Resumption of tourism - Latest info?

@Marina, 14 hours to Japan is definitely doable. It might seem much longer than you're used to, but I use to do 14.5 hours from JFK to Tokyo all the time, many of those flights in regular economy. I even use to do that flight with a child. It felt like a huge treat moving to the West Coast and dropping my flight time to 10.5 hours. I like to get my kid a new Switch game or new 3DS game before the flight so she has something to keep her occupied.

@Liz, thanks for the article, I saw the article on the newly arrived Americans on one of the first tours. I thought the itineraries were really interesting. One is Toshogu and Zenkoji and the other is Hanamaki onsen and the Yogami River in Yamagata. I wonder where the Thai, Singaporean, and Australian tours are going.

The June the 1st increase to 20K daily intake has nothing to do with tourists. This has already been well disgusted the past 6-10 days. So no good responders to keep typing links.

The 150 or so tourists in groups allowed in are all tourism industry professionals. So again no good for general tourists whom wanna travel.

All you can do is await another announcement. Hopefully more positive towards tourism this time.

@H the point is that it is expected that the government will make an announcement about opening for tourists today. It wonft be total opening, because the number of daily arrivals will still be capped. And there might be other strings attached.

Next announcement might be as early as today (Thursday). Note, the article (in English) and the versions I have seen in Japanese are still speculative - I am still waiting for an actual, definitive, official announcement.
https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2022/05/07c03f97fe7d-breaking-news-...

this super-under-control new entry system for tourists, in groups and under supervision of a travel agency, with pre-determined trips doesn't interest me. It is good for first-time travellers, I mean who visit Japan for the first time, but for people who have already been in Japan and look for more remote places it's not a thing.
I'll keep watching the situation from home and booking trips to other countries, waiting for the return of normality. I'll let the first-time tourists be on the magnifier of Japan government and Japanese people, and their "judgement" for every single action or "mistake" taken during their holidays.

I don't think the group tour phase will last more than a couple of months. I'm sure tourism will still be limited after, perhaps with caps or only available to countries that had visa waivers before the pandemic, but unless something drastic happens, I doubt it last any longer than that.

Confirmation of group tours beginning 10th June was given today.

Bloomberg article:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-26/japan-set-to-allow-...

I expect there are more about it.

And here is a better one from Kyodo News and less likely to have a paywall.

https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2022/05/124431345ab7-urgent-japan-t...

It really is mind-boggling this chaperone nonsense, what xenophobic nonsense do they have in their heads? What on earth do they think tourists could do that would be so dangerous that Japanese returning from any corner of the world wouldn't? It's astonishing. I love the country but this stuff makes me really angry.

What could they do? Not wear masks when talking to locals in close distance. I think this is basically their main worry. In my opinion this is partially a justified worry, but it is greatly also created by a sensationalist and xenophobic mass media that kept showing mask-less, partying Westerners whenever reporting about the state of the corona pandemic in the West over the past two years.

I'm not sure I understand where all the negativity is coming from. Japan has been completely closed for over two years. Did anyone actually expect them just to go completely back to 2019 overnight? Travelling with a tour is of zero interest to me too, but our turn will come pretty soon. Things are moving now.

Also maybe we are just paying the price for failing to rein in the minority of idiots having full blown meltdowns in malls and even forcing flights to land over having to distance and wear a mask.

yeah liz the fault is on the people that wanted to comply and in no one else

I'm not sure I understand where all the negativity is coming from. Japan has been completely closed for over two years. Did anyone actually expect them just to go completely back to 2019 overnight?

I expected Japan's politicians to make decisions pragmatically based on scientific reasoning, just like the Abe and Suga administrations have done. This sometimes meant that decisions were made against popular opinion.

The closure of borders during the Delta and earlier variants was common around the world. If anything, Japan was relatively late in closing borders initially compared with other countries. The complete closure of borders at the arrival of Omicron still initially made scientific sense because it hadn't spread in Japan yet and its arrival could be delayed. But the refusal to reopen the country after Omicron spread domestically within Japan made no scientific sense. It was simply based on populism, which is a huge disappointment for me personally and the source of my negativity. One of the positive aspects of Japanese politics used to be that it was ultimately pragmatic and interested in the success of the Japanese society and economy. Kishida runs counter to this. His top priority seems to be his popularity rating.

It's Japan that stands to lose the most with the absurd travel policy and sustained economic slump. I feel bad for the people there.

I expected Japan's politicians to make decisions pragmatically based on scientific reasoning,
Thanks for the laugh - the last six months has not been driven by science, but by politics.

In any case, having spent a heap of time the last two days looking at the new system (border control #29), the above comments about tourism and tours are speculation as there is little actual information on the requirements yet. I expect it will be updated. Currently the systems are still using the guidelines from revision #27 for immigration. And if you don't know what these refer to, then I am not surprised as it is a complicated area.

As a frequent (yearly) visitor to Japan, Ifm extremely heartbroken to read the nonsensical views of one poster on this forum.
I also suspect that poster hangs around another forum, usurping it like his fiefdom, abusing people, talking nonsense, claiming foreigners (especially from one particular country) should be banned, yet that country is now allowed to enter in June 2022.

For years wefve read of Kyoto traders, in exasperation, installing very unpleasant signs. Admittedly, the behaviour of some of the tourists were a let down. During lockdown the traders suddenly realised how much they missed the tourist dollars.

There are many ways to control excessive crowds to popular places (eg Kyoto). Many countries have implemented timed entries for instance, eliminating overcrowding. Peace and enjoyment is restored. Japanfs reluctance to do so, has lead to unsustainable tourism in some areas.

Before the pandemic, the Japanese government had projected & encouraged an even higher number of tourists visiting Japan. But of course now, we are eoverjoyedf when told itfll be raised to 20,000 daily in June.
Quite a joke.
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I donft think that alone is reason to be overjoyed. But 20,000 in June could lead to 50,000 in August, which could lead to a complete lifting of restrictions in October. Slow as it may be, it is undeniable progress.

As someone whose main hobby is travelling to Japan, which is also where the vast majority of my friends reside so my social life has taken a big hit thanks to covid, Ifll take what I can get. The past two years have been way too frustrating and exhausting for me to want to spend any energy getting annoyed that things arenft happening as quickly as I would like. At least they are actually happening now. And getting upset doesnft achieve anything anyway. Multiple Japanese governments over the past two years have shown that they arenft listening to us.

Here's announcement from Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan regarding information entering into Japan:


https://www.mofa.go.jp/ca/fna/page4e_001053.html

I have received many questions and in cases pleas for assistance over the past few days. The new system is very confusing for many and as I have said before, including misleading media reports (prompting one person to go and buy non-refundable flights). While the usual source of information is the often linked MoFA website page, that is next to useless at the moment. Further, the https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/covid-19/bordercontrol.html page in English is NOT useful (IMO) as it does not have the latest relevant information and is months out of date (border enforcement #27 is from March).
For the latest information, people should check https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/0000121431_00209.html and border control measures #29. There are two linked pdf files with a lot of information in them (helps tell part of the story).
Yes, there are still barriers to easy travel and tourism into Japan, but for the people that are happy to join scheduled tours, there will be options to get into Japan in a few weeks. That is a lot better than it was even just a week ago.