Resumption of tourism - Latest info?

I'm currently residing in Thailand. Recently I stumbled across this tour company selling "unguided" Japan winter trip package for this coming winter with "free cancellation**" (there were several lines of fine print for cancellation policies which I didn't read. I'd assume it only applies if Japan still won't allow us to enter except for guided tour).

I found it quite interesting some are already jumping ahead with expectations of we'll be able enter Japan as individual by this winter and started selling regular Japan packages. They were also selling packages for Yuki Matsuri in Hokkaido.

Good luck to them and I truly hope they are right. My plane ticket is ready for Jan 2023.

>> I would love someone to ask them straight out why they think foreign tourists need different treatment from Japanese returning from abroad

> By far the number one answer will be: because they worry that foreigners won't wear masks.

And of course, they would be absolutely right about that. Because that's exactly what will happen.

That's exactly how Americans behave, both at home and abroad. Says this American who has traveled to Thailand and Europe in the past few months, and who has seen how so many Americans (and some Australians) behaved, ignoring the requirements that were so clearly communicated to them as a condition of their entry. Sadly, many Americans (too many) don't give a rats arse about anyone or any rule or any promise they have made.

Maybe the disease that the Japanese government doesn't want to see spreading in Japan any more than it already has, is not so much COVID as much as the arrogant, entitled, unapologetic a-holes that too many foreign tourists turn out to be.
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There are more tourists than rude American tourists, speaking for myself as a Scot who lives in Switzerland, I'm triple vaxxed, will be boosted again when possible and despite the abolition of all measures here, I continue to work from home, wear an FFP2 mask when shopping, indoors with the general public etc. I've (to my knowledge) never had Covid, I've tested scores of times and been very careful. To enter Japan I would happily get tested, happily wear FFP2 masks in the airport, on the plane (I do this anyway in Europe), get tested again and wear masks diligently in Japan.

All tourists are not the same, you and the Japanese authorities would do well to realise that.

@Denis C - Of course, that is all correct. Not all tourists ignore the rules, not all tourists behave like spoiled children -- and not all Americans do, either (Japanese authorities know that, they're not fools). But some tourists do act exactly like that, and they spoil things for everyone.

I'm an American, and like you, I'm fully vaxxed, boosted, tested regularly, masked, careful, and more. I follow all the rules, I respect others, and will certainly follow every regulation that the Japanese government requires and I always have (even before the pandemic). I try to behave as any good guest does, trying my best to give Japanese people reasons to welcome me. But you and I both know how people act, and it's perfectly understandable why many Japanese people are in no great hurry to throw the doors wide open to everyone.

Unfortunately, there's no nasal swab yet that can reliably test for being an arrogant a-hole. If there was, I'm sure they would let you (and maybe even me) in right away, and only turn away those who tested positive for that personality type. Alas, we are all going to have to wait until they get hungry enough for tourists that they decide to let it in everyone, including the entitled, mask-less, "Who do they think they are?" crowd. We are stuck, lumped in with them.

Hi. My name is Martin from Argentina. Luckily we are in the "blue" group. I have flights booked for October 9th. I guess it is just luck at this moment, but i would like to increase the odds. Does anybody knows some Agencies giving/selling those "Guided tours" at the moment? I used Google to find some but im not sure if those are the agencies Im looking for. Thank you and hope there are good news soon.

Looking at the tours departing from Singapore. Advertised as escorted tours, 4-9 pax max in car or minivan. 3 meals served on some days, other days 2. So I wonder where they�fll get dinner. In mandarin only so it�fs obviously targeting a certain group.
Like all good escorted tours, shopping in outlets is a must. This takes care of the shopping side I guess.
No mention of mask wearing (probably not in issue with Singaporeans) or the fact they can�ft break free. Numbers are small enough to be corralled.

Fr $4888, no mention of airfares so assume it�fs included with hotel, meals for 8 days, 6 nights to Kyushu.

