Tourism During Covid

Hi All,

This thread focuses on what tourism is like during covid in Japan. I'm interested in what it's been like to travel around and visit sites during the time when borders have been closed.

I don't want to focus on borders or anything like that - but would love to hear what's it like to travel around Japan at present. Are most location open? Are people traveling? How bad are the businesses going? Is it better or worse without the large foreign crowds?

Almost all sightseeing spots are open, even in most prefectures under the state of emergency and quasi state of emergency (with a few exceptions like Okinawa and Ishikawa). You can get an idea from the list of open and closed spots on this page:
https://www.japan-guide.com/news/alerts.html

There is a huge reduction in travel. The tourism industry is suffering tremendously.

But there are no restrictions on travel. There are calls not to travel from areas with large infection numbers to regions with lower numbers, especially now during the Obon season again when it is customary for city people to return to their family homes on the countryside. In some regions there is a bit of a hostility towards travelers from other prefectures.

There has been a shift from using cars over public transportation and towards outdoor activities.

Dining out and at hotels is not quite the same fun as it used to be, as you should keep your voice down when not having a mask on, wear gloves at buffets, etc.

On the plus side, many spots are less crowded than they used to be. It can be very refreshing to visit these spots without the usual crowds and misbehaving tourists.

Like the other poster implied, you have to keep in mind that Japan currently has no law to restrict people from moving around. Instead, they are "asked" to stay home. Similarly, restaurants, hotels and transportation are "asked" to do this and that in order to prevent the virus from spreading. And frankly, you won't look good being in public without your mask on.

Meanwhile, as early as Spring, 2020, the government had launched the Go-To-Travel / Go-To-Eat campaigns in order to help the economy. The campaigns were controversial, and was soon canceled one after another. But whenever I went to hotels and restaurants or bars in city centers, I heard the workers saying that the campaigns had helped a lot.

Like a lot of countries, policies change very frequently. For example, at the moment, the encouragement from government and prefectures has been strengthened, and the majority of restaurants in Greater Tokyo has suddenly closed temporarily in the recent days. They are due to be closed until the end of August. My favorite to-go (take out) and sit-in places have all been closed, so I rely on Uber-like food delivery when I'm not cooking.

This July, a popular bamboo summer hut was put up at the famous Hayama beach resort for the first time in the pandemic. From the photos they uploaded, the hut seemed quite packed with guests. But it was a few days ago that, after a neighborhood discussion, they had to close it down nearly a month earlier than scheduled. The beach itself is practically closed to public. (You can enter the beach, but you are encouraged not to swim as there are no lifeguards or huts on duty.)

Among the people I know who is doing long-distance travel now are (A) those who have been vaccinated twice, (B) those driving their own cars to a destination for reserved guests only, and (C) those who worry about their aging parents.

A few days ago, the news told us that Okutama, a resort at the tip of Tokyo Prefecture, is now asking people to refrain from coming, since the area had been attracting too many tourists amid the pandemic. The news often show citizens saying they came to certain resorts expecting less people, only to find that many people were thinking the same thing.

Interestingly, Yamanashi Prefecture has been quite successful in keeping the number of Covid-positive people down. TV tells us that it's because people there strictly follow the "mask-dining" rule where you take off your mask only when bringing food to your mouth. They would strictly put the mask back on when chewing or chatting.

A friend just came back to Yokohama from a trip to Aomori where he enjoyed a buffet-style breakfast. He said that everyone had to wear gloves at the buffet. But it seems they had fun.

To sum up, I think you still have to expect the unexpected (restaurants and markets saying they're opened on their websites, but actually closed when you get there). It's not exactly a time you can just hop on a train and start your journey without making reservations. But you can still have fun by communicating with your destination to make sure you're doing the right thing.

