Japan may re-open borders to travelers from Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, NZ

I am French.

My father is very sick and i would like to see him. I am permanant resident in Japan and I am like an hostage here. I cannot go to visit my Father.

It is not human to not allow permanent resident to go back home. Why not applying Covid test when coming back to Japan.

I don't understand the policy.

I am verry worried and cannot visit my father.

Same thing, my study had to start in April, but I still can't get there and my visa will expire soon. I support the thing that safety first. But if they are going to test visitors before departure and after arrival, why don't they allow the public transportation? Moreover, isn't it a good way of testing for visitors from other countries who have long-term visas and who are ready to pass the test and do self-quarantine.

Let's be strong and patient anyway.

So frustrated...need to get to Japan asap and here we are in June already. I was supposed to be there March.....Test people before arriving in Japan and test them once they get there.....instead we have no date for opening in fact....

All of this precaution wouldn't look empty if they were actually testing people. The virus was already around in December and the total number of tests is around 300k, the same number of tests as Ireland, a country that has been affected by the virus for half of the time, and with just 5 million people.

Just using those numbers Japan should have tested around 50 times more people revealing many many more cases but obviously they don't want to do that, they'd rather turn a blind eye to the issue.

@Mark

I think you're wrong about NZ. Economic considerations mean the borders will open soon enough on a limited basis. They are just working through the technological side of things to ensure infections aren't brought in.

Australia flights to start July 1st. Japan will be September 1st.

Dear Japan government

instead of opening borders for countries for tourists , please open for your own foreign residents who work for your country and who are separated from their loved ones . Many other countries allow all residents ( foreign residents with valid work visa) unlike japan who are very biased.

rethink and please consider

What about Laos?

Actually, Laos isn't on the banned list. Cambodia and Myanmar too. As long as their countries allow it, people can go between those countries and Japan the same as before.

I'm writing from New Zealand and, ironically, I should have been in Takayama today on a month long Japanese trip.

It's all fine and dandy to say you might open your borders to Kiwis etc. but the reality is that there is 0 chance of Kiwis being able to travel to Japan any time soon. You aren't covid-19 free; we think we are. The people here do not want to take any chances of reinfecting the country which means that except for Kiwis who are currently stuck overseas, nobody is allowed into the country. Those Kiwis who do return from being stuck overseas the last couple of months face a mandatory, supervised 14 day lockdown quarantine at a hotel near the Auckland airport; no leaving the room for 14 days except for a brief supervised fresh air trip in the hotel grounds once a day. That's it.

Currently anybody returning from overseas is accommodated at gov't expense but it is expected that going forward somebody travelling voluntarily overseas for a holiday and then returning would have to pay for his 14 day hotel stay in Auckland entirely at their own expense. This will be our future until other countries are declared covid-19 free or a vaccine is developed.

So would I want to risk travelling to Japan knowing we are virus free and you aren't and that's what I would have to look forward to on returning to New Zealand? Not a chance. Would others? Except for those travelling for essential purposes (e.g. business maybe), no.

So please don't kid yourselves that you will be likely getting tourists from New Zealand (and Australia for that matter where the situation is similar) anytime soon. Get rid of the virus in Japan. Lock down your borders to countries that still have the virus. Prove it to us that you have done the right thing. Then maybe we can talk.

Even if Japan opens its borders for Australians or Kiwis tourists, not many of them would go there as they don't want to face a 14 days quarantine back home after their trip in Japan.

Reading the tea leaves, flights between NZ/AUS and Japan are likely to resume on Sept 1. NZ is likely to open the borders to some extent given the importance of tourism and international education to the economy.

By that stage, Japan will be unlikely to have many active cases anyway(there are around 1400 at the moment).

This is a positive sign.

Having said that, I am scheduled to visit Japan later in the year, but if there are heavy restrictions on where I can and can't go, I am likely to not bother.

There.That sums it up.

Vietnamese youth are the fastest-growing group of foreign workers in Japan. Many arrive as part of a technical trainee program set up by the Japanese government, which is widely seen as a way to bring in blue-collar labour in immigration-shy Japan.

why would any nation that used science and a lot of testing to beat back the virus open its doors to a nation that did neither?

