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COVID-19 Japan's Covid-19 border policy

That will help the student rental around the universities. Where I live rentals are as low as 10000 yen, average 15000 to 17000 with fridgerator and micro wave and curtains.
 
On 1 March, Japan eased its strict border regime:

Japan eased COVID-19 border controls on Tuesday, setting its limit on new entrants at 5,000 per day, up from the previous 3,500, and reducing or exempting quarantine periods for both Japanese and foreign nationals. Within the daily cap, which was relaxed for the first time in three months, foreign nationals will be able to enter Japan for purposes other than tourism. But more than 400,000 people already eligible for visas have been unable to enter the country as of Jan. 4, according to the Immigration Services Agency of Japan, and calls for further easing of the controls remain strong among business and academic communities at home and abroad.

 
On 10 April, Japan will raise the daily limit of new (non-tourist) arrivals from 7,000 to 10,000.

In recent weeks, the country has been relaxing what Prime Minister Fumio Kisida called the "most stringent" border controls among the Group of Seven nations. The daily entry limit was raised by 2,000 to the current 7,000 in mid-March, ahead of the start of the new Japanese school and business year in April. COVID-19 travel restrictions have prevented foreign students from traveling to Japan, with around 150,000 said to be waiting as of March 1. So far, over 10,000 of them have arrived in Japan, Matsuno said. The government has prioritized foreign students by allocating empty seats on weekday flights to facilitate their entry into Japan. Also on Friday, Japan eased its coronavirus travel warning for 106 nations, including the United States and India, and is no longer recommending that Japanese nationals avoid traveling to these areas. The Foreign Ministry lowered its travel advisories to Level 2 for those countries, also including Britain, France and Germany, from the second-highest Level 3.

 
On 10 April, Japan will raise the daily limit of new (non-tourist) arrivals from 7,000 to 10,000.



Last night NHK News reported that the number of daily new cases was increasing again. They also reported in the same story that the number of foreign arrivals was increasing to 10,000 as you said. They weren't so obvious as to say that the virus is the gaijin's fault, but the strategic placement of the two facts next to each other will make damn sure that many people will come to that conclusion.
 
They weren't so obvious as to say that the virus is the gaijin's fault, but the strategic placement of the two facts next to each other will make damn sure that many people will come to that conclusion.

I would hope that after two years of border closure and (as of today) 6,615,369 Coronavirus infections in Japan, the public does no longer view the pandemic as a "foreign disease". Also, while I understand the ban on foreign tourism, I wish the Japanese government would be more flexible regarding (non-spousal) family reunions.
 
While Japanese travellers can enter and leave Japan at will, foreign travellers are still banned from visiting Japan. Last week, the National Tourism Organization launched a new English-language website extolling Japan's famous hospitality:



The NYT on why Japan maintains a strict border regime: it's all about public support and the general elections in July. Expect no changes this summer.

It's not clear when restrictions might be rolled back, but it certainly won't happen before the election, said James Brady, the head Japan analyst at Teneo, a risk advisory consulting firm. But there may be some incremental movement once votes are in. Then Prime Minister Fumio Kishida "would have the flexibility to start rolling things back and opening up," Mr. Brady said, adding that the other major factor will the Japanese government's assessment of how the pandemic is playing out in China and South Korea, Japan's two largest sources of tourism. Even then, policymakers - with an eye on public sentiment - are likely to remove the restrictions bit by bit. The idea that Japan has had the most stringent travel restrictions on foreigners among the Group of 7 nations has played well domestically, regardless of whether they have had any actual impact on the country's ability to control the virus, said Hideki Yamamoto, a professor of health policy at Teikyo University.

 
Today, the government announced that it plans to ease its entry ban for foreign nationals from 106 countries, including the United States, Britain and France, on Friday. However, foreigners with tourist purposes are still not allowed into the country.

 
Some 30,000 foreign students have entered Japan since the border controls were eased in March. Around 110,000 international students were waiting to enter Japan as of last month.

Japan's long-running and stringent border controls drew fierce criticism from impacted students and academics ahead of the April start of the school year. In late November, Japan effectively imposed an entry ban on nonresident foreign nationals to limit the spread of the highly transmissible omicron variant of the coronavirus. But Japan's measures were later relaxed to allow businesspeople, students, and returning Japanese nationals and foreign residents to enter. The border remains closed to tourists. The daily cap on overseas arrivals has been increased in phases — up to 7,000 from 5,000 on March 14 and to 10,000 from Sunday. The government has prioritized foreign students by allocating them empty seats on weekday flights into Japan.

 
More good news: Japan is stealthily opening its borders to visiting families.

But now, Japan has begun granting visas to a wider range of people, including:
  • Family members within the first degree of kinship to foreign residents who want to come to Japan to visit their family, as well as family members within the second degree of kinship to Japanese nationals and permanent residents. First-degree kinship is defined as children and parents, while second-degree kinship refers to siblings, grandparents and grandchildren.
  • Family members who need to take care of a resident of Japan who is ill, is having a baby or is in need of support in their day-to-day affairs.
  • Family members visiting a resident of Japan who is near death or those coming to pay respects to a resident who has passed away.
  • Family members who need to accompany minors or those who cannot travel on their own due to illness or other reasons.

 
Yesterday, PM Kishida announced in London that Japan would further ease its border controls in June to bring them on par with other G7 nations.



Tyler Palma, head of operations of Inside Travel Group, explains the predicament the travel industry finds itself in and urges the government to release a roadmap to reopening the country for inbound tourism. His agency had to reduce staff by 50% to stay operational.