Surprising there are a lot of people happy to be shepherded around. They don�ft really care where they go, so such tours suit them.

It's really disappointing to see so many people downplaying the ridiculousness of Japan's travel rules. Requiring heavily monitored group tours would've been absurd even a year ago, but is absolutely unacceptable now, especially since returning Japan can re-enter the country basically as they would've done in 2019.

Hopefully those restrictions will last for only a short time... to USA you can come now with no covid test, Europe is open... Shame on you Japan 😉

I dont think many have be downplaying the ridiculousness of this for tourists.

But as a tourists, you have options. Ranting online isn't a good look. And even some other responses have been down right laughable to read. Reading some of the comments, you'd assume Japan was the only place to visit.

A nation has the right to police their borders their way. As a tourist, either wait or pick another location to visit. Tourists aren't high on the priority list. The tide is finally turning though.

It is funny reading how so many people hate (shame they say, lolz) Japan because they are not allowed in as a tourist. But cannot seem to pick another option to visit.

I gave up on 2022. Not worth my time worrying about if the border situation has changed for my dates of travel. I'll see what 2023 brings. Easier to delay six to 12 months and not have the panic or stress of dealing with extra rules and proceedures.

�e Tourists aren't high on the priority list. The tide is finally turning though.�f

It�fs the country�fs prerogative to decide what it does. However, the tourist dollar is important to many countries, Japan is no exception.
Despite all the rumblings from the Japanese business community, which has been hurt significantly by these decisions, the government�fs top priority is to stay in power.
For me, I will take my money to countries that welcome me.

I am not receiving any financial incentive nor am I affiliated with any of the following tours. This is not about whether I think group tours are good or whether I think it is the best policy, someone merely asked for companies that seem to be offering group tours right now.

JTBUSA has some tours leaving starting from September. I would find it odd for JTB Tours to not follow the provisions set forth by the Japanese government since they're one of the largest tour companies in Japan. https://online.jtbusa.com/Tour.aspx

@Kim found this company: https://alljapantours.com which I admit I was personally looking at for possibly next Summer if that is the only option because they offer vegetarian options. Though I am more likely to look into a private tour first since I know I want to go to locations not on any tour.

Japan Guide itself lists the following two agencies as offering tours that meet Japan's tourist Guidelines
https://www.samuraitours.com/
https://www.insidejapantours.com/

At least one of them offers "free days" in Tokyo and Kyoto and I am just really curious how that is going to work. I think that is a valid question. I personally would not use Samurai Tours since they specifically can't handle vegetarians and I am not going to pay 1590000 yen plus airfare to have nothing to eat for 2 weeks.

If the tours fits your desires they might work for you?

Rkold, what was it like travelling around Japan being a vego in regional areas? I had a friend who used to live on Japan who was a vegan who found it difficult in rural areas. I'm guessing vegetarian is easier. Plus there are nice food options which are not meat based....

@Mfedley, honestly, it has depended on when (it's been much easier post 2016 and where.) I know I have probably occasionally slipped up and had fish broth or gelatin, but I want to do my best to still always be a vegetarian. I've been a vegetarian for a very long time, so I am pretty sure at this point I can't easily digest meat anymore.

When I slip up and get a pastry where lard was used or when red meat/pork was involved, I tend to know because I get incredibly sick after. Lard is not used often in the US (or even I suspect in Europe) much anymore, but I think some smaller bakeries in Japan do use it, and I always find out the unpleasant way. It does make me tend to stick with chains I know are safe, like Shinshindo or Andersens. I've also eaten cheese bread on occasion for lunch or dinner when I was traveling solo pre-child. I do tend to lose weight in Japan. I exercise more and eat less.

I am also OK with shared cooking oil.

