Barry comments

The government should take the lead by confessing to the country, that as they have just come out of the worst infection rate in the world, despite wearing masks 24/7, the evidence provides that this simply did not work in stopping the spread of the virus.

In a population of 120 million, its time to stop this worthless daily reporting of figures.

Give the English a vote on Scotish independence, I look forward to them coming back cap in hand when they dont have the handouts they currently receive.

@GoodToday 06:22 am JST

It's amazing just how much the UK's standing in the world has fallen in the past 96 years.

If you consider 83 to 78 years ago you will find the the British, the Commenwealth and allies did a pretty good job, they gave so much so people like you could make such ridiculous comments

Through our darkest days, our brightest times, she was there to guide us through, an inspiration to all. A lady like no other, a Queen and mother to a country, may you rest in peace.

I often read on here about loud, rude, overbearing tourists, but I can never recall a tourist setting fire to a bar ....even though many do not want to talk to them.... perhaps some should look inward before looking outward

So now it is no longer possible to blame Covid as a means of restricting access to Japan, with immediate effect the government should announce a return to the pre-covid system of visa free, unrestricted travel.

On the bright side, the longer they take, the weaker the yen becomes. Since closing the border at best its an extra 40 yen to the pound, a whopping 25% cheaper......so those fancy places will be begging the tourists to go in and spend that hard earned additional money....

The issue is not the pre-departure test, this is a smokescreen by the government in an attempt to show that they are aligning with the G7. In reality, since the decleration in May, the PM has done nothing! However, its clear to see how nationals are easily duped, they just voted for the Unification Church to run the country.

If people want to travel, the test is a part of that cost, much like buying new clothes, for some African countries you need proof of Yellow Fever vaccination. All this does is lessen the costs of Japanese residents and nationals when they want to return.

The problem that remains is that of the inability to get a visa, or the re-introduction of the visa waiver status.

The outrage should be how many men stood by and allowed this to happen.....

It is the workplace culture that needs to change. Humans are seen as widgets, disposable, worked until they have no use or value. The ridiculous inefficiency of the Japanese workplace is laughable, having to work 12 or 14 hours a day to produce what other economies produce in 8 or less hours. The constant groveling to managers like they are some superhuman and feeling of guilt if someone needs to leave work early....even after the contracted hours have expired.

In context, to save the human cost of Covid, they shut the border, to keep the company working, death by suicide is an acceptable consequence, akin to corporate manslaughter.

You cannot draw a comparrison with the UK on death rates, the UK had a unique system, if a person died of a non covid illness within 28 days of catching the covid virus, it was marked as a covid death.

@phil

Please see this,m my understanding for travel back to the UK is nothing is required

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/travel-to-england-from-another-country-during-coronavirus-covid-19

The UK stopped being hostage to non vaccinators and the medical advice they received was the same as 5 other is the G7, it would appear 1 medical body does not like foreigners....

@thomas Goodtime, well said, Japanese people have some immunity that they cannot catch covid abroad they can only catch it in Japan, from a non Japanese after 8pm......whichever bucknut thought of that policy should be condemed.

I wonder how many have booked a group travel slot since the announcement, maybe no more than 10, despite the arrogance of this country, others dont wait for PM Ditherishida to make announcements and plan a holiday in advance.....

Calm down....

Look at the article, firstly, it will be tour groups on a pre-set itinerary, from that they will do an assessment, then decide over the coming MONTHS.

This is not going to happen quickly, Prime Minister Dither will seek the medical advice that appears to differ from the outside world, they will then make an announcement as to the future.

Seriously, who is going to book a flight when last year Dither closed the border 2 weeks after opening it, would you?

They have set back tourism more then 20 years, without a huge package of support to foreign people, this will not meet the 2030 target, the long term economic strategy of Japan is failing, rising prices, poor rate of Yen, lack of investment, lack of inbound tourism has created a paria state that the outside world could only hope to impose on Russia.

So to the doom mongers in Japan....smell the coffe....your lifestyle will have to change, because its what you wanted.

Too little too late is the cry I hear, People have already booked their summer holiday destination and therefore Japan will not be on the list. People will require assurances, that if they book they will be allowed in, and the border will not be closed, once again, at a minute's notice.

People have already lost thousands of pounds because of the crazy vouchers game that the airlines have been operating, they will not be prepared to lose such a figure once again.

