The package tours for tourists start on 10 June. After that, the only class of people left who can’t get in will be independent tourists.
I am so glad they also cancelled all quarantine procedures for people that arrived just a few days before they implemented their new rules on 1st of June.
That testing on arrival was some superfluous and pointless bs (still salty i missed my connecting flight bc of the results taking 1.5 hrs!! yesterday) so I’m glad for future travelers that it’s gone
Can’t wait for them to drop the ERFS requirement for WHV!
they need to get rid of the North Korea style monitor tours next
I’m hoping by August or September they can open up freely to tourists.
I guess they’re still requiring the predeparture testing though? So even as a resident with a work visa, if you test positive three days before your flight back:
– you have to cancel your flight
– you’re out a ton of money and time because you’re forced to book another flight
– you’re locked out of Japan indefinitely til you manage a negative test – you risk losing your job, missing bill payments, missing rent payments, etc
Outside of the minor inconvenience, I never saw the arrival testing as an issue. I’m still extremely hesitant about visiting my home country because, even triple-vaxxed, if I get unlucky on the PCR predeparture test I’d be pretty fucked because of the reasons above. It seems so ridiculously risky for such a dumb reason (“stopping the spread of the virus”), because there are thousands of new cases a day in Japan and likely tens of thousands that are asymptomatic and unreported. ugh
I guess the $30-50 hotels I’ve been enjoying is going away soon
I keep seeing people focusing on the “pre flight PCR test” req and just want to share some info about that.
I have friends who work for airlines and the main part here is that it’s not the _countries_ mandating the 72h PCR flight, it’s _airlines_ that have it as a _requirement to board the plane_. In that way, countries simply ‘benefit’ from that procedure because they get peace of mind that the airlines already screened people pre-departure.
So you can’t really expect any government to have a say in pre-departure PCR testing. At most they could pressure their local/national airlines to drop it, but I doubt airlines in general will do so for awhile.
Reducing restrictions as vaccination rates are declining? Can’t get behind this logic
Rare Statement Suggests Tokyo May Intervene to Support the Yen https://www.asiafinancial.com/rare-statement-suggests-tokyo-may-intervene-to-support-the-yen
How much % of the population does follow keirin competitions? https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/1011l3a/how_popular_is_keirin_in_japan_among_young_people/
12 comments
Ok great but now also get rid of the North Korea style tours please 😂
Can’t wait till they will accept individual tourists again 🙂
No testing on arrival is big news, but a quietly-announced part of the new rules in force from today is that **all** foreign residents can now invite family members and close acquaintances (bf/gf, fiancé[e], same-sex spouse etc.) to Japan on temporary visas. ([Heading 5.](https://www.mofa.go.jp/ca/fna/page22e_000921.html))
The package tours for tourists start on 10 June. After that, the only class of people left who can’t get in will be independent tourists.
I am so glad they also cancelled all quarantine procedures for people that arrived just a few days before they implemented their new rules on 1st of June.
That testing on arrival was some superfluous and pointless bs (still salty i missed my connecting flight bc of the results taking 1.5 hrs!! yesterday) so I’m glad for future travelers that it’s gone
Can’t wait for them to drop the ERFS requirement for WHV!
they need to get rid of the North Korea style monitor tours next
I’m hoping by August or September they can open up freely to tourists.
I guess they’re still requiring the predeparture testing though? So even as a resident with a work visa, if you test positive three days before your flight back:
– you have to cancel your flight
– you’re out a ton of money and time because you’re forced to book another flight
– you’re locked out of Japan indefinitely til you manage a negative test
– you risk losing your job, missing bill payments, missing rent payments, etc
Outside of the minor inconvenience, I never saw the arrival testing as an issue. I’m still extremely hesitant about visiting my home country because, even triple-vaxxed, if I get unlucky on the PCR predeparture test I’d be pretty fucked because of the reasons above. It seems so ridiculously risky for such a dumb reason (“stopping the spread of the virus”), because there are thousands of new cases a day in Japan and likely tens of thousands that are asymptomatic and unreported. ugh
I guess the $30-50 hotels I’ve been enjoying is going away soon
I keep seeing people focusing on the “pre flight PCR test” req and just want to share some info about that.
I have friends who work for airlines and the main part here is that it’s not the _countries_ mandating the 72h PCR flight, it’s _airlines_ that have it as a _requirement to board the plane_. In that way, countries simply ‘benefit’ from that procedure because they get peace of mind that the airlines already screened people pre-departure.
So you can’t really expect any government to have a say in pre-departure PCR testing. At most they could pressure their local/national airlines to drop it, but I doubt airlines in general will do so for awhile.
Reducing restrictions as vaccination rates are declining? Can’t get behind this logic