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!
Japanese media have confirmed that everything needs to be booked by the travel agency. No booking your own accommodation, travel, etc. No doubt custom itineraries are possible, but expect to pay a hell of a lot. Same for the same flights and hotel you would’ve booked previously.
I bet this is the only way forward for now but for those who already purchased flights / hotels, this fee (hopefully reasonable) maybe the only option for now, finger crossed on the details!
Hopefully this is the final step before the reopening then. Cant see a massive increase in tourists during this step as visa will still be a nightmare to acquire and the costs will be ridiculous. Surprised they are allowing this before even mentioning people who have been separated from their partners for years first.
This agency seems to think differently. Unless their site is misleading, it appears they are offering to approve your self-booked itinerary for 20k Yen, “We can issue your ERFS in a day after your itinerary and required information are provided.”
https://www.j-g-a.org/erfs.html
I sent an inquiry to Japan Guide Agency about my scheduled trip October 31. We have had all our lodging and flights booked for a while now. Hoping to get some clarification from them on if they can work with our itinerary and just help us with entry and point of contact during our trip.
Also sent an inquiry to them.
It’s kinda sus, I’m worried this can be some sort of scam where they get your money but once you go get your visa at the consulate you will be denied since it was you who got the air ticket and accomodation.
Definitely could be a scam :/ I also sent an inquiry to inside japan tours. Supposedly the government will be following up with details that would clarify the travel again you requirements. We’d be willing to rebook or change some of our accommodations through an agency if it stays within our budget but we booked flights in January and they are now double what we paid so I think rebooking those would be a deal.
Yes, Kishida confirmed the unguided tours thing will start on September 7th
This GREATLY reinforces the idea that individual tourists like it was before will return in December, since it’s pretty clear now that each major change regarding the borders takes 3 months. (March restart of students and workers, June monitored tours, September unguided tours, December individual tourists)
It’s still unclear tho if you can get one “unguided tour” by yourself, like Tom commented about Los Angeles. If possible it would mean you can essentially “buy” the ERFS and step in Japan without no one monitoring you.
Let’s hope it won’t be another three months. If you want to trust Kono Taro’s roadmap on Twitter, he saw removing PCR and increasing daily cap as two steps and visa waiver as the third. For step 1 to 2 took a week. Hopefully the third will take no more than a month..
The problem with applying for tourist visas, guided or unguided, as it currently is, that appointment requests are already fully booked until months later in many countries such as Australia. So unless they remove visa requirements, there will be no change to inbound traffic for months and months because the current system cannot handle the volume of requests.
It’s interesting to note that things can move quite quickly once plans have been leaked. There’s around a 2 week gap between the rumors of the removal of PCR, daily cap increase and unguided tours and the supposed implementation.
I feel the 3 month period is quite an interesting observation and it would not surprise me if it holds true. What further relaxations could be implmented except for further cap increases and actual visa waiver after the September 7 relaxations?
It would not surprise me if the next big step would be the downgrading of the covid threat level somewhere during the supposed fall diet meeting. After which visa waiver is hopefully a given since I expect the EU etc. to increase diplomatic pressure regarding visa waiver reprociation once Covid loses its special status in Japan.
Looks like some good news 🙂
Anyone have any ideas regarding visa entry/ via waiver for tourists?
Just don’t want to get too excited and then find the visa process the next roadblock.
Since the past news from Japan sounded great, until you read their fineprint.
Thanks for your thoughts
Cheers
Peter
I bet it will take another 72 hours for them to give out more details on each of the items haha
Let’s see if this is the final good news! Still waiting the details on what he means by
“The country will also resume accepting foreign tourists not on organized tours, Kishida told a press conference. So far, only those on package tours have been allowed in.”
https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2022/08/2936b56f8cf9-urgent-japan-to-increase-covid-entry-cap-on-arrivals-to-50000-from-sept-7.html
you guys are so fast with these news!
Though, the wording is still a bit suspicious! “not on ORGANISED tours” and later “package tours”.
Hmmm, sounds to me they are really doing the unguided tour thing..hope i am wrong.
Also, why did it take them a few days since the last announcement to officially announce the 50k cap? When will the next announcement be?
