TRAVEL NEWS, JOBS & EVENTS! Oct 19, 2022 SHARE Not since 1853, when U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry forced Japan to open its borders to trade, has a reopening been so newsworthy. The Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) loophole has long been used by foreign teenagers who hope to work in the nation's fast-growing child workforce, jobs . Those two posts cover essentially everything you need to know about visiting Japan as of 2023. Kihara isnt the only one who has been vocal about fully reopening to tourists recently. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon. =w=)b. Wow, i cant believe it. Its pretty clear the government is focused on moving forward. See countries around the world ring in 2023 with a bang. While the pandemic is still very much a thing, we've largely seen countries start to take the approach of trying to resume "normal" life while living with . Instead of blanket testing of travellers from mainland China, Japan will only test selected samples, although travellers will still need to show a negative test before boarding their flights to Japan, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a news conference on Monday. Bon voyage! We had a nice little community here, and that was greatly appreciated. Thanks for the posts, Tom. As COVID-19's Omicron variant surges around the world, advanced democracies are generally responding vigorously but with lower levels of restrictions on social life and travel than in 2020 and 2021. Toranomon-Azabudai A futuristic development project by Heatherwick opening in 2023 in the well-heeled area of south-west Tokyo by the same name, the Toranomon-Azabudai Project will foreground green spaces, a new temple, retail spaces designed by Sou Fujimoto, Japans tallest high-rise building, two Aman properties and the new permanent location for teamLab exhibitions in Tokyo from 2023. It thus stands to reason that opening to individual tourists necessarily needs to occurthat raising the entry cap will do nothing in furtherance of their stated goal. Also as previously mentioned, recent poll data also shows the public is now far less concerned with COVID than the economy, Unification Church scandal, Abes state funeral, and other issues. Thanks to everyone in here in the comments for that! This is specifically forunguided tour groups or non-escorted visitors on package tours andnotindividual tourists. Reuters provides business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world's media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers. From September 7, 2022, the country plans to drop pre-departure testing requirements for fully vaccinated travelers (including one booster dose). 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. There are no quarantine requirements, and travel is visa-free for the vast majority of people reading this. Think those will stick around for several months, or are simply theater to shift public opinion? Among fellow G7 countries, Japan has had some of the strictest rules it comes to border restrictions. . 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. Not A Hotel Ishigaki Opening on the island of Ishigaki in 2023, this Sou Fujimoto set of luxury sea-view villas have the unique property of being raised as if from the ground, with meadows for rooftops, a sleek futuristic design reminiscent of his designs at the recent Shiroiya Hotel in Gunma. We have to carry it out in the not-so-distant future, he said. Call 81 3 3201 3331. ), While presenting the above as a cautionary tale against optimism or over reliance on logic when assessing Japans decisions, thats exactly what Im going to do. 2023 GPlusMedia Inc. national Japan to increase daily border cap to 5,000 people from Nov 26. For more than two years, the nation was effectively impossible visit Japan. Nevertheless, despite loosening restrictions in September, travelers will still need to . With this, the visa exemption would be reinstated, making that a non-issue. 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. 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. However, Japan is now joining the rest of the world as people are ready to move on with life. Japan reopened its borders to holders of long-term visitor, business or student visas on 1 June 2022, as well as to tourists on authorised package tours. Of course, things could change between now and then, but its likely the border will revert to late 2019 status as of that date. That's a hardship for the many. Im happy that I soon wont be needing to lurk this site on a daily basis as I have for the last countless months, but will always look back on this unexpected place of community fondly. These measures are long-awaited news for tourists around the world who have been looking forward to visiting Japan. 2023 - Travel Daily. 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. Its been our perspective that this was a necessary prerequisite towelcoming 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. It could start as soon as late November, but is more likely in December. . More information can be found here . 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. The country's domestic and international business community united on Friday in urging the government to open further, including "rapidly resuming" individual tourist travel and bringing. despite protests. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. . 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. Are borders open as normal in 2023? 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. Given that none of the recent reports have even mentioned COVIDs status in regard to reopening, its possible our perspective was wrong. Though some things feel different, this nation Ive travelled for the last two months, ing and ing about the forty-seven prefectures as I once did in the 2010s, is certainly the same marvellous place that I fell in love with so long ago. If/when theres another winter resurgence in cases, the reopening can would effectively be kicked down the road for a few more months. In our view, koyo (autumn leaves) season is a good bet, and that takes place from mid-November through December. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Read on to find out more! May its borders remain open forevermore. The government will also take measures to stimulate and jump-start the economy. South Korea eased its border controls on visitors from China early this month, which China welcomed. Japan relaxed its border measures earlier in September while still being #1 in the world for new cases. I am so glad that our community died, and that all of us who were trapped in this purgatory for so long have finally been able to resume our travels, adventures and lifestyles. Is Japan open for internationalindividual travelers? var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; Thats simply a good time to visit Japan and, hopefully, the country will be open to individual tourists by then. China retaliated by suspending the issuing of short-term visas in South Korea and Japan. 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. As borders are reopening, Japan is finally seeing some improvements in its travel performance, according to the latest update of the Skift Travel Health Index. Japan Tourism: The decision means Japan will allow in a limited number of foreign tourists on package tours starting June 10. 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. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has confirmed "no schedule has been decided" for fully reopening the borders, though members of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party have discussed a potential. Any questions? For now, direct flights from China can only land at the Narita, Haneda, Kansai and Chubu airports. -. Kiyomizu-dera Temple with cherries in full bloom: f11 photo / Shutterstock.com Situation Summary Lets say that happens in early November. Its thus our view that Japan reopening in some capacity to individual tourists in October is a very realistic scenario. As always, Japan is cautious and conservative, with a slow and belabored decision-making process that often embodies analysis paralysis and usually defies logic. With that in mind, lets 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.. Either way, thats something to continue keeping in mind. The Tokyo Olympics briefly saw Japan reopen its borders to the world (a year later than planned) in 2021, amid the onset of the pandemic, but just three months after the closing ceremony Prime Minister Fumio Kishida banned all incoming foreign travellers in a bid to prevent the spread of omicron.