COVID-19 Japan's Covid-19 border policy

[Lothor]

i think this is being used more as an experiment to see if reintroducing tourism at this stage is something that will be seen as "safe".
a small control group selected from the safest possible candidates (booster shoted and from a highly developed nation if i remember right) can be seen as progress for the tourism industry while doubling up as the perfect excuse to outright shut down tourism again should this control group and the people they come into contact with be found to be infected with any form of coronavirus.
if there are no covid-19 cases related to this control group, i assume larger and more frequent groups will get the green light until a time when cases related to the groups emerge. from there, its anyone's guess i suppose

The lack of reciprocity about it all annoys me. At the start of the month, the media were excitedly reporting how busy the airports were as Japanese people were able to fly to Hawaii for the first Golden Week in three years, yet when it comes to tourists entering Japan the greatest of caution is required.

 

[Petaris]

Looks like I will be applying for the visa after all. I wonder If I will be restricted to some area local to my MIL's house? I will have to ask the consulate when I apply.

 

[mdchachi]

Looks like I will be applying for the visa after all. I wonder If I will be restricted to some area local to my MIL's house? I will have to ask the consulate when I apply.

I don't think so unless you are in some quarantine period.

Application for Visa for foreign nationals eligible for Phased Measures toward Resuming Cross-Border Travel

www.mofa.go.jp

 

[thomas]

Japan will end the current border control measures on iverseas travellers on 8 May following the government's decision to categorise COVID-19 as a common disease, in a major shift toward normalizing social and economic activities.

The government will simultaneously start a new genomic surveillance program, under which entrants with symptoms such as fever are tested voluntarily, with the aim of detecting new infectious diseases. […]
Travelers arriving at five major airports -- Narita, Haneda, Chubu, Kansai and Fukuoka -- will be subject to the new framework, which is set to start when the legal status of COVID-19 is downgraded to the same category as seasonal influenza early next month. It takes about a few weeks for genomic test takers to get the results, according to government officials.

Paywall alert:

Japan to end COVID-19 border controls on May 8

Entrants will no longer have to submit proof of vaccination or negative test result

asia.nikkei.com

 

[salyavin]

Convenient we are going back to Japan this summer so kids can spend time with the family, I will be working from there as well.