Everyone should remember that not a single politician has suffered during this crisis They have been allowed to travel to meet to do whatever they like throughout. It is only the people who have suffered.

This is hilarious, a member of the government telling people not to discriminate because of factors that have taken place over the last 7 weeks.

Perhaps he will explain what has been happening for many years, the discrimination shown to all foreign people, by the government, the police and society in general.....he should remember that for 2 years he is part of a government that has not allowed foreigners to come to Japan as it is them who bring the nasty viruses...

Laugh....I almost did my pants

We now live in a world where people have to look beyond just the company name, to things like how they treat the staff, how many females are in senior management positions, its family friendly polices, dispute resolution, equality of opportunity no matter colour or creed, to name a few. On almost every point, Japanese companies fail by a disturbingly high degree. Additionally, amongst the G7 Japan is the least welcoming, and despises foreigners in every form.

The ridiculousness of border control is beyond comprehension and fears abound that altough it is ajar now, it can be firmly slammed shut at a moments notice. Japan is now reaping what it has sown over the last few years, and still it dithers. Leadership and strategy is non existent, management is knee jerk depending on populist thinking, I fail to understand why, without an effective opposition this ruling party could have introduced radical reform and change for two decades without any real possibility of being deselected. Old men are risk averse, old men do not like reform, it's time for a younger generation of both women and men to change the country before it sinks.

In summary, what is attractive about Japan that would encourage a foreign investor?

Tando, I can think of one, J---n.....its below Kuwait in the gender equality table, it seems that men try to replace their mother with a wife, it is no wonder the birth rate is down, no wonder that Japanese women do not want to marry and prefer to live alone, and no wonder they look beyond Japanese shores for someone who will love, respect and treat them as an equal.

Wow, was it the UK who had a full lockdown, closed the pubs and cafes etc so the virus could not spread at all, realised the virus did not come out at night and was only attracted to alcohol, the country that bought vaccines, vaccinated the population, didnt give away vaccines until they were protected, the country where the politicians stood in line and didnt protect themselves first, the country had a plan, published months in advance that told its people how it intended to move on from the virus, reviewing it every month, the country that protected its workers, brought in testing, the same country whose economy is now growing?

And now they have decided to return to normal...amazing

So i agree Luddite, its utter maddnes, they should copy Japan, be clueless, take an opinion poll, make rash decisions with no warning, ban the entire world from entering the country, be overwhelmed when allowing only Japanese to enter, have no hospital places available even though the variant is much milder....madness.

A new variant is growing in those distant shores....be prepared for (partial) quasi emergency 6, or is it 7, then again perhaps 8.....anyway, another quasi emergency. Definition of quasi....apparently but not really, seemingly or almost.....

In summary, they can't even decide if it is an emergency....and after so many attempts, you would expect them to know....apparently...but not really.

If its by the end of May and the courses start in April......it could be suggested that many will miss the start of the course. I wonder if anyone told the government that this plan won't achieve what they hope it will

A master strategy, he has approved another 2000, however they can only arrive midweek when the carriers have empty seats!! And wait for it.....drum roll..........ANA and JAL have stopped flying to europe...however its a nice move to support the airlines in a quiet time as he has done with the hotels.

It would be better if he followed the science, the omicron variant is not a threat to life, although it is accepted more people need medical support due to infection rate, however it is short term.

This government has had 2 years to resolve the medical issues and have failed.

They have even created a scenario, that many choose to believe, that it is non japanese who spread the virus. If it was satire, no one would would find it funny. If Kishida wants to be taken serious on the international stage (all Japanese Prime Ministers seek this), then he should stop being led by a drive for popularity.

Non vaccinated people are the problem, no matter colour or creed, vaccinated people are problem free, the students that they have decided to allow in the country are the age group that has shown the greatest relutance to be vaccinated, so, even if they are free of the virus on arrival, they are most likely to catch or transmit it.

The next omicron variant is beginning to gather pace, therefore, Kishida should be clear about the future policy on border control in the inevitable event that it reaches Japan....especially when only non Japanese can carry it.

If they were in charge of an organisation, would such incompetence be tolerated?

Its simple, companies became greedy, they wanted to maximise profit, already the worker was doing ridiculous hours, but felt rewarded because of the salary, a move towards a bonus based system, lower salary, high bonus was the way. Then the percentages were lowered, the worker was trapped, a mortgage and expected standard of living, all the while those at the top reaped an ever increasing profit.