From Japan Times: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/08/31/national/tourism-measures-kishida-covid/
“Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Wednesday that Japan will allow non-escorted visitors on package tours and raise the daily arrival cap to 50,000 starting Sept. 7 ”
“The new rules mean that tourists on nonguided package tours can visit the country. It was not immediately clear what criteria will be used to determine what constitutes a package tour.”
The wording of the English version of the Kyodo article is just plain weird. The Japanese version says 添乗員なしのツアー実施も可能とする. This is quite clearly referring to unguided tours.
The likely reason for the delay announcement on arrival cap can be due to checking with the different airports to ensure they can handle the increased incoming visitors based on current manpower or whether they can handle with increased manpower to avoid what happened with airports in UK ans etc
Its not the final good news. Individual tourists are still banned.
ANA just released its Winter flight schedule (October 30, 2022 to March 25, 2023) and there are several routes resuming or increasing frequency between the US and Japan.
Not necessarily determinative of reopening, but still interesting to see.
Today NHK World interviewed an “expert” calling for more restrictions if variants appeared…it was disgusting.
I’d imagine that the “celebrity” status some public health experts have attained in the last couple of years is pretty difficult to give up.
Unfortunately, the ones who offer pragmatic advice and analysis aren’t the ones who gain a following or are invited on television–it’s the ones at both extremes of the spectrum.
Luckily it seems that even the super slow government isn’t listening to them, for now.
https://dsk.ne.jp/m/news/korea_visa_20220830.html
“Why would Korea shoot itself on the foot?”, they said
“This is just for the Seoul festival”, they said
money.
Reading the comments of the Twitter post, full of Japanese people celebrating the good news, without even the slightest hint of self-awareness.
The Japanese have gotten us of all on the backfoot, politically speaking.
@Jake, yes, quite infuriating to read…! I can only imagine the shock and surprise if the rest of the world suddenly banned tourists from Japan and required visas for everyone. I wonder if these people are even aware of the onerous border restrictions of Japan, and that most of us can’t even visit?
A bit of good news: Japan’s new daily COVID-19 cases drop to 6-week low below 100,000
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20220829/p2g/00m/0na/040000c
https://www.tjnet.co.jp/2022/08/29/%e5%9c%b0%e6%96%b9%e7%a9%ba%e6%b8%af%e3%80%81%e6%89%8b%e6%8e%a2%e3%82%8a%e3%81%ae%e5%9b%bd%e9%9a%9b%e7%b7%9a%e5%86%8d%e9%96%8b%e3%80%80%e5%86%8d%e3%81%b3%e9%81%8b%e4%bc%91%e7%9b%b8%e6%ac%a1%e3%81%90/
「個人旅行の受け入れが今後を左右するが、本格的な再開は冬期スケジュールからではないか」
Interesting bit of news here, seems like they are expecting a full-fledge reopening starting with the winter, aka December.
My wife and I (who was born in Japan) have postponed our trip 3 x now to Japan. We are supposed to leave Vancouver on Oct 5th but still it is not open. Since only her 95 year old aunties are still around the hassel of getting a family to vouch for us is not on the table. We are going to wait until Sept 3rd to postpone our trip yet again until Oct 2023…Does any one think Japan will open before Oct 1st 2022?
Thank you for this. My Japanese is very limited, but it seems to me, it is saying from the airports’ point of view, talking about air traffic and flight schedule. So even if individual travel resumes in Sept or Oct, that statement still makes sense, because daily cap will still be on, and it will also take a few weeks after reopening to gain some momentum. Again though this is just my wishful thinking as I have Nov tix lol
Hi Nigel,
I doubt they’ll reopen fully by 1 Oct but, who knows, they may announce further easing measures like they did last week with pcr testing. Given there are multiple measures still in place ie guided package tour, apply for visa, arrival cap, I reckon it’ll take more time than just one month to rollback these restrictions.
It’s looking more positive than it was two weeks ago, but still slow and unpredictable as expected
It all remains a guessing game but it’s nice to share what might be interesting news here.
For me personally October is completely done for, with November being the earliest and December more likely.
