I didnt comment here as much as many, but I sure did check this articles comments several times every day for the pastI dont know how long. Elsewhere, the star-studded Super Mario movie (name TBC) will be opening in cinemas in April 2023, and a film adaptation of popular video game Ghost of Tsushima is in the works. Kihara isnt the only one who has been vocal about fully reopening to tourists recently. The provisional measures from March 1, 2023. . World News Reuters Updated: May 30, 2022 2:06 pm IST . South Korea eased its border controls on visitors from China early this month, which China welcomed. Do you or anyone here know if we need this after Oct. 11? This is now the same as the best-case scenario. Multiple media outlets, including NHK, Kyodo, Nikkei, and Fuji TV are all reporting thatJapansgovernment is planning to further relax restrictions and border measures with an eye to implementing the revisions by the start of October. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is. The Mana Village A collection of villa properties opening in stages on the wild and rustic southern coastline of Kochi prefecture, on Shikoku island. The infection situation has been stabilizing in Japan and the government will consult with public health experts before reviewing the country's . Thanks to so many of you regular readers and commenters who made the last couple of years easier, shared articles, optimistic/pessimistic updates, and so much more. Read on to find out more! Okushibu The nickname given to Deep Shibuya, this secluded strip around Yoyogi and parallel to the new rooftop Miyashita Park, has seen an explosion in late night caf culture, unique eateries and flower shops. Nevertheless, despite loosening restrictions in September, travelers will still need to . Second, theres awareness within theKishida administration that the window of opportunity to reopen the border is closing. At best, this helps with winter. Japan is always one decade lagging behind the developed world. Thatll help you prepare for arrival, and potentially save time at the airport. I wish you all the best with your upcoming tripsthanks again for everything. Im very glad its dead but am also appreciative of what existed while it did. TOKYO, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Japan will maintain its tight entry restrictions to prevent the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus until the end of February, the prime minister said on. (Im sorry, I cant help myself. Thanks for your commitment, communication and consultation over the last 2 years. This time, instead of Black Ships, the. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. First, theres already the realization that unguided tourslike guided tours before themwill not move the needle on inbound tourism in any meaningful way. Is Japan open for internationalindividual travelers? Explore Japan's lesser-known destinations over 13 adventure-packed days, sipping sake in Takayama and marvelling at the iconic floating torii gate . With this, the visa exemption would be reinstated, making that a non-issue. For general inquiries about border measures for entry into Japan, please contact the following numbers Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's Call Center Open 9 AM to 9 PM, everyday including weekend and holidays. However, Japan is now joining the rest of the world as people are ready to move on with life. We eagerly await your arrival!. Amid the weakening yen, inbound travelers will have greatest economic effectThere are many foreign visitors who want to come visit Japan. Kihara added that eliminating the arrival cap alone was not enough. Hi Tom, With the yen weak, tourism has the potential to provide an . Kishidas government has been trying to take advantage of the weak yen and accelerate growth by attracting more foreign visitors. By contrast,Fuji TV is treating this as a done deal, using less ambiguous language. Japan has seasonal attractions in fall and winter. Subscribers also receive a totally free copy of ourJapan on a BudgeteBook. One of the last closed-border hold-outs is now allowing entry for Australian tourists, with visitors from the rest of the world to follow on May 1. Despite a sharp fall in the yen, just 120,400 visitors entered Japan in June, fewer than in May and April when borders were still closed, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization. Japan National Tourism Organisation (JNTO) looks forward to welcoming individual inbound travellers back to Japan with the long-awaited lifting of entry restrictions. Japan will open an embassy in Malta. Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. Visa waiver is back, no daily limit and free individual visits. Starting Tuesday October 11, Japan will drop its 50,000 entry cap and will allow independent tourists to visit Japan visa-free. This is specifically forunguided tour groups or non-escorted visitors on package tours andnotindividual tourists. You no longer need a visa to travel to Japan for up to 90 days. Putting aside how I obviously need to be clearing my web history more often, it all feels so surreal now that is, how religiously I checked this comments section for news on Japan not even half a year prior, a somewhat embarrassing fact that Firefox is keen to remind me of. Required fields are marked *, Free Money-Saving eBook & Japan Email Updates, https://www.travelcaffeine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/mount-fuji-sunrise-field-autumn-foliage-japan-bricker.jpg, https://www.travelcaffeine.