I�fve been traveling quite a bit all over Japan in the past 10 months, but always between infection waves (never during one!), mostly alone, usually to rather remote places (Shimabara, Hagi, Tsuwano, Kochi, Obuse, Akita, Tsuruoka, Abashiri, ...) – and I hardly ever ate at restaurants, but instead chose take-out or the occasional conbini dinner. The handful of buffet meals I had at hotels all required masks and gloves, unless you sat down at the table that was assigned to you. Toyoko Inns for example switched from buffet style breakfast to bento right at the beginning of the pandemic.

As sorry as I feel for the artificially inflated tourism industry – I tremendously enjoy traveling Japan without the hordes of tourists from overseas, though you still hear more foreign languages currently than 20 years ago due to the increased number of expats in Japan. The more relaxed atmosphere at most places also helped to open my wallet, so I spend much more money in the half-empty omiyage shops than in the crowded ones two years ago – sweets, art, books; whatever seems interesting and special to the places I visit. And at least on the weekends most hotels seem to do fine, though some closed temporarily for several months, for example a few dozen TI locations and half of Sounkyo Onsen when I went there in winter. Other places though were uncomfortably crowded, for example the ropeway in Hakodate or the drift ice ship in Abashiri. Museums are often hit or miss: Some are open, some are closed, some are open only for people from within the prefecture – and of course the situation can change at any time on extremely short notice. In some areas there are also fewer trains and buses running, so sometimes you gotta be careful not to miss the last one.

Currently the fifth wave is wreaking havoc, so I�fm only commuting to work (which is more nerve-wrecking than all the traveling I�fve done!), but I�fll be fully vaccinated by the end of it and I�fm hoping for a few more trips in autumn / winter before the floodgates of international travel will be opened again...

Speaking of wallets, since I don't get to spend much on travel and parties, I tend to be generous on the things I can spend on.

For example, some of the best hotels in my city have been offering great deals during the pandemic. In particular, they would provide special set menus for solo customers, while in ordinary times, fine dining don't always welcome solo.

I feel safe at quality hotels, because they have the money to hire the people and tools to keep everything sanitized. I also feel safe at small establishments where I know the owners enough to trust them. These are the businesses I hope would continue to operate, and while I can't travel far, the pandemic has been a good opportunity for me to take a good look at local businesses.

I'm also doing a lot of on-line shopping directly from remote gift shops that I would have traveled to if it weren't for the pandemic. Speaking of travel, I renewed my passport during the pandemic, with almost no waiting time at the counter.

Artificially inflated tourism industry?

What do you mean with "artificially inflated"?

What is tourism like in Japan - well, there are a few differences that I have observed on the several trips I have made in the last year (usually short and on a budget as I don't have customers currently).
As noted, hotels have made a lot of changes to buffet/breakfast styles.
Some hotels have offered some great deals and have a lot less guests. Other hotels are as busy as ever and charging full price - I did a stay at one for more than 40,000 yen (burning some points) and that was a "discount" rate. I would normally aim for around 25k for that particular place, but the hotel was crazy busy at the time.
The few shinkansen trips I have done were usually with very lightly loaded trains. Express trains, more busy. I also regularly see the service that runs out towards Fuji/Kawaguichi - last year it was pretty quiet/empty, now, much busier.
Apart from some restrictions due to the uneven "state of emergency" at various times/places closing some attractions, most places are open.
Domestic tourism has always been the majority of the tourism business in Japan, so dropping international visitors out of the picture changes things marginally. This might not be what most overseas commentators think, but the statistics back that up. All that over-tourism in Kyoto for example - it's Japanese tourists. They just don't stick out as much as foreign faces.
Probably not the intent of your question in the OP, but one aspect that is having a big impact is out-bound tourism. The large travel agencies and travel offices I see locally do not bother opening every day or full hours like they used to. Those trips to Guam or Hawaii are way down and JTB/HIS/NTA are suffering like many other operators.
And on vaccines - it depends very much on where you live. I get my second shot this week. I know someone got their two doses through their work back in July and a friend over the border in Kanagawa is yet to even recieve a voucher to enable them to try to book their first shot.

