Asia Welcomes Travelers, but Japan Says, Not Yet

16 comments

1. God damn I hate this country so much sometimes.

2. Japan is gonna use every last excuse in the book to delay opening up their borders to tourism as long as possible.

3. I see it as they low key don’t want a certain group of tourists from a certain place because….*cough

4. I did see quite some posts on 5ch loving the current border measures because now they can enjoy all the travel spots to themselves…

5. Oh Japan. Right back to the pre Meiji era.

6. I feel like I’ve been seeing western travelers around Kyoto quite a lot recently.

   I assume they’re tourists, but I could be wrong. young couples with backpacks, or a family of non-Japanese people.

   Has there been a relaxing of restrictions to some degree?

7. As an American born resident of Japan, I say open up the borders to the countries that have actually contained the virus to some degree. Welcome in Vietnamese, Chinese and New Zealander visitors, by all means.

   But I’ve seen videos of how Americans are behaving around COVID right now, I’ve talked to a bunch of friends and family back home about it. I say keep those maniacs the hell out of Japan for as long as possible. Obviously the dumbest of the bunch are already here on military bases, but they can at least keep the hordes of Qanon obsessed Karens and Kevins at bay.

8. good

9. Japans loss. Singapore, South Korea, even Hawaii are pulling in all the tourists. “I couldn’t go to Japan so singapore will do” is a phrase i’ve heard so much lately.

10. Just give me enough time to make my first trip to Disney before the flood gates open, please.

11. The borders here were open then one time that was why Japan got Omicron. The govt has learned the lesson.
    So for me this is understandable if you want to keep the Covid numbers lower.

    Update: Just a news an hour ago that a woman arrived at Narita airport this week from the US was found infected by the Gen2 of Omicron very first case in Japan – just watch the news. This is what I am talking about we cannot just blame the govt for postponing the borders for opening geez

12. I’ve read comments from expats in Japan about how they’re planning a trip to their country but are freaked out by the fact that it is almost certain that the people in their own country will probably not even be making much if any effort to contain Covid, certainly compared to Japan, where 90 per cent of people are still masked up. I’m from the UK, and the current government policy there is basically “all welcome, vaccinated or not, we don’t care” (paraphrased). Whereas if I were to pay a visit and then come back to Japan, I’d be looking (currently) at a 6 day quarantine, probably at my own expense. And I have permanent residence.

    I was out this afternoon for about a couple of hours, and I only saw a few people without masks. Naturally, one was a foreigner, although in fairness I saw another foreigner who was wearing one. But letting people in who have no idea of how to behave here, and who will likely wander around unmasked and making a noise…I can understand the political implications.

13. Aaaaand that’s it I’m reporting my trip for the second time. I’m starting to think I’ll just never go. Been wanting to go since I’m 11 and the moment I actually manage to get the funds / time this happens. Life I guess

14. Here in Tokyo, I’m seeing more and more Japanese walking the street not wearing a mask. Probably the warmer weather.

15. Good. There is a new more contagious strain around.

16. Hmm, the low-key racism in this thread is certainly eye-opening.