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/travel-caffeine-new-logo-2.jpg, Is Japan Open to Tourists? Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Thursday his country will ease COVID-19 border control requirements next month, a key step in fostering a recovery in Japan's tourism sector, which is eager to take advantage of the yen's slide to a 24-year low. However, Japan remains one of the few major economies with significant restrictions on travel still in place, including a cap on visitor numbers. New Zealand is finally open for business. May 18 - Japan is Reopening for Tourism to 4 Countries on May-end On Tuesday, May 17, government officials announced that Japan will accept some tourists from the U.S., Australia, Thailand, and Singapore on a trial basis starting at the end of this month. Updated on Oct 29, 2021 01:32 PM IST While other Asian countries are inching toward reopening, Japan's borders will likely remain shut for some time to come. Some events and . Nagoya 2023 will see the opening of the remaining two areas of the Studio Ghibli Park, making the lesser celebrated city of Nagoya a key transit point for would-be visitors. Our view is that the worst-case scenario is nowhighlyunlikely. This follows on from the opening of high-end luxury Onsen Ryokan Yuen Sapporo (2020) and in the run-up to the Adventure Travel World Summit due to be held here in the autumn of 2023. js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; Japan reopened its borders to independent foreign travelers and reintroduced visa-free entry from October 11, 2022. . Japan, one of the world's last major holdouts during the pandemic, is dissolving its COVID-19 restrictions and opening the door back up to mass tourism. Along with revelling in the many ways to take in the allures across Japan, now is a time when international visitors can take advantage of shopping opportunities. Well 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. This is where there is disagreement among the major outlets. See countries around the world ring in 2023 with a bang. First, after reopening to guided tour groups, Japan reopened to individual tourists on October 11 of last year. Nov. 18, 2021 10:20 am JST Nov. 26, 2021 . despite protests. For these two-plus years, weve been closely monitoring the situation in Japan, watching several hours of NHK each day and reading multiple Japanese news sources. There are no quarantine requirements, and travel is visa-free for the vast majority of people reading this. Economic benefits of international tourists is one big reason why Japan is expected to reopen its border. Economists fear a double dip recession in Japan due to the prolonged closures and restrictions. Japan and South Korea imposed stricter border control on travellers from China after COVID cases surged there when it lifted its strict zero-COVID policy late last year. TOKYO, Japan - Japan plans to ease COVID 19-related border restrictions by lifting its entry ban for foreign nationals from 106 countries including the United States, Britain and France on . 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. Under the current COVID-19 border restrictions, foreign tourists need to obtain a short-term visa and prepare their flights, itinerary, accommodation, and car rentals ahead of time through a. With all borders open and international racing officially back on, Asia-Pacific's premier off-road triathlon series is ready to return with some of the best trails on the circuit as local and international age group athletes can finally go head-to-head once again in a season-long race for the title of XTERRA Asia-Pacific Champion. 2023 GPlusMedia Inc. national Japan to increase daily border cap to 5,000 people from Nov 26. At a news conference in New York City, where he was attending the UN General Assembly meeting, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Japan reopened its borders to overseas visitors on package tours Friday in a move that will potentially boost the economy over time, though the initial spending impact is likely to be limited. Human behavior and sentiment dont change overnight, even if its economically advantageous and objectively safer to do so. sheeesh still cant believe my trip starting october 22nd might actually happen this time (). What we had here was a weird little community of sorts, and a really nice one considering the circumstances. Your email address will not be published. Updated 7 June 2022. Compared with the pre-pandemic level in 2019, it dropped 99.2 percent. The resumption of individual travel to Japan and visa waivers, and the