The suicide rate due to overwork is shocking, more die from that, than Covid and even indiscriminate bombing in the Ukraine, the Japanese Government turns a blind eye to the shocking conditions that people endure, and I suggest a signifficant reason as to why they are reluctant to have people from Western economies.

They rely on loyalty, but also take advantage, it is time for lawyers to stop sitting on their golden thumbs and address all of these inequalities in the workplace. Take the abusers to court, have the cases highlighted in the international arena, then and only then will things change.

They missed off three important factors.... salary, working hours and paid holidays.

When such things are missing, usually the job is low paid, long hours and few holidays....

And maybe they forgot, but with returning nationals and students, the queue to get in is getting longer.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10536349/Queen-95-issues-message-condolence-Brazil-170-died-flood-hit-city.html

Look and admire.....

@zoroto

As has already been mentioned, international tourism equates to 2% and domestic tourism 98% by definition, so the problem appears to be over tourism by other Japanese people ruining the lives of locals?

@theResident

You could make a reservation before, you just had to make it before the Chinese people made one.

As for Japanese products, they are being outsourced to other places such as China, as a byproduct of globalization people look for cheapness rather than quality, which is why the Japanese bubble burst many years ago salaries have become stagnant, working I was increased, and eficiency has fallen. Abe had foresight to see that the economy needed supporting in other ways and moved towards tourism, pushing for the rugby world cup, Olympics and expo.

Surely Kishida is now embarrassed. In the United Kingdom, they have a 95-year-old woman who is continuing to work even though she has Omicron, she has said she will only do light work but nonetheless, she is working.

If she is not scared of Omicron then no one should be.

Zoroto, Those tourists contribute to your infrastructure, a country where the population is in rapid decline needs money from somewhere in order to maintain the standards that you have become accustomed to. Japan's own business lobby is speaking out on this, the people who comment, foreigners or not, have the right to make comments as they choose. Whatever your gripe is with non-Japanese, you should remember that they contribute, when working in Japan as much as any Japanese person. As for the tourists they only give money they take nothing.

Does this set of politicians think that everyone is as stupid as they are? They make an announcement that they are allowing more people into the country this equates to 50 people each day. It also calculates to 150,000 students who say they cannot enter Japan because of the restrictions. in turn those who I wanted to enter Japan to see family will have to wait even longer.

It should also be questioned as to why there is a quarantine period at all if people are fully vaccinated, The three days they speak about holds no weight in the medical field, it is a figure that is plucked out of the air of some ridiculous politician in Japan.

As Japan is now one of the worst countries in the world for omicron you have to wonder what they have to fear.

It is nothing new prime minister that is needed in Japan but a whole new structure of government. What is in place now not only fails the people it fails the country also. It would be beneficial to them if they were to peer on national television and apologise to everyone within the country for the failure that they have overseen with regard to this virus. They have destroyed families destroyed careers and destroyed business in some ridiculous hope that the virus would not enter Japan.

The wide issues that also need to be considered within the context of the pandemic, it tells non-Japanese people that they are second rate people in Japanese society, whenever there is an issue they will be cast aside, They will be blamed and they will be excluded.

It is time for Japan to open its eyes, I do open them wide that the xenophobic and racist attitude that is so apparent in all levels of society must end and must end now. Personally, I am pleased that people are now seeing Japan for what it is, only in the hope that Japan will change its attitude and the way that it treats foreign people. I do not refer to only white people, but also the people of colour. However, when consideration is given to the way that you treat women in your society it is no wonder that you see other people in the way that you do. It is deplorable that countries such as Kuwait a deemed to treat females more equally than Japan does. The next time you bow your heads it should be in shame.

If you want to be a part of the modern world then you have to fully commit to equality. If you want to commit to equality then it will take a significant shift in the attitude of your politicians and your managers within society.

Without question, Japan is a beautiful and wonderful country Only ruined by the attitude of those who organise society.

So you should tell your country that is not foreign people who brought Omicron to your shores but it was the returning Japanese, your kindred folk.

After two years omicron is now rampant within Japan and it is your attitude that has created this situation, How do you vaccinated and boosted instead of making excuses then this situation should never have occurred.

Now you look for the way out of this situation, a way to save face, so be honest, stand up and tell the truth, you got it wrong and that the isolation policy that you thought would keep the virus out has failed.