Hopefully they will enforce the rules with punishment for breaking them.

@Octavarium

Totally agree with you.

A shameful decision from Japan.

This shows how this country government has respect for the foreign workers and population here. NONE. No respect at all.

I am like you , do not have any issues yet, but was totally shocked by this technical decision. Shame on you Japan !

This country lost all my respect.

Dear Japanese Government,

How about allowing reentry for Japan's foreign residents first?

Residents who are stranded abroad, lose their jobs, their loves, their lives in Japan right at this moment.

Residents who are still in Japan and have to choose between attending their mother's funeral and losing their life in Japan, or staying in Japan and not being able to say goodbye to their loved ones.

Residents who pay taxes, doing dirty labor that Japanese don't want to do anymore and contributing to the Japanese economy and society.

We already understood that you don't see us as a real part of your country but do we demand too much when when we ask you to adhere to basic human rights and humanitarian values?

Best foreign regards

A foreign resident who doesn't have any of the above mentioned problems but is just disappointed...yeah, disappointed and angry.

Once permitted into the country, visitors' movements would be restricted to areas including place of stay, company offices and factories, the newspaper said, adding that use of public transportation would be banned.

Is this restricted to business travelers? If not, then what's the point then? And how are you going to police that?

Vietnamese youth are the fastest-growing group of foreign workers in Japan. Many arrive as part of a technical trainee program set up by the Japanese government, which is widely seen as a way to bring in blue-collar labour in immigration-shy Japan.

If you are basically restricted to living quarters and workplaces, then Japan doesn't really sound too inviting does it?

kwatt Today  06:08 pm JS

Capitalism collapse seems only matter of time if countries don't see when they reopen.

Socialists and other assorted authoritarians would love to see that.

We would have to live with the more or less corona virus. SARS, MERS have been not terminated yet, still around, somewhere!

The corona virus might well be around for a long time, but its virulence and potency could very well fade. I don't know. Only that no vaccine has been developed for them over the last 15 years or so. So it would be a little optimistic to expect one, at least a safe one, to be developed for the Wuhan virus.

So are we going to be held to ransom until it comes along? At this rate, we can't afford it.

MlodinowToday  05:57 pm JST

Guess no trips home to Australia, NZ etc for the time being...

This might actually be okay? Japan seems to want to limit travel to Japan to business travelers, so as long as you were returning to NZ/Aust for family reasons, you would be returning to Japan for work.

Of course, I have no idea how this would reconcile with the restricted travel (presumably only for 2 weeks?) upon returning to Japan though. The plan seems quite poorly thought out and unappealing to those countries Japan wants to allow travel with.

I'd like to think it'd be OK, but we're dealing wth politicians here, not rational human beings.

I'm surprised the idea has been floated at all, considering that Australia has closed its borders and even the state of Queensland has closed its domestic border to people from interstate - basically guaranteeing widespread bankruptcies in the tourism and relate industries. That might change shortly, but a lot of damage has already been done. And the only international travel from Australia in the foreseeable future looks to be with NZ.

Nobody in their right mind would come to Japan for a business trip under those conditions. Who thought this up? Just keep Zooming until things get better.

Capitalism collapse seems only matter of time if countries don't see when they reopen. We would have to live with the more or less corona virus. SARS, MERS have been not terminated yet, still around, somewhere!

Guess no trips home to Australia, NZ etc for the time being...

This might actually be okay? Japan seems to want to limit travel to Japan to business travelers, so as long as you were returning to NZ/Aust for family reasons, you would be returning to Japan for work.

Of course, I have no idea how this would reconcile with the restricted travel (presumably only for 2 weeks?) upon returning to Japan though. The plan seems quite poorly thought out and unappealing to those countries Japan wants to allow travel with.

Once permitted into the country, visitors' movements would be restricted to areas including place of stay, company offices and factories.

