Japan, China restart reciprocal business travel

What'll be interesting is if any passengers from China test positive after getting off the direct flight.

After all . . . . China has no domestic transmission

We hope that full-scale traffic between Japan and China can be realized as soon as possible,

Oh my God...

Please wait until a safe and effective vaccine is implemented.

So business people who are moving about, meeting many people can easily come to Japan and pose no threat, but long term residents and expats, they are a risk? Makes you want to shake your head looking at that logic!

Motegi is not basing his decisions on science

Under the agreement, Japan and China will allow businesspeople on short-term visits to be exempted from the usual 14-day quarantine period upon arrival if they test negative for the coronavirus and submit an itinerary of their activities in advance.

I wonder at which point they take a test. What if the result is falsely negative? I still don't understand a scientific logic behind this reopening decision.

Just two weeks ago, 17 people from Indonesia tested positive upon arrival at the Kansai airport though all of them had earlier tested negative and results documented prior to departure.

「陰性」証明書持ってたのに、空港検査で「陽性」…インドネシアから関空到着の１７人

https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/national/20201118-OYT1T50220/

As I've noted, negative test proof is almost meaningless. I can't trust any negative certificate brought from China. All visitors from China should re-test upon Japan side even though a 2 weeks quarantine is exempted.

So business people who are moving about, meeting many people can easily come to Japan and pose no threat, but long term residents and expats, they are a risk? Makes you want to shake your head looking at that logic!

No logic at all involved here. Just racism and money

People with PR and families in japan who rely on them for support can’t enter, but Chinese people with money can. If that doesn’t say everything about japan I don’t know what does

Not to mention that at a time that China is looking to create an incident as excuse for a territorial war, and this with multiple countries at the time, Japan is facilitating their economy instead of sanctioning it. When China is making one despicable move after the other against Australia, Japan ignores those attacks. China under Xi must be stopped and stopped now or we will all come to regret it

Is this mainland "China" only, or does it included places which China considers to be "China".

Meaning, how about Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan? (those places alone accounted for 7+ million visitors in 2019, or nearly 25% of total visitors)

P. Smith,

That's too much common sense and facts for some people.

They want bad relations between Japan and China, that's what this is about. Any sign of relations improving is not acceptable. They did not approve of such a thing, the list of demands they have for China has not been met, so relations between Japan and China cannot improve. The Expats on here don't agree.

If you think that you have to wear full PPE to travel... maybe don't travel?

Thank you P.Smith - and thank you for posting a simple link. Few of us have repeated this on this forum but just get dismissed by those who think nothing has changed since March and just wish to criticise Japan for the sheer hell of it.

That photo looks pretty leisurely to me. Ohhh, it's business.

How about zoom meetings like the rest of the world?

When the world is closed to Japan, China is open to her. That says a lot.

Money over people. Makes me sick enough to forego a return to Japan.

After all . . . . China has no domestic transmission

It means Communist government is watching everything very carefully about all people, even everyone's mind and up to everyone's ass.

"We hope that full-scale traffic between Japan and China can be realized as soon as possible,"

You are the only ones hoping for that.

Was it not like 2 weeks ago there was this article titled

"Japan to urge Biden to focus on Indo-Pacific as well as U.S. issues"

Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Monday that Japan will urge Joe Biden to focus on foreign as well as domestic issues, including maintaining order in the Indo-Pacific region, as the president-elect prepares to take office in January.

Biden should be acting as security guard while Suga is busy trading with China. Talk about allies.

@Tokyo-m: Thats merely a link from what P.Smith posted. We are all aware of the need to take a test 72 hours prior to return as a non citizen.

Seriously what are they thinking????? there are so many alternatives to face to face meetings.

If China is supposedly safe and has no more domestic transmission of this virus, why then do these Chinese travellers look like they dressed for bio warfare? Is this because Japan in their minds is dangerous and if so, why the hell would you travel into danger?

Japan. "

So if I have to leave Japan for any reason, my Japanese spouse can return without a pre-test, but I have to get one. Why? 

Because their Japanese and Japanese citizens can not be refused entry under any circumstances according to the constitution.

You are a PM thus not protected by the constitution.

Pretty simple solution either

become a Japanese national or

accept your passport makes you different.

totally idiotic and unscientific.

@Tokyo-m: So if people took the time to actually click on the link provided then they would know the latest requirements wouldn't they? Rather than listening to hearsay like you are suggesting. What a ridiculous defence to make.

My school is reconsidering an alternative trip other than the Tokyo region. And when choosing a less populated alternative, the head teacher said, "There shouldn't be any foreigners there, only Japanese." And my jaw dropped.

I approached the teacher afterwards and told them how discriminatory saying that was. They tried to play it off as "I didn't mean you. But parents may worry abut Chinese...tourists." And I proceeded to tell them that if students are going to catch this virus, it is more likely they will catch it from a Japanese person over a foreign person. And did they not know that most countries cannot even enter Japan yet? And those that can, have very strict controls?

I may not have changed this person's mind. But I got a weak apology. And I bet they won't say something like that at least when I'm around. Still blows my mind that no one else in the meeting said anything about that at the time.

So business people who are moving about, meeting many people can easily come to Japan and pose no threat, but long term residents and expats, they are a risk? Makes you want to shake your head looking at that logic!

