Japan to increase COVID entry cap on arrivals to 50,000 from Sept. 7

5 comments

1. Of note: “The country will also resume accepting foreign tourists not on organized tours, Kishida told a press conference. So far, only those on package tours have been allowed in.”

   Not sure if that means actual unescorted tourists (ie finally back to normal) or if this is that weird “we’ll only let in people who booked a package tour, but they don’t have to be physically escorted around” thing they were talking about a couple of weeks back. The article suggests the former, but I’d want to see something official from the immigration service first before getting too excited.

   Edit: Ah. No, it’s the unescorted package tour thing. Sigh. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/08/31/national/tourism-measures-kishida-covid/

2. Are they also letting tourists in without PCR tests, if they have proof of 3 vaccines?

3. As long as there’s a limit, I assume there’s a requirement to apply for a special tourist visa at your embassy? How else can they enforce the limit, I wonder..

4. Wow the speed at which this improving is mind blowing. I suspect full visa free travel will resume in 2029 or so given the country is run by dinosaurs

5. WTF, why are people traveling now?