The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.
© KYODOJapan to remove entry cap in 'not-so-distant future,' official says
TOKYO©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.
© KYODO
88 Comments
Login to comment
Alan Bogglesworth
Tourists tourists tourists tourists !!!!!
Nemo
Good and get rid of the tour requirements too. Then we can start making some money.
Namorada
Not that I want to see all the tourists back, it is obvious that the yen isn’t going to stop its free fall until demand increases and most domestic consumers are being bled dry or are already tapped.
Stephen
Obviously, there’ll be no Chinese tourists for ages so the government can safely open up without worrying about hordes of people coming. Time to open up completely from mid-October otherwise other G7 countries will start asking serious questions.
Stewart MacDonald
By the time restrictions go, I'll have missed 3 whole seasons of live J.league and my body is missing onsen.
Each year I have been designing for myself an itinerary for travel in Kyushu. 2023 looks good for journeys on the new Kamome.
thelonius
Entry cap doesn't matter b/c no way more than 50,000 people per day will come anyway.
Therese Sayers
I don't mind masks - I'll wear them anyway to lessen the risk of my holiday being spoilt by Covid. I just want the freedom to choose my own itinerary and travel independently with my partner. Ready to travel for the Japanese autumn. Passport ready, triple vaccinated. Knocking on the door!
Zizi
I think it's a great idea to just open up as most of the world seems to have done.
I've no idea why Japan has been slow and so strict.
Equality is the only way forward. Here in Denmark, there are quite a few Japanese students and homestayers, and they love that Europe is so free regarding things like mask use.
Ken
@nemo
Did you even read the article or just the headline? It’s literally in the second paragraph “The government will simultaneously relax other restrictions including a visa requirement and the requirement to travel on a package tour”
shogun36
have they even remotely came close to reaching the daily cap on any day in 2022?
highly unlikely. Another meaning less gesture.
get to the main issues already.
shogun36
mind BLOWN!
this man must be a genius!!!
why didn’t anyone else figure that out?!?!
Speed
It's not the cap that's the problem. It's the visa requirement and mandatory group-tours. Missing all the marks (again).
fxgai
Japan residents are no longer asked to wear masks when outdoors and not conversing much, so honestly this masking requirement doesn’t make sense.
On buses and the like yes, but masks are hardly a requirement now when there has been such a huge infection count domestically.
vendingmachinemusic
But will the foreigners wear masks is the 2.3billion dollar question.
garymalmgren
Flew into Narita from Oz last evening.
2 hours to get through the quarantine area.
A lot of people are missing connecting flights and I just made the last Shinkansen back home.
Pathetic show.
gary
tora
And vaccine requirements? Should be same as for japanese nationals. If not, then it's pure nonsense and xenophobic.
Steven Mccarthy
This is great news for those foreigners here who have been claiming that their very lives have been put on hold or bankrupt.!. I wonder what they’ll be whining about now ? This announcement is everything thing they desperately been needing .!. So now what ? Visa free entry - reinstated. It doesn’t say must be 3 x vaccinated or a negative PCR test result.!. I hope that’s not a surprise announcement later … some peoples heads will literally explode:)
Lindsay
In the bit to distant future? What sort of a ridiculous statement is that? Does that mean days, weeks, months, years, decades?
Lionel Lyyn
Since when masks doesn't work anymore ? Just asking because lot of people here are saying that masks doesn't work when In fact it did for 2 years of pandemic. And people whining about other people wearing it. I mean until the pandemic is really over, I don't see the problem of people wearing them, it is not like you are required to do so, or even that mask did cause a health problem to anyone.
theResident
Visa free entry will also be reinstated. As for vaxxed/non vaxxed. I expect nothing will change. US still requires non citizens/ non residents to have a vax certificate. Not an issue for those who really want to visit, as a pre flight PCR is still an option (here) There is no mask mandate here @MumbaiRocks!, people just adhere to out of courtesy in situations where its the norm. No more group tours/travel agent only booked trips, so good news for us residents too as we should see an albeit small but much welcome fall in intl airfares as capacity is restored.
Expect from sometime in October.
ClippetyClop
This is really good news that I've been waiting a long time for! Finally I may be able to get back to work.
The lack of Chinese tourists doesn't bother me too much as I always favoured customers from other nations. Nothing against the Chinese etc some of my best friends are Chinese etc. but they were extremely 'challenging' to work with.