Thanks for the insights on what's going on in Japan at present.

It's an odd thing to say - but I see strong similarities in my home country (Australia) where some locations are quiet and/or closed and others are busier than pre-pandemic. It's also interesting to see how Japan is rolling out the covid vaccines - but I don't want to say too much as it seems to be polarizing in many different ways.

If I took out the safety aspect of touring Japan during covid - it would have been fantastic to travel around Japan last year with the significant voucher schemes that were being offered at the time.

@MFedley, I think the boom or bust of tourism by residents of that country is true in most countries right now.

Back when Hawaii first re-opened Fall 2020 until maybe around April 2021, they were desperate for tourists and I spoke to several people there about hopes they had to woo Japanese tourism back as soon as possible. By June, articles started coming out about adding taxes for tourists and trying to limit tourists because there was now a flood of mainland US tourists to Hawaii. I suspect at the moment, Hawaii is a lot less concerned about getting Japanese tourists back, since they are having severe overcrowding problems.

Disney also seems really popular. I've not been, but have seen pictures of the crowds.

The whale watching tour I signed up for recently was completely full and I've seen crowds at the various museums near me. Most were not open for over a year, so it's nice to see them open again. My particular city was more locked down than many in the US. Our schools were virtual only for over a year while many other places the kids went back in Fall 2020.

On the other hand, I am visiting New York because I've not seen family in almost 2 years. Hotels in New York City are much cheaper than I've ever seen them before. If I didn't need a rental car to visit people elsewhere I would be staying there in a second. I also had an extremely easy time booking tickets for the Yayoi Kusama Art Exhibit at the NY Botanical Gardens. Pre-Covid, I'm not sure I would have been able to get the tickets and the majority of the event is even outside.

So I would think Japan is similar.

The people I know in Japan have mostly not been traveling much. I think only the person there on a work visa living in Fukuoka did a lot of traveling vs. the people I know with PR. To be fair, my friend with the Japanese spouse and children I don't think tended to travel as much pre-Covid. I think they mostly stuck to camping and car trips within a few hours of where they lived before as well. My friend in Osaka with PR has purposely not been traveling, because I had asked her if she planned to take advantage and she said no. My 4th friend has had very spotty communication with me and I think she is just going to and from work. She's a little frustrated because she has an airline ticket to the US that must be used by December 2021. She was told by her a doctor to expect a voucher early because she has severe asthma. I've not heard back to find out if that worked out for her.

I was a tourist on weekends at the very beginning of the pandemic (2020 February to end April) and have to admit that I really enjoyed it. Specially tourist magnets in Kyoto. I went to all the big places , during Hanami. Places that in normal times has become unbearable and they were magical.

Arashiyama bamboo Forrest with only a few other people:

http://bicycletraveljapan.blogspot.com/2020/04/kyoto-without-tourists....

It was definitely a magical time. Normally I try to avoid these over touristy places. And there is more than enough to see elsewhere but having had the opportunity to see these places without crowds was one of the (few) positive aspects of the pandemic for me.

http://bicycletraveljapan.blogspot.com/2020/04/arashiyama-without-tour...

Ryoanji and Kinkakuji on a weekend afternoon again with 2-3 other tourist only:

http://bicycletraveljapan.blogspot.com/2020/04/kyoto-without-tourists-...

Walking alone through the Torii at Fushimi Inari Jinja or enjoying Hanami at Kiyomizu dera:

I am a semi-retired Japanese and I wanted to travel with my wife when I retired. Actually I semi-retired (with 1-2 days work per week) on March 2020. One of our concern was our cat, but sadly he died on 14th May, 2020. Therefore now we can travel rather freely now, but Covid-19 is the next concern.

We are living in the suburb of Kagoshima prefecture, south of Kyushu island where Covid-19 is less severe than the central Japan and we don�ft drink alcohol at all, and we usually don�ft talk with other people so our risk of having Covid-19 is rather low, I think.

