing how the immune system works, instead of this (useless) and snarky comment.
In fact, the problem with the wave has been administrative (counting every case, obligatory quarantine) and not really “medical”.
@AndyO, “Its Japan’s version of ESTA, and was being planned well before Covid.”
This is not true. Japan’s new eVisa is just the electronic version of their standard visa system. It is still a visa system with all the same scrutiny and requirements etc. They DO seem to be intending to implement an electronic version of their visa exemption system (similar to ESTA) which is under a different name, “JAVES: JapanVisaExemptionSystem”. It’s not yet available and not the same as Japan’s new eVisa.
Warren, I do agree with you. Unfortunately, best case scenario will be (sooner or later) a reopening to tourists but with a visa requirement (may be eVisa).
Funny thing is this doesn’t bother me at all because my country already needed a visa to enter Japan. I’m pretty much used to the process of requiring a visa. I just need independent tourist to be able to enter
AndyO, what can I say, we sadly think differently in this matter as well. My opinion, besides a direct perception, is different. The average citizen feels reassured in knowing that he or she is “protected” in Japan (by the way, this idea is not necessarily about Covid risk only). The average citizen does not feel the need to inform themselves nor is there a strong critical voice present toward the failed (only cosmetic) policies against the pandemic. Even many Japanese think that the country is already reopened to foreign tourists and, as I said, so many are glad not to have the bulky foreigners (especially Chinese) crowding the cities and disturbing their centuries-old balance. Finally, a simple observation: if the whole world behaves differently with respect to covid risk there must be a reason, right? Japan’s shutdown to foreigners=country with the most infected in the world but…they continue (world’s only democracy) on the same path…hmmm.
PS I evidently have more confidence in the ability of Japanese citizens to vote for the party that best represents them, after all it is called democracy, isn’t it?
Actually, with this we do agree.
To say “The average citizen does not feel the need to inform themselves” is essentially what I said. Voter apathy is derived from weariness and disinterest that is derived from endless “consideration”.
And to also say “nor is there a strong critical voice present toward the failed (only cosmetic) policies against the pandemic” is also spot on with how I noted there is no viable opposition party nor anyone to even meaningfully breach such topics.
But both of those statements run counter to the idea that “Japanese citizens vote for the party that best represents them”…
…unless you mean the party they vote for would be full of uninformed politicians who lack critical thinking and only seek cosmetic policies that are doomed to fail. But if you do think that, then I guess we agree on that too!
In my opinion the cap is currently an irrelevance, whether it’s 10000, 20000 or 50000, the number of International travellers currently entering Japan is fewer than 5000 a day. Raising the cap implies that things are going in the right direction and is seen as a positive move, but with the current situation regarding tourists it’s pretty meaningless.
We know what a guided tour is. I reckon an unguided tour will be a package tour, where all travel, accomodations and venues are organised and scheduled by the tour operator. Basically the same as a guided tour, but without the guide.
Independent tourist travel is likely to remain off limits this year in my opinion.
Even when Japan does fully open, I don’t expect the Visa waiver to be reinstated as they would then lose control. There is also the roll out of the eVisa programmes, why bother if the waiver is back soon? I just don’t see a return to a free for all.
There is also the issue of Visa processing capacity which here in the UK is woeful, even securing a Visa appointment is a significant challenge through the online booking system.
The barriers imo are the Visa application process and the ban on independent tourists, when the latter is lifted there will still be a significant issue with the former.
I don’t see things improving by much even when we’re allowed in, it won’t be the end of it, just the start of a whole world of beaurocratic pain.
Visa waiver or bust!
bureaucratic. My apologies. I blame spell checker.
There was always a portion of the Japanese society unhappy and uncomfortable with mass tourism Abe was promoting and with COVID they seized the moment and pounced and just like hyena now that they have meat between their rotten teeth they won’t let go. I think Tom needs to amend his ‘best case’ scenario to include individual tourism in 2023 subject to pre-approved visa. Visa free travel will not return anytime soon imo.
AndyO, you say that “inept” politicians are to blame. I, on the other hand, believe that the political class is representative of the thinking of the citizens especially in the case of Japan in which the governing party is punctually voted (including last month) confirming that its policy is what the citizens want. Living in Japan, you will have well realized that there is no strong public debate calling for reopening and rather the average citizen approves of closure to feel reassured to live in the safest place in the world. At this point, there is no longer any justification for locking down foreigners given the failed policy that has led to the world’s highest case of the infected while the Japanese understandably flocking to tourist resorts, restaurants, trains and hotels (at least those that have not yet closed due to the lack of foreign tourists…). As for the lock down, at least in Europe it lasted 3 months in the Spring of 2020, now it is late Summer 2022 but Japan seems to be the only country that has not noticed. Finally, wearing masks outdoors is totally useless and just dangerous given the temperatures and humidity.
Sadly, I need to disagree with the suggestion that “the political class is representative of the thinking of the citizens especially in the case of Japan in which the governing party is punctually voted (including last month) confirming that its policy is what the citizens want.”
You’ve previously said I am selectively bias, so here’s a broad list of some of the most non-Covid related issues for the past few years:
Female emperor. Dual surnames for married couples. Minimum wage. Change of pacifist constitution. Gay marriage. State funeral for Shinzo Abe. And just today, not merely restarting the off-line nuclear plants, but the intent to start constructing new ones.
On all of these, the stubborn and adamant ruling LDP party feels one way, and poll after poll says the general public feels the opposite. Yet somehow these issues never get breached in the elections, while the even more inept opposition parties somehow can barely tie their shoes let alone be a political challenge (I’ve long thought the parties are secretly in cahoots with each other in order to merely allow the perception of choice… oh wait, its just been discovered the main opposition party was full people connected to the Moonies as well. Maybe I’m right.)
So despite being utterly out of touch with the public, the LDP wins again due to a lack of a seemingly viable alternative, but they need to clutter the thinking of the public with continuous “considerations” and “discussions” until interest in any meaningful changes (or non-changes) which the public actually wants fizzle out and get forgotten, and then the ruling elites can inevitably get their way through patience.
So yeah, maybe they are not so “inept” with serving themselves, but certainly inept with managing the public’s interests.