September they will remove PCR, then increase the cap starting October.
Korea pledged for the return of visa exemption in November but as we have seen until now, Korea hasn’t been given any priority regarding the borders from the Japanese no matter how hard they tried.
What makes me not believing in November is the constant postponement of everything. The new way of counting cases, leaving stuff for local governors, was supposed to be in effect already but will only start in 15th September.
The GoTo campaign as well seems like was postponed too.
If important things like the GoTo and reclassification will only start in October, it’s hard to imagine, giving their analysis paralysis approach, that they will promptly reopen one month later.
Anyway, I know, I’m thinking too much about this. It’s just that believe it or not I find it even a bit fun to follow this novel and each bit of this long Sakoku 2.0 timeline. So many details and processes involved lol
Well, they crushed my dreams of travelling to Japan this year with their vacillating, muddy unclear policies and non-existent timeline of opening up. I gave myself a month +- a few days to finally pull the pin and cancel all my plans. Time to see what South Korea has on offer in October. I hope myself and other give that country a boost to their tourism ₩, as otherwise it would have gone to Japan.
Best of luck to everyone else who is still living in hope of a soon border reopening, but I fear even if they do individual tourism again it will not be the same you have been accustomed to Pre-Pandemic. Maybe the ski season is a more likely possibility!
I’ll be back next year no doubt!
Japan national news company NHK has reported that Japan “is moving to start accepting overseas tourists who do not want to take guided tours in a bid to address a decline in the numbers of foreign travelers visiting Japan.”
The new measure is expected to go into effect in September.
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20220824_01/
This is from when the unguided tours were announced, one of the most misleading lines of all times lol
As we know it ended up not being confirmed yet, either because they will explain more details later or they gave up on the idea realizing how stupid it was. (unlikely)
This was one of the rumoured announcements from last week, but they only confirmed changes to the PCR test exemption for triple vaccinated travellers last week.
They still have announced changes to the daily arrival cap which received more press coverage than this unguided tour rumour.
On the positive side, the new Covid case numbers are falling again so this should allow them to ease more restrictions, though in stages of course
Correction.
They still haven’t announced changes to the daily arrival cap which received more press coverage than this unguided tour rumour
Leo:
“As we know (unguided tours) ended up not being confirmed yet, either because they will explain more details later or they gave up on the idea realizing how stupid it was.”
The Government of Japan would never give up on a stupid idea.
Spoke with United Airlines Reservations this morning (8/28) re scheduled flights to Kansai Airport. UA staff said beginning October 28 this year, UA plans to have daily flights to KIX.
Hopefully, this is based on contacts with Japan government.
I believe it’s a best guess from the airline regarding when restrictions may ease and demand will pick up.
Qantas announced a similar thing in early April.
Originally set to resume on April 27, daily flights from Sydney to Tokyo Haneda were rescheduled to September 12.
What if I booked the tickets online and not through a travel agency? Is it still possible to arrange an unguided tour through a travel agency and not pay for another flight? I’m totally not looking forward to being babysat the entire way by some tour guide. Here’s hoping that they’ll ease restrictions before October/November, so that I have time to apply for a Visa before my flight in December. Any links/tips would be helpful, as I’m a first time traveller. Thanks!
“unguided tours” are still a rumour and have not been officially announced. So nobody knows what rules may apply, or even if this will happen.
The Japanese, above all, take hosting very seriously. They have protocols and a sense of obligation that their socialisation makes very difficult for them to conscientiously ignore. So, when we visit Japan, they worry about us as visitors or guests. At a time where their health and visitors’ health are at risk, they just simply can’t tolerate taking a laissez-faire attitude like us westerners think is okay for ourselves. Unguided tours makes perfect sense in the Japanese context. When I had a student visa, I needed a guarantor in case any issues arose. When I rented an apartment, I needed the same. When I worked as the representative director of a foreign subsidiary, I needed to show proof that I would run the company in a way that respected Japanese norms and laws. So, let’s avoid the xenophobia acusations and be patient while the infection rates go back down and the Japanese can believe that they as a country can successfully host freewheeling foreign tourists again. I’m as anxious as everyone else to get back, do some sightseeing and see dear friends that are getting on in their years. Unfortunately, right now though, I’m thinking that visiting France is a better bet for this Fall.