We did 5 trips during this Covid period, and below I will summarize.

2020

Rishiri-Rebun trip on 19-26th August.

KOJ-ITM-CTS-RIS (ANA flights)
Rental car, 3 nights in Rishiri (small hotel with 2 meals/day).
Though too late for the best season, Rishiri was great. The weather was luckily very nice except for the first day. Did 4-round drives and enjoyed the scenery and delicious Uni (sea-urchin) rice. Aircrafts were rather vacant (30-50% passengers). Tourists were not so many, but we saw some young Caucasians cycling around. Maybe they are English teachers on vacation.
Ferry to Rebun (50 min), 4 nights in small hotel with 2 meals. The hotel offers free shuttle bus service to the ferry terminal, etc. Weather was also nice with the view of Rishiri mountain every day. Did some hikes one of which are hard for the retired old man, but it was worthwhile. We talked with two westerners (from Kyoto and Sapporo).
Ferry to Wakkanai and then ANA flights WAK-HND-KOJ.

Nagasaki and the Huis Ten Bosch 26th-28th October.

JR to Nagasaki, 1 night in a Japanese Inn (ryokan), two meals (Nagasaki). One night in a hotel in Huis Ten Bosch. Trains were about 50% filled. The best experience was a trail from a hilltop ryokan to JR Nagasaki station. So many cats! I didn�ft like Huis Ten Bosch because of the loudness. Too much music. Too much!

Kyoto trip on 22nd to 29th November
KOJ-UKB (Kobe) Skymark flight and then JR train to Kyoto.
Two small hotels in the central Kyoto, 3 and 4 nights with breakfast.
We focused on the autumn foliage, but it was not so good last year. Visited Katsura Rikyu and Sento Gosho which require reservation. All places we visited were open. Foreign tourists were rare: maybe they knew the autumn foliage was not good for these days.

2021
Spring trip to Kyoto. 28th March to 4th April. Skymark flight and then JR train to Kyoto. 7 nights in an apartment hotel which provided a big discount for 7 nights stay (it is still going now, even for the bisiest November days).
This time we caught good time for the cherry blossoms. We saw many Asian tourists (of course they should be the residents in Japan). All the hotel staff were from abroad, like Vietnam, Estonia (perhaps), etc. I was satisfied with them since I feel like I am traveling abroad .

Trip to Koshikijima (officially KoshikiSHIMA but most people pronounce as KoshikiJIMA). 25th to 28th April.
Drive to Kushikino port and then car ferry to Sato (Koshikijima). 1 night at Sato and 2 nights at Nagahama. In both places we were the only guests but they served very nice meals. Our aim was to see the newly built long bridge between the two islands of Koshikijima. Nice view!

Now I am planning 4 trips to Takayama/the Alpine route/Kamikochi, Takachiho and Miyazaki,
Miyazaki, and Sapporo snow festival and drifting ice in eastern Hokkaido.

Japan has been mostly open since June of 2020. At that time, travel was quite nice. As others have said, in the beginning, few people were traveling, so if you did go out, it was a great opportunity to enjoy typically crowded areas with few people.

Since then, people have been traveling more, and some of the times have been very busy and crowded. Places that are popular with children have maintained crowds and in some cases even seem to have more crowds than usual.

Over the past obon weekend, the Shinkansen was not as crowded as usual (people were not standing in the aisles), but there were still quite a few people, especially considering the weather was horrendous and continues to be awful. Had the weather been better, it might have been quite crowded.

I think the State of Emergencies are being ignored more and more and closures are becoming shorter. Some government members have stated that they find the state of emergencies difficult to promote since the Olympics were held during a State of Emergency, and I think citizens are feeling more and more that the State of Emergencies are patronizing. Cases are higher than ever, but people aren't really talking much about it, and they're going out more. I think people just want the vaccine at this point, and the rollout has not been handled well. I've heard a lot of people complain that they have the voucher but either everyplace is booked or they are rejecting them in spite of having the voucher.