Ski Resorts such as Hakuba and Nisseko must be excited, they've suffered without their Aussie customers for the last 2 seasons.
Guy Gin
Please get rid of the masks too. I’m no medical professional but feel it’s having a serious impact on children's mental health.
fxgai
Actually I got back from overseas yesterday afternoon too (Terminal 1), but got through the quarantine pretty fast - flight landed a bit early and a short taxi to our dock against expectations. Had to do a lot of walking through quarantine, but I had done the quarantine stuff via the MySOS app ahead of time, and I was at the train station about 30 minutes later.
My overseas destination had very smooth procedures too, the Return via Narita was more complicated but being triple vaxed and having all the certificates and having registered in MySOS first, it was not so bad traveling.
Nihon Tora
Excellent news - long overdue! I'd rather they didn't have any vaccination requirements, but I'm not especially bothered as everyone I know who wants to visit is up to date with their vaccinations anyway. I think a more sensible requirement would be to ask people to come with travel insurance that covers hospitalization.
Bobo
good news, but I’ll believe it when I c it, it seems too good to be true all but vax cert needed. Fingers x
master
More tacit acknowledgement that any and all preventative measures have been arbitrary and useless.
travelbangaijin
Agree with "master" - looking around the world, these politically-driven restrictions did more social/economic harm than any health-positive result.
gogogo
The entry cap isn't stopping tourists coming, no one wants a package tour and having to get a visa.
ClippetyClop
Can you explain why you didn't give him any time to actually explain it? Didn't think so.
Or possibly that a thing called 'circumstances' can do something called 'change'.
Arab man
FINALLY!!!!
ian
It seriously impacts adult mental health also.
Some become paranoiac and delusional
denny
Stop the mandatory tour groups....STOP having to apply for the damn visa......(visa free 90 days stay resume)....JUST OPEN UP....
Peter Scott
Booked a visit to Tokyo for my 65th birthday - Just hope everything will be open with no restrictions by then!
Peter Scott
Meant to add * next July
Patrick
Today I returned to Narita from Seoul, with only carryon luggage. 20 minutes from landing to strolling towards the Skyliner ticket machines! It's even better than the old days because the immigration lines are so short :-)
Mio
Please go look up how interest rates moves FX rates.
master
translation; cowardice and fear-mongering precipitated the most shameful 3 years in the west's modern history.
It revealed the character, or lack of, in a great many people.
Nihon Tora
I agree with those saying the important restrictions to lift are the visa and package tour requirements, but if you read the article in the second paragraph it says that those will be relaxed simultaneously when the entry cap is lifted. Hope so!
Roten
https:// visitidaho.org/ things-to-do/ hot-springs/ Idaho is my go-to hot springs place now that I am not running around in the Kyushu mountains. I have also discovered the hot spring delights of eastern Oregon and northern Nevada.
All I can say is, don't count your chickens before they hatch. The GOJ has been promising chickens and only laying eggs since this Korona Crisis started. I won't believe this until I see it with my own eyes. What does "Not-so-distant" mean this time. More egg laying until we see real results.
Again, political Japan does not listen to geniuses. Much easier to speak encouraging words (to tourists) and do nothing incrementally.
Yup. I keep reading about this problem. Although I plan for two hours at Haneda when I arrive, I often am through immigration, customs, and on the train platform less than 30 minutes pre-Covid. This will be a sign that the Covid problems have been resolved. ( I don't check a bag.)
Great news! Let's hope that this is the new normal for those who prepare ahead of time.
Yes, you and me too.
This is feel-good news. I hope it comes to pass by the end of September as I have three months of no commitments bfore I have to be back in the states by mid-December. I would love to spend a month or so in Japan this fall. I have been looking forward to being back in Japan for a month or so since April of 2020, when I expeditiously left as the Covid scare was just heating up and we worried about being able to get into our home countries before a world-wide travel ban was implemented. Although I enjoy US hot springs in the pacific northwest, my favorite Kyushu and Tohoku hot springs are singing their siren songs, too.
Mio
Mio
Yes, the 7000 Japanese who died last month and why the Feeling of the Japanese people are being ignored.