And who would be monitoring these movements? Would visitors have their own personal minders, or be tracked with an app (basically the same thing)?

This problem is getting worse by the day, with illness from the virus itself barely getting a look in.

Please allow work visa holders to Japan . Travel ban is worrying us . We have house there ., we pay taxes and children go to Japanese school .. please allow long term work visa residents.

smartacusToday  05:30 pm JST

On the hand, if countries are waiting for a vaccine before allowing international flights, they might as well kiss the airline and tourism industries goodbye.

I fear you could be right on the money. A vaccine could take years to develop; anything rushed through could be quite dangerous. Either way, I'd be extremely wary of any attempts at compulsory vaccinations.

Freedom of movement is another victim in this manipulated crisis.

Too soon, we won't have a travel bubble in NZ with Australia for months, one with Japan won't happen until at least end of the year..

Travel with Europe and the North America (including Canada and Mexico) won't happen for at least a year judging by the catastrophe unfolding in those places and how badly the numbers are being fudged over there

I’d be surprised if New Zealand allows this

With Japan still having hot spots and new cases in major cities I’m not sure if anybody from those countries wants to travel to Japan.

Unfortunately, I don't see how this can work. I really wanted to go to Australia for a holiday this year but the Australian government has said it has no plans to open its international borders to flights from anywhere except New Zealand in the near future.

On the hand, if countries are waiting for a vaccine before allowing international flights, they might as well kiss the airline and tourism industries goodbye.

Not intelligent at all.

Guess no trips home to Australia, NZ etc for the time being...

This is assuming people from those countries want to come to Japan in the first place. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but haven't all these countries done so much better than Japan at containing the virus? Why on earth would they want to risk going to a country which still hasn't really controlled the problem?

And so, why has Japan not thought about allowing visitors from Hong Kong and Taiwan? These two have done EXTREMELY well, even when you don't consider how close they are to mainland China. Not white enough? Not enough cheap labour from these places?

What an utterly ridiculous concept. Just keep the ban in place until a simple temperature ban at the airport on incomming travelers issufficient, just as it was for SARS years ago. This isn't go squat for tourism if that's the objective. Get real.

The "imported" cases originating from Europe, undetected at airports, are responsible for the second wave in March to late April. I don't oppose to reopening, but also suggest keeping guard in place at international arrivals

Going by NZ news, NZ currently has no intention to re-open travel with Japan, only with other countries who are near to eliminating the virus themselves, such as Australia.

I can understand that Japan wants to err on the side of caution but it seems over the top to restrict this to business travelers and also to restrict where people can visit within Japan. These travelers will be only from countries where COVID-19 has been eliminated (or at least will be by the time this starts). Either travel is safe or it isn't, and if it isn't why restart it early and risk a second wave between the early-mover countries?

Once permitted into the country, visitors' movements would be restricted to areas including place of stay, company offices and factories.

This is the same idea that some countries in Europe want to implement for oversea business travelers. (According to the latest news from my home country)

The question also remains whether these countries will allow their citizens to travel to Japan! Australia in particular is very strict as it was the second country to declare that they won’t send their Olympic teams for the games when Japan borders were fully open earlier this year. Furthermore, this plans ( restricted movement from hotel to office/factory, not able to use public transportation etc ) that the Japanese authorities are devising will not sit well with foreigners as it seems too tight! It might sound better for them to use video conferencing for business. Once again poor planning on the part of the authorities ( if this is actually their intention )! Don’t get me wrong but for a country full of intelligent people, the decision making and planning is somehow mostly poor in Japan and doesn’t make sense at all!

Is this including people moving there permanently for new job employment?

But without using public transport then what other options are available?

This is only really of benefit if you are planning a one way trip. On the return leg the respective countries will expect that you quarantine yourself for 2+ weeks.

What about Laos?

Slave workers and rich tourists.

no testing probably. Just a 2 second temp scan.

Is this a joke?

What is the point of limiting entry to people from "Covid-free" countries (and requiring virus tests before departure/after arrival) if you are going to track/restrict their movements once in the country, and prevent them from taking public transport?