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!
Having visited Japan regularly for 45 years it is in my soul. I can go another 5 years without but it would of be a bonus to visit by 2025.
Bought tickets for the Olympics. Now contemplating whether to cancel and lose a 20% fee or risk not getting a refund hoping they allow vaccinated people to get in. I’m from the US and anticipate getting the vaccine by June at most. After reading this blog, I’m now leaning to cancellation. 😭
Please don’t fear monger, there is nothing to suggest that the vaccines “will soon be totally ineffective” against mutations. While some may be less resistant to new strains, all evidence currently shows that vaccines continue to offer some protection even against variants, especially in preventing the most severe symptoms and death.
Did you make your decision, I see CoSport has a 4/9 deadline to choose one of its unreasonable options – 80% refund and waiver of all liability or keep the tickets at your own risk. Weighing the same decision
My CoSport deadline is April 16 at 11:59 pm.
I’m in your camp! As I sit here tonight contemplating my decision (and the possibility of losing $1,600 in fees!), I’ve kept hoping things would change – but I fear that won’t happen either : ( I feel like there should be a class action lawsuit to get our fees back!
I can’t wait to visit Japan when the ban is lifted! I loved hearing they are rediscovering their own culture and I have high hopes “tourism” will be focused less on foreigners and more on Japanese culture!
Thank you for all the information. We currently have a trip scheduled for the end of November. I hope things change. We are looking forward to going as soon as they allow 🙂
I live in Japan, I don t think there will be any opening for tourism this year. Next year maybe but I would not bet on it, not on the same scale as encore at least. However I must, say Japan without foreign tourists Is paradise, and Japanese are rediscovering their own country after years of massive disruptive influx of all kinds of people, from the barbaric uncivilized to the more respectful souls. Personally i hope in a better and more controlled management and entry of tourists. As much they are appreciated for revitalizing economies, they are also disruptive in many ways, often unprepared on basic etiquette if not downright rude.
I would not be surprised in the least if Japan kept the restrictions high even after the pandemic is long over with. Most Japanese are extremely xenophobic and many are just outright racist. They’ve just been handed the perfect excuse to keep the “dirty gaijin” out and i don’t see them wanting to give that up anytime soon.
What the Japanese people want and what the government does will likely diverge at some point. We’re already seeing that happen with the Olympics–the public is overwhelmingly against the games being held, but they’re going to happen anyway because of the sunk costs and so much of the country’s future tourism prospects (obviously not *during* the Olympics) is riding on the event and the publicity the broadcasts will generate.
Japan has hitched its economic wagon to the tourism industry. At some point, the reality of that will set in and restrictions will need to be loosened out of necessity, even if it is convenient to scapegoat and vilify the cultural outsiders.
But not YOU, of course. YOU’RE one of the good ones.
wow nice xenophobia! really impressive. thanks for that
That can go both ways I have been to japan and there are just as many Japanese that are volatile to their own country as foreigners I think you have a very narrow-minded perspective of people in general to make such an arrogant statement if you think foreigners only purpose is to help revitalize your economy then you are the one that’s alart of the problem and not the solution
You are right. Abe’s move to massively increase tourism was a disaster. Tokyo, Kyoto and other popular spots became nightmares and the quality of life was destroyed – all for what was a relatively trivial contribution to GDP. Hopefully, COVID will provide an excuse for the government to backtrack on its disastrous policies.
Nice that everyone becomes a vax expert for what’s right for Japan based on what one agency or manufacturer says or a study here or there. Doesn’t it take time to see whos actually right, not just politics or money? I can see Japans point, they do have an elderly population, declining already as it is.
Hoping to be able to return in October.
And if you’re booked to go soon, they will make you quarantine for 14 days. So you might as well cancel your trip.
To Vivi, who said im spresding lies, lol you should learn how to talk with respect, i can teach you, foreigner residents who applied for a visa can enter with a specific reason but its rare, so learn how to talk to others redneck, when its not intentional its not a lie, your act like a Karen
You**
Hoping to travel to Japan without the 14 day quarantine in early 2022. Hopefully no restrictions. I want to visit Japan in all it’s glory!!
If people with allergies can’t get vaccinated or show proof of a prior infection, they shouldn’t be traveling. It’s nature’s discrimination.
I’m more interested in them granting “green visas” than “green passports”.
A lot of people will be looking to travel post vaccination and blow some cash after being trapped for so long.
The US is expected to have vaccines for everyone who will accept it within the next two months.