Mio
Why should a country allow in tourists who wont follow the rules and respects the local customs?
wtfjapan
It seriously impacts adult mental health also.Some become paranoiac and delusional
its amazing how a little bit of cloth can make people so weak and scared, if it does then yes id say those people have mental problems
ClippetyClop
Yes you can, especially if you enjoy spending more time waiting in lines with fistfuls of documents rather than using the app and clearing immigration in record time.
Get the MySOS app. It's fun in a way.
lunatic
Its about time to stop giving waiver visas to the Japanese.
Germany did that long time ago. Because the reciprocity is one of the requirements of the Waiver visa agreement.
Robata
To those of you who are moaning and complaining about the rules on entering Japan, it’s a sovereign country, so it sets its own rules. If you don’t like them, then don’t visit and go elsewhere to spend your hard earned cash.
ClippetyClop
You're more than welcome. I was the same, and with the 72hr PCR test thing it was always in the back of my mind that I might not be able to get on the plane.
Once you become familiar with that app and you get the blue screen you'll feel very relieved. I cleared customs in 5 minutes, the staff at Narita were incredibly efficient.
Facebook (if you use it) has a 'Return To Japan Support Group' that you may find helpful, if you can wade through the people wasting time worrying how to bring their granny's budgie etc into the country
Netman
Rules are rules in Japan. I went there back in July and so much had changed after covid... did that after visiting the US in Jan. With all this uncertainty, better avoid visiting JP unless you're prepared to follow a long list of rules (written and unwritten) specific to the country. Southeast Asia, Europe, North America and elsewhere are all open!
ian
Good luck with that
When?
Mio
Diplomatic efforts have not yet led to a full change of policy in Japan, where restrictions on travel to Japan from the EU are still in place. Although the entry ban for non-tourist purposes for travellers coming from 24 EU Member States has been lifted, for tourist purposes, it is still not permitted,” the Commission notes, amongst others, in a press release issued on Tuesday regarding the report.
It also asserts that at this point, it is more favourable for both parties to reach an agreement through continued engagement and diplomatic contacts instead of reciprocating the entry ban for Japanese tourists wishing to visit Europe or any other similar suspension measures.
https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/news/eu-pressures-japan-to-remove-covid-entry-ban-on-european-tourists/
Mio
They we have not. The Japanese government asks the Japanese people not travel during the SOEs, This is why the beaches of Hawaii have been empty and Kyoto also has been empty.
Can an Indian or Thai visit the UK or the EU anytime he wants. It takes 5 years to get visa if you are from India.
It is not the same all nationalities and you know it.
Kyle Bluestone
Yes PLEASE open up except for the Chinese!! Make them continue to have to get a visa. For the rest of the G7 countries please get back to normal with no visas needed. Remember Visa Waiver?
lunatic
Quite the opposite, the j-goverment was subsidizing travels with the GoToTravel campaigns.
That particular nationalities have a more meticulous check on their visa permits for unrelated reasons to the subject on hands.
fxgai
@tokyo_m
All I took overseas were copies of my triple vaccination certificates, and my residence card.
When I came to fly back to Japan, they told me about MySOS, which I had on my phone, but hadn’t used.
I used wifi at my point of departure to register whatever it was, which involved uploading an image of my certificates. Fill in more details… submit… something like this.
When I got to my transit location, my MySOS application had been approved.
There was one other step I had to do at Narita with the app, can’t remember, but it all wasn’t too painful.
Just make sure you have your certificates on you or an image on your phone at least.
Slayer
No, its so 2021
Chibakun
Yen's weakness is caused US interest rates being high and Japanese near zero. The US will keep raising rates this year and next too, so the yen is not going to regain its strength. Tourism is puny.
NPSolberg
Ready to go! :)
kurisupisu
I was told last week at Kansai that the MYSOS app was needed for the countries that I had been to.
There isn’t any need for reporting now, for me
Andy
Is mass tourism such a good idea in an already grossly over -populated country? At least you will be able to see people's faces, not the masked up Japanese of course.
theResident
MYSOS app is at present is still required for re-entry from all countries. If you find 5 minutes of completing an app too troublesome for the meantime then sure - Just be prepared for a much longer exit time at the airport. Your inconvenient choice is you choose to protest in such a manner.
If you complete everything the MYSOS app requires and upload the documents BEFORE you leave you embarkation point you will sail through immigration. Just enable Fast Track. And, no - before somebody unvaxxed and says its all so unfair, you still qualify for Fast Track, just need your pre-flight PCR uploaded.