So in Summer of 2019, I stayed at Airinkan, a well known ryokan in the Hanamaki area. All the Japanese people I met in Michinoku asked me where we were spending the night and all thought I'd made a good choice. I had warned and asked Airinkan ahead of time, and they assured me they could handle it. They started us off with a fancy seafood plate and I apologized and explained we were vegetarian and couldn't eat it. They felt terrible and upon seeing that we were eating the vegetable tempura asked me if we liked sweet potato and kabocha and made us up some special tempura just for us. I was thrilled because I will happily eat tempura and I adore kabocha and sweet potato. My daughter is pickier and mostly ate white rice. Since we eat dairy and eggs, we were fine with the big soft white bread the Japanese tend to use for breakfast (which tastes like there is dairy in it and I suspect eggs at well.) We had worse luck at the Hanamaki Hotel, which assured us they had food we could eat and then didn't and didn't care because they were making their money on huge Chinese tour groups. We mostly ate plain rice we made ourselves. The place we stayed near Kamikochi the year before claimed they could handle vegetarians as did the place we stayed near Kanabayashi Onsen. For our night in a cabin in Kamikochi I brought boxed mac-n-cheese and made it in a pot. I only had to buy butter and milk from the small grocery in the camping area.

I stayed here: https://okabesou.jp/ in April 2009, and a fluent friend got me an amazing vegetarian kaiseki meal. They went completely out of their way and I would definitely consider Oyu Onsen in Kazuno pretty rural. I actually would like to go back in the Summer because we didn't go to the stone circle and I would like to take my daughter to Towadako.

When I went to Zao onsen, I actually brought vegetarian cup noodles with me from home and ate that for dinner. It was also '09 and again there were fewer options. I also ate cup noodles the night I spent in Sakata. I did snack on some foods at Haguro-san. I'm 99% sure Haguro-san still has actual vegan cuisine unlike a lot of the places at Koya-san where they use a lot of seafood. I'd like to go back to Haguro-san too, as well as visit the other Dewa Sanzan. Gas-san and Yudono-san were closed for Winter still.

Oyaki at Nagano Station make a great meal and are vegan as is. In Kainan and Tanabe, I use to stay with friends who cooked for me.

I had oddly a tough time in Takamatsu, though I regret not looking at Happy Cow ahead of time, since they recommended an Italian place.

I admit (and I did this in the Czech Republic as well) when all else fails, I look for a pizza place. Since I am less worried about rennet abroad, plain cheese pizza is almost always safe. In Japan, I've also done Indian a few times when nothing else was an option. Happy Cow had places in Takayama listed, but all were closed except the Indian place. It worked out great for my daughter who got rice with peas and corn.

When with fluent friends I have gotten rice balls at combini. I expect it will be easier in the future since my daughter is actually learning Japanese. She still has a long way to go, but I expect her to soon know more than the smattering of Japanese I know. She is already better at kana.

My tween wishes she could eat every meal at T's Tan Tan Ramen. They use to have a branch in Sendai, which we went to multiple times, as well as their branches in Tokyo Station and Ueno Station. I think they recently opened more around Tokyo. I've not found any place I am quite as happy with in Kyoto. I've been to many vegan places there, but my kid can be weirdly picky. She has gotten less so, so I am hoping next trip will go better. Some of the fancier hotels actually have vegan options. I heard Hotel Chizanso has some special vegan menu, I'd like to check it out.

I actually find theme parks really hard in Japan and they have a lot fewer options than US theme parks. Tokyo Disney Resort might have cheaper tickets and more immersive parks, but US parks are much better for anyone with dietary issues. (I expect Paris Disney is also quite good because there are a lot of vegetarians in Europe.) The same is true for the Universals. In Japan, I often get stuck at one mediocre Italian place getting pizza. I'm glad we did the Ghibli Museum, but it's not somewhere I am in a rush to go back to as the ice cream is our only food option. I like the rum raisin Cat Bus cookie and the other cookies at the cream puff factory much much more. (And I don't even like rum raisin normally!)

I do think about meals when planning a trip. I know I always need to be careful and have something available. It has gotten better, but some places are still a challenge. Pre-Covid, I was hoping more foreign tourists would help with that because both India and the UK have a lot of vegetarians. But it also means that even if I want to think about a group tour, I need to make sure there are options.

