Japan and new exemptions for triple-vaccinated tourists
Chika Mori and Noriko Watanabe
Modern Tokyo Times
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan will finally waiver restrictions on foreign tourists and other travelers providing people have been triple-vaccinated against the coronavirus (Covid-19). The new lifting of restrictions will commence on September 7.
Currently, all travelers, including nationals from Japan, must provide evidence of a negative PCR test. This test must be taken within 72 hours of travel. However, all other G7 nations – and many other countries – have already waivered various types of restrictions. Therefore, the travel sector in Japan is relieved that Kishida will open up the nation to tourism and other areas.
Equally important, tourist groups will no longer need to be supervised. This unpopular restriction on tourists made no sense when nationals in Japan have virtually no restrictions on movement internally. Especially with Japan being the most infectious nation in the last month.
Kishida uttered, “We will continue to establish a quarantine system, weigh in on the infection situation – and will swiftly announce (a new policy).”
The daily cap of 20,000 travelers to Japan will be increased to 50,000 people. Hence, the gradual opening up of Japan will continue.
Kishida said, “We will take into consideration the characteristics of the changing Omicron variant and accelerate efforts to take antivirus measures while keeping social and economic activity going as much as possible.”
Modern Tokyo Times recently said, “Infections from coronavirus totaled just over 1.7 million before Kishida took office. This figure is now just over 17.3 million. Hence, slightly over 90 percent of all coronavirus cases have occurred under the leadership of Kishida – despite the favorable groundwork done by Abe and Suga. Therefore, Kishida’s overreliance on foreign vaccines – and his over-focus on doubling the military budget despite the mountain of debt – is resulting in the highest deaths and infections under Kishida by a wide margin.”
Lee Jay Walker says, “Hence, with Kishida opening up Japan gradually to incoming travel, it is primarily a business decision. After all, it appears that Japan is “giving up the ghost” concerning the containment of the coronavirus. Thus, the coronavirus will be downgraded in time – similar to the common flu. Also, with Japan being out of step with other G7 nations – and the tourist and business community being unhappy by the slowness of opening Japan up – all angles led to Kishida’s decision.”
Kyodo News reports, “The Japanese government on Wednesday eased its travel warning over the coronavirus pandemic for 54 countries and a region, including Indonesia and the Philippines, and is no longer requesting that residents in Japan refrain from nonessential trips to those nations.”
Travelers need to check the specific “Level” of the respective nation they are traveling from before entering Japan. Hence, the need to monitor at all times.
https://stopcovid19.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/ – Tokyo Metropolitan Government website for updates about the coronavirus crisis in Tokyo.
https://toyokeizai.net/sp/visual/tko/covid19/en.html – Japan and Tokyo Covid-19 news with more analysis
https://covid19japan.com/ – Japan regional coronavirus statistics
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ World coronavirus statistics
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