 
Depending on the source, the government plans to allow small groups of tourists in May or in June. While the daily cap of currently 10,000 visitors is restricted to businesspeople, technical interns and students, it will be gradually raised and extended to tourists.

During the trial phase, small groups of foreigners would visit sightseeing spots based on fixed itineraries in order for the government to see whether it can grasp their movements and how to respond if a COVID-19 case is detected, according to the source. The government will also consider requiring that participants have already had booster vaccine shots before the tours.



Given the general elections in July, it will be a difficult balancing act for PM Kishida.
 
The infection rate on the new versions seems real fast and weaker. We just had a one week school vacation and the rate jumped to the "high" level even with over 80% of Mainers having had 3 or 4 shots. I just got my forth one yesterday. Several schools had to close this week from all the students catching the virus. I see everyone here is back to wearing masks when I go shopping.
 
The Japanese government announced today that the daily number of overseas visitors will be increased to 20,000 in June.

The cap on arrivals per day was raised from 3,500 since November to 5,000 on March 1, 7,000 on March 14 and to the current 10,000 on April 10. In 2021, just 245,900 foreign visitors came to Japan — the lowest figure since comparable data became available in 1964. Meanwhile, the number of passengers on international flights operated by Japanese air carriers during this year's Golden Week holiday period increased around 370% from the same period last year to around 141,000, data released by the airlines has shown. Flights connecting Japan and Hawaii were especially popular during the period from April 29 to Sunday. Flights to and from Hawaii were nearly fully booked on peak days at ANA Holdings Inc.'s All Nippon Airways, while industry rival Japan Airlines enjoyed more than a nine-fold increase in the number of passengers on such flights.

 
That sounds promising but I don't like the fixed itinerary part. What I want to know is if I can accompany the rest of my family when they go to Japan in August to visit family. I also wonder how the limit works, I'm guessing its based on issued VISAs but what about VISA waiver countries?
 
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That sounds promising but I don't like the fixed itinerary part. What I want to know is if I can accompany the rest of my family when they go to Japan in August to visit family. I also wonder how the limit works, I'm guessing its based on issued VISAs but what about ISA waiver countries?
Travel was already open for family members of Japanese nationals so it should be no problem. Just don't say the purpose is tourism. As for fixed itinerary I wouldn't worry about it. Tell them your planned itinerary. If you don't follow it exactly, so what?
 
Travel was already open for family members of Japanese nationals so it should be no problem. Just don't say the purpose is tourism. As for fixed itinerary I wouldn't worry about it. Tell them your planned itinerary. If you don't follow it exactly, so what?

From what I had read it was only open to direct family members, I didn't think that applied to in-laws.
 
From what I had read it was only open to direct family members, I didn't think that applied to in-laws.
Not sure about that but if you're accompanying your wife, she's a direct family member to you. I know somebody who traveled during Covid when everything was completely locked down and he still got a special visa because he was with his wife and traveling back for his in-law's funeral. To be sure, I'd call the local consulate and see what they say.
 
Not sure about that but if you're accompanying your wife, she's a direct family member to you. I know somebody who traveled during Covid when everything was completely locked down and he still got a special visa because he was with his wife and traveling back for his in-law's funeral. To be sure, I'd call the local consulate and see what they say.
Yes, I'll have to talk to the consulate. In what I had read there were exceptions for visits to family members in Japan because of serious health issues and funerals. I'll poke the consulate here in Chicago and see what they say.
 
The Japanese government announced today that small groups of tourists from four countries (US, Australia, Thailand and Singapore) would be allowed to travel to Japan as early as this month. They have to be on fixed package tours limited to areas where prefectural governments have agreed to accept them to manage their activities. All travellers must be triple vaccinated and will be accompanied by tour conductors from travel agencies.

Good for the tour guides. They have been furloughed for too long.


 
🤣🤣😂

Assuming the program goes as planned, this would imply a total of about five tourists from the U.S. will be allowed to visit in the coming month on a carefully choreographed and restricted tour that would be the envy of North Korean guides.

Unfortunately, he is right.

 
Yes, I'll have to talk to the consulate. In what I had read there were exceptions for visits to family members in Japan because of serious health issues and funerals. I'll poke the consulate here in Chicago and see what they say.
UPDATE:

I talked to the Consulate and visa waiver isn't allowed right now even for visiting family. You need to apply for a visa in order to enter to visit family however there is no fee to apply for or get the visa. In order to apply for the visa to visit family you need to have a copy of your koseki, no older than 3 months, showing/proving the family relationship to submit with your application.

In the event of another lock down it is possible that all visas could be voided, which did happen in December during the surge of the Omicron variant. After they started loosening the lockdown for Omicron one of the first visas to allow new applications was for family visits but only if there was an emergency reason to visit.

I probably will not apply for the visa, it will require family members in Japan to go get the koseki from the local townhall, with bureaucratic hoops of course as it would not be retrieved in person, and get it to us. The consulate did say a copy is fine, even a printed picture as long as its all readable. I just feel like there is too much risk of another lockdown coming that would void the visa and then all that would be wasted effort. Not to mention the cost for the COVID testing in Japan in order to return to the US is pretty expensive, $250 per person according to my wife. I'm not worried about the plane ticket as I'm sure that would get refunded if a lockdown happened.
 
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The first foreign test tourists have arrived! :LOL:

foreign-tourists.jpg


The seven will be split into two itineraries. One includes Tochigi Prefecture's Nikko Toshogu shrine and Zenkoji temple in Nagano Prefecture, while the other features Iwate Prefecture's Hanamakionsen hot spring resort and the Mogami River in Yamagata Prefecture.


 
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
 
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