They certainly have ruined the lives of many would-be sponsors for being so concerned, from language schools to host families to tour guides and agencies.
@Scott What you said about the conditions for student visa and being representative for a foreign-owned company is true for many other countries too, it is not unique to Japan.
Though I do agree with you on the Japanese mentality of being a great host. Like how many Japanese restaurants refuse to service foreigners if you don’t speak Japanese because they feel they wont be able to give you the best service if they cant communicate with you. But the border policies are not simply a result of this.
Japan will have to reopen its borders to independent travelers sooner or later. I’m not so much worried about when this will finally happen as I am about what visiting Japan will be like in the future.
Japan has essentially been isolating itself from the rest of the world for two years now, so there are a lot of questions floating around in my head: Just how much damage has been done to Japan’s tourism industry as a whole and how would this affect travel plans and experiences? Is the tourism infrastructure still intact? How many businesses had to close temporarily or permanently? How long would it take to hire and train new staff if there are severe shortages? Most importantly, how will locals react to foreign visitors? Do places such as Kyoto who previously suffered from overtourism actually want us back or will there be hostility? Will elderly people who are fearful of catching the virus avoid interaction with tourists? Will we get dismissive glances if we don’t wear a mask at all times while outside our hotel rooms?
Amid the excitement of Japan finally moving toward a full reopening, not many people appear to be asking themselves these questions. Japan can not just fling its doors open to pre-pandemic tourism. While other nations have long been attempting to move on, Japan has remained mostly immobile. They certainly aren’t stuck in the early stages of the pandemic anymore, but I highly doubt they would be able to cope with a large influx of foreign visitors at the moment. This may also be one of the reasons for the slow and phased reopening process.
They don’t need to worry about large numbers of tourists visiting. Chinese tourists make up 30-40%. They won’t be going any time soon. Some Europeans will be put off with the new flight route which has to avoid Russian airspace. I’ve seen estimates that Japan could expect around 9 million tourists next year, if fully open by January, which is a far cry from levels prepandemic.
I saw an article the other week which had a Kyoto official stating that Kyoto will start having major budget issues unless they start seeing tourists soon. Kyoto residents will have to choose whether they want tourists or suffer widespread economic issues.
From everything I’ve heard, and posts I’ve read from recent vistors, people are as friendly as always.
I live here. People are as friendly and as welcoming as before.
AndyO, how can you possibly say that people are as equally welcoming as before? We all know full well that deep within the Japanese psyche they are naturally xenophobic and racist. They were never actually ”welcoming” before Covid. It was just a sham to get tourist dollars to help prop up their failing economy. And now, after two and a half years of showing their true colors to the world with their blatantly discriminatory immigration policies, they can not fool us anymore. The Japanese people are evil bigots who have no desire to engage with the rest of the world by allowing foreign people to enter their country in order to interact with the Japanese culture, engage in their proud mix of traditional and modern lifestyle, and above all, directly give Japan much needed foreign exchange currency. No, the only method that the government is and ever will be interested in for allowing their citizens to connect with foreigners is by freely allowing the Japanese people to leave Japan, remove their yen from the country, and go spend it abroad in a frivolous way that does nothing for the Japanese economy but supports everywhere else. You apparently can’t see the de facto discrimination within such thinking because you have obviously “gone native” during your time there and have show this ad nauseam with your continual defense of their clearly deep rooted anti-foreign policies. Nobody here cares about your perspective in actually living there. Whereas I, on the other hand, know much more about the true Japanese soul, and this is why I continuously check with this website so that I can find out the earliest possible time that I can finally enter Japan so that I can relish first-hand in their disgusting xenophobia and pay them to do so with my own hard earned money.
!! – Most people won’t trudge through the wall of text to get to the reveal that this is parody.
Also, the commenting system WordPress sites use tracks IP addresses. If you’re going to use an alt for shitposting or whatever this is, you might want to use a VPN so it’s not quite as obvious.