If Japan is not open to individual tourists or I can't figure out a private tour next Summer, I will either go to Europe or possibly look into elsewhere. I still really loved the Czech Republic and everyone in my family has nothing but positives to stay about Barcelona. I just know Summer is their high season and I need to work around our school schedule.

Rural ryokan owner or staff sometimes ask us for food preference. allergy, or whatever. When it's in proper class, they will accept meal replacement at least by advance request.

@h

Just because a nation has the right to do things, it does not mean they are correct, respectful, decent or sensible. Just saying "if you don't like it then F off elsewhere" is childish and pointless and "not a good look".
Do you seriously think we should be taking North Korea as a role model?

Plenty of people have invested so much money and time in Japan, learning the language, behaving respectfully and they are being treated as inferior human beings, how anyone can defend this is beyond me.

If Japan was sensibly, scientifically, protecting their population in a rational way then people would not complain but Japan are not. There is no scientific logic whatsoever to what they are doing, it's political nonsense. There is only one other democracy in the entire world with similar practises, Taiwan. That's it.

Interesting read rkold. Thanks for the info.

My biggest memory is my friend going skiing and the only thing he could eat on the menu was french fries (vegan - not vego)......

@Dennis C
Plenty of people have invested so much money and time in XYZ, learning the language, behaving respectfully and they are being treated as inferior human beings, how anyone can defend this is beyond me.
That does apply in other counties too (unfortunately).

@JapanCustomTours No country (and no free country, certainly) is taking this to the level that Japan has. Not even close.

@Mfedley, yeah we went to Shiga Kogen, and I remember them having pizza, but I don't really anything else. There are definitely some places where you would be able to get just the bread base, tomato sauce and possibly veggies without cheese on a pizza, it depends on whether they are made partially from scratch. For a long time, outside of the Ristorante di Canaletto, you couldn't even find plain cheese pizza at Disney Sea. I was actually surprised that the new mushroom soup at USJ's Nintendo World is supposedly vegetarian, since soup broth is one of those things you need to watch out for everywhere, not just Japan. There are definitely touring days when we eat a larger breakfast and eat mostly snacks for lunch and then eat a real dinner. We've also eaten a western style breakfast for lunch or dinner. But for example when we did Ninja training at 48 Waterfalls, my daughter got cold soba noodles and didn't risk the sauce and I just ate one of the killer sweet potato ice creams. We made sure to eat a larger dinner.


@Kyushulocal, you are also 100% correct. I've found a lot of upscale ryokan in Kyushu that do offer vegetarian options. I really really want to plan a trip to Kyushu, but I am always worried it is just going to be too hot in late June/early July, when my daughter is off from school. Do you think it would be too hot to visit Yufuin, Kurokawa and Takachiho? I don't want anything hotter than Kyoto at the same time period, because I want to be able to enjoy the onsen in the evening and in the morning.

It doesn't have be upscale ryokan. We have stayed in 10,000 - 15,000 yen range ryokan in Kokonoe-machi, Hita, Taketa, etc. They even asked us if we need special meal request at check in.
Takachiho has no onsen, which implies it has smaller number of accommodations.
How hot it is depends on the specific location. Temperature goes down by 0.5 C - 1 C every 100 m altitude. Top of Mt Tsurumi in Beppu and Unzen Nita Pass is above 1,300 m. We love cool wind in Aso, Yamanami Highway in summer. Rainy season lasts till mid July in Kyushu.

@KyushuLocal, going off topic but could you recommend some of those places you've stayed in Kokone and Taketa that asked about dietary restrictions, when I was trying to plan a Kyushu trip, I wanted to go to do some easy hikes in the Kuju Mountains and wanted to stay closer to them than Yufuin and was specifically looking at Kokone.

The ryokan I was looking at wasn't in Takachiho but slightly further away, but still decently close. I really want to do a Kyushu trip once individual travel is allowed.