elimination of the daily arrival cap will allow international visitors to enjoy Japan in more ways than in the past two-and-a-half years. Japan finally opened its borders to tourists on Friday, but with strict rules. The country sealed its borders to most foreign travelers early in the pandemic and has only recently begun to allow a slow drip of students and business people to return a sharp contrast to. Thanks for the posts, Tom. While there are still some covid-related protocols in place, it's likely that the entire pandemic-era regime of border measures will be done away with my some point in 2023. Cheers . I was there for 11 days, mostly in Tokyo, and also to the bullet train to Sanjo (near Niigata) for a couple of days, and also a day trip to Mount Fuji with a driver/guide. Morgan Stanley Research analysts expect China to broadly reopen in the second half of 2022 and move away from the Zero-COVID policy by the end of this year. Either way, thats something to continue keeping in mind. May its borders remain open forevermore. A guide to all things new in Japan in 2023, Japan in 2023: A bucket-list-worthy adventure, These locations in Japan inspired beloved Studio Ghibli films, AutoFlight achieves worlds longest eVTOL Flight, Accors Mvenpick BalaLand Resort Lake Balatonopens in, AirAsia X resumes services to Shanghai with four weekly. Im inclined to say Spring 2023, but its easy to envision a worst-case that isnt until summer. Regardless, its 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. 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. Despite the aforementioned numbers, Japan is maintaining its goal of attracting 60 million foreign visitors by 2030. In response to the announcement, JNTO will be doing everything we can to provide you with the latest information on coming to Japan so that many tourists can visit and journey throughout our country. 2023 Yosemite Firefall Viewing Guide: Best Dates, Reservations Info & Face Masks in Japan: Rules v. Reality (2023), Please subscribe to our FREE email newsletter, Japan Fall Colors Forecast & Autumn Foliage Viewing Guide, Tokyo Disneyland 40th Anniversary 'Dream-Go-Round' Details, New Parade & Japan Reopening Disney Tourist Blog The KKK News. Thats the sharpest fall on record according to the Japan Tourism Agency. Yet despite the wealth of praises I have for Tom, this article and its two-year community, I am so, so glad, perhaps gladder than ever now, that compulsively opening this link in my browser is no longer part of my daily routine. Japan has announced it will lift tough Covid restrictions on foreign tourists, reopening the borders after two and a half years. Access unmatched financial data, news and content in a highly-customised workflow experience on desktop, web and mobile. fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); Japan is now allowing foreign nationals to enter Japan for purposes other than tourism so long as they have a sponsor in the country. Another possibility is that Japan will allow individual foreign tourists to enter the country andexempt them from visas if they have been vaccinated three times or submit a pre-arrival test result. Even just seeing the site suggestion come up, I could feel my heart reflexively sink into my chest in dread, as though it were already anticipating nothing today, either. Japan is finally reopening its borders to mass tourism on October 11. Here are all the details on visa-free travel, vaccination and Covid test requirements. Does that mean it will be as easy to visit now as it was pre-pandemic? 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. Sort of. Do I need to be vaccinated to go to Japan? Japan has vilified and scapegoated foreigners and had an overly aggressive approach to its borders. Japan Tourism: The decision means Japan will allow in a limited number of foreign tourists on package tours starting June 10. Japan slams the borders shut on Omicron. On the same topic. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Thank you Tom and to everyone for all the insights, info, and updates. (It took a few more days for the guidelines to be released, and the clarifying FAQ isstillbeing updated. TRAVEL NEWS, JOBS & EVENTS! 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. so its confirmed Thanks so much Tom. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government launched a multilingual call center on COVID-19 for foreign residents. 32 last-minute Valentine's Day 2023 gifts . The government is planning to submit a bill in October, which could give accommodation operators more authority to impose these types of infection control measures. Thats all we need, more authority (power), given to an already power drunk country, to impose more measures on us tourists. Japan is a highly attractive country not only for tourism, but also for international conferences and incentive travel. 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. Its made it slightly more bearable having a community to discuss all the news coming out of Japan especially since group tours first became a reality.