In the minds of Japanese elites:

Chinese tourists and business people Expats.

As usual, PR at the bottom of the pile, just slightly above foreign tourists (for the moment). Come Olympics (good luck with that happening), even tourists will be treated better than PRs. Test certificates using the government's form (foreign hospitals not good enough), and having to spend well over 20,000 yen for a chauffer-driven limo from the airport back to home, or fork out more money at an airport hotel.

What this tells us is that Japanese blood is unique. Foreign blood is dirty and less immune to the virus.

Meanwhile, Vietnam has its first infection in a long time, thanks to someone coming from Japan.

For expatriates and other long-term residents, the 14-day quarantine requirement after arriving in the respective countries remains in effect.

Peoples lives and families are much more important than Chinese businesses.

also that picture says it all, if you think that you have to dress up in full hazmat to be protected then you shouldn't be travelling!!!

Another bright idea from the Japanese government.

Since Go to Travel failed not it's Go To BUSINESS. haha

The only Chinese who will be coming are CCP approved agents that are in their positions by CCP approval with PLA backgrounds. This point should be noted.

Aly RustomToday  07:41 am JST

So business people who are moving about, meeting many people can easily come to Japan and pose no threat, but long term residents and expats, they are a risk? Makes you want to shake your head looking at that logic!

No logic at all involved here. Just racism and money

Money for sure, But what "racism"?

Oh sweet senpai, please I need your China bucks! owo

Money for sure, But what "racism"?

seriously?

Good. Quarantine is a human rights violation.

The sooner normality resumes the better

The idea that Japan was allowing Nationals to come back without any of the headaches that the PRs got.

Does anybody know how do they go thru security check in that?

The only extra headache of being a NON CITIZEN is having a PCR test at your origin 72 hours before departure. As @carpslidy has pointed out , if you are a foreign passport holder then get used to it. Regardless of Resident/Visa status you are not Japanese. At least we are allowed back in now. On arrival in Japan everybody is treated the same. I have copies of the flow charts on procedure this is identical in Japanese/Chinese/Korean and English. Stop whingeing.

I traveled from Hong Kong to Tokyo three weeks ago on a new entry long-term visa. There’s a lot of misinformation here, especially regarding PR and other visa holders being allowed back. PR and other visa holders have been allowed to re-enter from August 1, with all new entrants (those with Certificate of Eligibility) allowed to enter from October 1 regardless of country of origin.

Yes the pre-departure test certificate for NJ only is unfair. However, I did not submit any pre-departure test and was not tested upon arrival at Narita (seriously...I was shocked also). From my understanding countries deemed safe enough are no longer required to submit pre-departure tests. I confirmed with the consulate that effective November 1 this is indeed the case. Thankfully I took one anyways, at my company’s request, and was asked by Cathay Pacific in order to print my boarding pass. That is a separate issue though as there is zero coordination between the embassies and airline companies as I was told new entries could still not enter (even though I had a signed letter from the consulate in hand...). After an hour or so of Cathay calling Japan then I was finally able to check-in.

Can’t wait to use the travel bubble and go to Singapore soon for a business trip...

@theResident

Are you saying, no more 14days quarantine for NON CITIZENs (not business purposes)?

one group on facebook where people can share their difficulties is called return to Japan Support Group where members can share their experiences and help each other go through the whole headache.

Forgot to mention the quarantine part. Japanese nationals and foreigners are subject to the exact same quarantine measures after arrival, although foreigners (except PR and spouses...may be wrong...) will need a “Written Pledge” from your company prepared pre-departure. This document needs to be stamped by the embassy/consulate pre-departure and submitted at immigration upon arrival, and basically holds your employer responsible if you break quarantine (maybe they get a fine or something).

As for the actual quarantine part, it’s basically an “onegai” to not use public transportation and to use proper judgement and stay at home unless it’s necessary to go out to shop for food, etc. I received zero instructions on what I could/could not do and no checkup phone call during the two weeks. I freely when in/out to shop as necessary and did not find it that restrictive. It’s much better than being locked in a hotel room in China and not even allowed to throw your trash away that accumulates during the two weeks.

Obviously for business travel the quarantine is too prohibitive therefore departure and arrival tests, with a detail itinerary for contact tracing purposes, should be sufficient. Of course it will not please everyone.

At least we are allowed back in now. On arrival in Japan everybody is treated the same.

THAT is not true

Because their Japanese and Japanese citizens can not be refused entry under any circumstances according to the constitution

Citation? Because upon reading the constitution no such right is guaranteed. Nor does it prohibit lockdowns. In fact, the Constitution does state that human rights shall be subject to the public welfare, which pandemic prevention would qualify as.

Article 12. The freedoms and rights guaranteed to the people by this Constitution shall be maintained by the constant endeavor of the people, who shall refrain from any abuse of these freedoms and rights and shall always be responsible for utilizing them for the public welfare.

Article 13. All of the people shall be respected as individuals. Their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness shall, to the extent that it does not interfere with the public welfare, be the supreme consideration in legislation and in other governmental affairs.

Of course, as with any foundational document, its application in real life is up to the interpretation of the courts. But it is simple incorrect to hide behind the Constitution.