The final line from the Japan Times Editorial Board is extremely well said:
*”There is no way to prevent the introduction and spread of the virus. Japan should reopen the borders and be ready for any surge in cases, accepting it as the price of participation in the modern economy”*
This is still the type of re-opening where you need to be managed by a travel agency who is responsible for keeping you following your pre-approved itinerary, right?
Or was that abomination of a plan scrapped?
does this heralds the end of the pandemic? when covid will now be treated as mere cold/flu?
Time to load up on JPY?
All this is still fluff and empty talk if they are still not implementing any visa waiver for tourists or sticking to that group tour thing.
Though I suppose the waiver of the 72hr pre-departure PCR test with the third vaccination shot is still an improvement. I spent 20k yen on the test when I first came and then 8k yen this summer to re-enter.
>With opened borders will come a surge in cases — a price that must be paid to participate in the global economy
We are already in a surge of cases that started *because of Japanese people* well before the borders even opened.
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The final line from the Japan Times Editorial Board is extremely well said:
*”There is no way to prevent the introduction and spread of the virus. Japan should reopen the borders and be ready for any surge in cases, accepting it as the price of participation in the modern economy”*
This is still the type of re-opening where you need to be managed by a travel agency who is responsible for keeping you following your pre-approved itinerary, right?
Or was that abomination of a plan scrapped?
does this heralds the end of the pandemic? when covid will now be treated as mere cold/flu?
Time to load up on JPY?
All this is still fluff and empty talk if they are still not implementing any visa waiver for tourists or sticking to that group tour thing.
Though I suppose the waiver of the 72hr pre-departure PCR test with the third vaccination shot is still an improvement. I spent 20k yen on the test when I first came and then 8k yen this summer to re-enter.
>With opened borders will come a surge in cases — a price that must be paid to participate in the global economy
We are already in a surge of cases that started *because of Japanese people* well before the borders even opened.