Japan is going to miss a big wave of fat wallet summer tourists for a nonsense reason if they don’t work something out.
well, you being vaccinated is not enough, because you can transmit the virus even if you are vaccinated. Vaccination in Japan is going slowly, they need to protect their people, maybe nothing will happen to you, but imagine you give the virus to someone who is not vaccinated, well he could be really sick
The cdc believes that you actually don’t transmit the virus one vaccinated
Too early to say that, the cdc says something, pfizer and moderna say that you can still transmit it, canadian health director said you can still transmit is, its too early to say who is right
right now only 0.5% of the people in japan is vaccinated so and again, you or me being vaccinated we can still give the virus to people
They are still figuring out the efficacy of the vaccines on transmission, but so far there is at least 80% efficacy for non-transmission for at least one of the vaccines.
Exactly, they are still testing the efficiency of the vaccine on transmission but i think its too soon to have results, with the variants and all
planned trip from australia in april 2021 have now put back to october 2021 feel sad may have to put back further,,so sd anyway i love japan thank you for your informative article, have to be patient i guess fp australia
same thing i was supposed to go in apreil 2020, and after that i changed it for april 2021 and now its gonna be for november 2021, hoppefully we will visit japan
Hi, thank you for the informative post. I am checking a ton every day to get updates and I like how this one was very recent. If you could, please do daily updates on the status of getting into Japan – I am very appreciative!
Thank you.
I very much appreciate the info. I’m beyond sad for my daughter (junior in college) who is an “international studies” student. At her university, a semester abroad is required for graduation. Her minor is in Japanese-unfortunately her Summer semester abroad at a Tokyo University in 2020 was of course canceled along with this summer 2021 too. Now, she will have no chance for this requirement/experience as she graduates this coming December. Now my daughter and boyfriend have a personal trip to Japan planned for end of December 2021 into January 2022. It sounds like if your article holds true, that there may be hope for her trip end of this December??
I hope your daughter and her boyfriend will be able to go at the end of the year. That is currently my plan right now. My boyfriend and I are long distance, he lives in Japan. The last time we saw each other in person was the beginning of December of 2019. I so hope he is able to come to the US in the late summer, and for I do go to Japan in the winter. We’ve had to change our tickets three times now…so, I hope things will continue to get better.
We have a trip booked april 1st american airlines said we’re clear to enter? I’m confused
It’s to tokyo japan and osaka japan
they won’t allow any non-japanese before at least september 2021
Foreigner resident also can enter! Don’t spread lies. Thank you
did you find out if you are able to go?
Hi Carmen,
I tried to go to Japan through American Airlines in October 2020 and got turned away at the border, if you are a tourist you absolutely cannot enter and I would recommend getting a credit from American Airlines. If you are a foreign resident, or hold a visa (spouse, work, business) you may be able to cross the Japanese border with proper documentation and a 14 day quarantine period. I think the tickets are available for anyone to buy online, but they are mostly targetting Japanese people trying to return back home, hence the price being so cheap. I got this information from the Ministry of Japan and my Japanese friends have also advised me that tourism is impossible at this point.
Im real sad about this. I was hoping to travel in June 2021 and I thought there was no way I couldnt go. :((
I just want to thank you for providing us all these very important information…I was looking forward to visit Japan in fall with friends but even with everything going well, we will certainly have some limitations like masks everywhere, maybe a few rejections there and then. So i honestly think it is better to avoid Japan this year and try it next year…
vaccine passport is a must to travel to be honest (im not for a vaccine passport when its about going to the gym or restaurant but to travel ye), we shouldnt forget that japan is in the G7, UK have the presidency this year, Canada thinks about developping one, UK already has one, USA as well, europe is developping one, I dont think Japan will be the only one of the group without a vaccine passport
How can they justify a vaccine passport when they say that they don’t even know that it prevents you from infecting others, and are demanding that even vaccinated people still follow the health protocols?
the vaccine doesnt prevent you from infecting others, but if the population is vaccinated (japanese) and the travelers are vaccinated, the risk is really low to have complications even if you are infected and others as well. The people in the country you visit should be vaccinated as well, I dont wanna sound selfish, because even if im vaccinated i know i can infect others
do you even know what you are talking about? If you did, you would have just realized you stepped off a cliff
The UK does not yet have a vaccine passport, but the Government is considering it (although they are uneasy about this as being a restriction of personal privacy…) I agree that such a passport is needed for travel, but Japan seems to be very slow at getting their vaccinations rolled out!
I was supposed to go in April 2020, I changed it for April 2021, but i had to cancel for a second time in december 2020, since december 2020 I’m planning to go maybe in november 2021, hopefully they will ease borders for those with a vaccine
Did you have to pay a cancelation fee for changing? JAL has not been helpful in giving options if they aren’t open in November. They seem to think rescheduling due to mandatory 14 day quarantine is a voluntary reschedule and will most likely cost a bunch of money.
Thank you for very informative post. I was wondering if Peak fall colors in the Tokyo, Osaka area?