Hello, the situation is variable but people are as nice as ever and there is no noticeable difference from before and in the approach to foreigners. At the same time, there is a lot of misinformation or disinterest regarding the border closure (e.g., many believe they are already open). Domestic tourism is extremely active but obviously there is a more “sad” but quiet atmosphere especially in tourist cities such as Kyoto in which several restaurants and especially hotels are “temporarily closed” and, at 9 p.m., everyone seems to be at home. In Tokyo, however, this is much less noticeable and it looks like pre pandemic. Overall, it is regrettable that the country, unlike, all other “rich” countries has not yet managed to return to normal in regard to international tourism.
!!, Let me tell you by someone who lives the country from the inside that your argument while correct in some points (e.g., Japan’s self harming policy towards foreigners etc.) is far too aggressive and I would say almost “racist” towards the country which does not deserve such a harsh attitude. Maybe it is just because you are a missing a “!”?
I’ve some japanese friends (mostly all young tho, under 30) and they all are receptive and friendly as always, patiently awaiting for when I’m able to return safely, as they usually say (they don’t want us to end up catching covid there as well)
Sure, many conservative/isolationist people must be happy but they don’t represent the current general feeling of japanese population, which either want us back or simply don’t care really lol
But sadly what we have in the government are people inclined in sync exactly with those few conservative/isolationist so that’s why the reopen has been so cautiously/slow/seemingly like they don’t want it.
About overtourism…I hope Kyoto City takes effective measures to deal with overcrowding at places like this:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/maxunterwegs/25142723478
The situation with the slow train that connects Kyoto Station to Arashiyama is even worse.
@Ishikawa I think the simply absence of Chinese tourists alone will prevent overcrowded places like in the picture.
Ofc something can be done until the day China reopens but then we are talking for 2025 onwards or something
Ishikawa: Why? When I climbed mount Fuji in 2010 it was much worse at the summit that that bamboo grove picture. And people climbing mount Fuji were >95% japanese. Are you implying that japanese crowds are ok, but gaijin crowds are not?
@Leo, the problem is your friends are “patiently awaiting for when [you are] able to return safely”, it’s maybe indicative of the general attitude and feeling of people in Japan, and it’s worlds away from most of the rest of the world who barely even give COVID a second thought these days. The reality is that you could have “returned safely” during most of the past year since most people have been vaccinated and COVID has already been circulating freely in Japan the same as everywhere else. At this point international travel is as safe as it’s ever going to be, and for the vast majority of people it’s essentially as safe as before the pandemic.
@GAv Oh yeah I agree, just pointing out they are still receptive.
It’s just fear has taken over them really. For us westerns, a simple classification number doesn’t mean anything, but as weird as that sounds, for the japanese when that number goes down from 2 to 5 it will finally click them that “hey maybe it’s not that bad really”
But the government needs to tell them everything, they aren’t capable to reach to conclusions by themselves, at least most of them. So they still worry about cases, beds, treatments and other stupid stuff that no other place in the world still gives a fuck about lol
Because the government placed covid level 2 and forgot it there. And while it is still there, individual tourists “pay the price” for something they have nothing to do with by still being unable to set foot in the country.
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20220826/p2g/00m/0na/066000c
Seems like we are inching closer to the re-classification of Covid.
There used to be Kokkai TV but I don’t know now. The special session was kept short and lacking in substance by the LDP for a reason.
A couple observations from a lurker. First, some of you are analyzing this way too deeply, which I guess I understand due to the dearth of information. Still, it’s not healthy to create complication where none should really exist.
Secondly, I think the person who owns this website jumped the gun by including all the information from the August 24 “announcement,” which never happened. It could be days or even weeks before we learn the actual details. Perhaps it’s better to remove the rumors and wait until Kishida actually announces what the “easing” will entail?
https://www.shugiintv.go.jp/en/
Here is a calendar of diet proceedings. The extraordinary session ended Aug 5 (due to Pelosi’s visit ?? ;)).
Is there a Japanese version of CSPAN? I want to start watching diet sessions for possible clues.
AndyO I, on the other hand, think it is childish to reply with insults (obvious if you have no arguments). However, it seems to me that finally our respective and legitimate views are clear by now.