If fxgai had prepared properly he would have been out the airport in pre covid time.
John-San
What I assume he has stated is by fall “October “ or Winter “ December open up as pre COVID conditions. Back to normal except with mask and social distancing conditions. So no COVID travel insurance required? The bet they don’t drop that condition. In all sound like I be back soon.
kurisupisu
Actually, MySos is not required for all.
I never used it this time (last week) but landing on the morning of the 7th I needed a negative PCR test which was in hand.
The Japanese are still wary about disembarked passengers as all seat numbers are still being recorded.
John-San
Mask have been worn in Japan by the locals for decades. I saw a Japanese documentary the other day of life back in the 80,s and locals were getting around wearing mask back then well before SARS. So mask wearing as never bother me. It won’t prevent tourist “maybe a few Yanks” and will help the local economy. It will not effect the conditions of the Yen because the yen has been overvalued for a decade.
theResident
Indeed- But it will speed the process up 10x. So, its just a childish protest NOT using it.
smithinjapan
Given that "we will act without hesitation" usually means a year to two years, "the not too distant future" is likely about 2035. By then we'll likely be back living in caves and hovels if humanity has survived, so it won't matter. Sometimes I think the government here would rather wait until that happened than the alternative of actually having to let people back in.
fxgai
Maybe you are confusing me with gary of Oz; I was out of the airport in 30 minutes, despite only setting up MySOS at the airport of my departure.
So even if you don’t prepare, you can still catch up at the last minute :)
theResident
@fxgai - Apologies. Indeed I was.
SarcasmOnly
Japan is truly tourist and visitor friendly country.
Wakarimasen
If anyone doubts that many if not all of the restrictions and safety measures we have had forced upon us over the last 2 years and more are totally random, this is just another example. Why the need to wait?
ian
Probably because Japan is having the worst wave of covid yet. Doesn't have to be worst of course
CaptDingleheimer
Raising the entry cap puts the cart before the horse.
It's analogous to a movie theater owner who can't attract enough customers, so he increases seating capacity thinking that will help.
wolfshine
It's just stupidly funny the extent to which the government makes up policies on the fly just to make it look like they're doing something in a given situation.
The part where you no longer need a tour guide but still need a visa from a travel agency and an itinerary - that JUST became the official policy like a week ago. And now they're already saying that it's no longer needed. If it's no longer needed, why did you add that stipulation to begin with, only to say you plan on changing it at some point?
This is what I'm saying - all travel restrictions need to be dropped immediately, including vaccine requirement for entry/expedited immigration processes at airports. I as a tax paying foreign resident no longer wish to be harassed for wanting to visit my family overseas. Stop burning taxpayer money!
Kaerimashita
This silliness needs to end. Foreign travel is no longer a huge risk. And tourists are more likely to get the Rona here than to bring it in.
theResident
No @Eastman - It is NOT unclear at all anymore. Its very simple - especially for residents of Japan.
1: Download SOS App.
2: Answer questions.
3: Provide proof of having been vaccinated 3 times. That certificate is FREE from your ward office if you don't know how to get the app with a My Number Card. OR Have a pre-flight PCR test.
Simple.
painkiller
theResidentToday 03:19 pm JST
The proof of vaccination needs to be a certificate from the ward office? What about having been vaccinated overseas?
The vaccination cards in the US are easy to copy (like the formerly required proof of negative test within 72 hours of boarding plane)---
theResident
If you choose to prevent a forged document, that is of course your prerogative and I'm sure like so many forged negative results as you allude to, will slip through the net.
If you had read my post though, you will see that I did point out that for residents of Japan, gaining the correct certificate is not arduous in any way shape or form and would have no problem being accepted.
Still simple.
Lord Dartmouth
Get with the rest of the world. Old people should stay at home if they are worried. Otherwise, plough on!
JTC
I have my opinions, but when I express them here, I am sometimes redacted/banned, even when these questions/statements are simply rhetorical and generally inoffensive to many. This somewhat saddens me towards the "freedom of speech" that Journalists seek - how can one engage in constructive discussion without presenting an opposing view, one which may even be hurtful to some - but, without discussing it, the questions will linger and remain "hurtful" forever. Is it not best, to let those who know, correct those who do not ?