Resumption of tourism - Latest info?

Japanese government is taking minuscule steps towards opening of borders.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/01/17/national/covid-japan-stud...

Now allowing in 87 students!
Let�fs hope this is some kind of trial run and they now set a quota for every month.

Small steps is better than no steps.

Some flexibility now should lead to more in the future.

I'm betting this will be the last blanket ban, it would be a bad political move if it's maintained any longer. People in Japan are starting to speak out against it, which hasn't really happened before.

I'm guessing Japan opens for visa holders at the end of February(in a real capacity, not this screening cert business) & tourists by the end of the year in some kind of incremental way.

Looks like New Zeland has a reopening plan:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-60238867

My fear is that countries will slowly open borders and then close them again as soon as autumn is back with a new variant. This way is impossible to make plans.
Let's say you have plans for Spring 2023, but when you're about to book (or you've already) it's winter 2022 and they close again, what do you do?
Seems risky to make plans

Just wanted to make an update, have a good day everyone!

Looks like New Zealand will open to tourists from countries that didn't require a visa perform the pandemic in July. Is that correct? Would be interesting to see if Japan does the same thing.

*before the pandemic

Looks like New Zealand will open to tourists from countries that didn't require a visa perform the pandemic in July. Is that correct?

Yes, that's correct. Though visitors will have to self-isolate upon arrival, for a period of 10 days initially but this will be reduced. And unvaccinated visitors will have to stay at a managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) facility.

New Zealand might look like it is opening (and did so before) but realistically it is still closed for another six months for tourism or other visits/business - I will not be heading back any time soon (for things like visiting family and renewal of various stuff). MIQ might be coming to an end, but I would still need to be stuck in a hotel for a week (pointlessly) - not like I have a house to go an isolate in :P
More interesting was Taro Kono (previous GoJ COVID minister) saying this week there was little reason for Japan border restrictions to remain in place much beyond the end of the current restrictions. It is now political rather than science based unfortunately.

From a pure infection control perspective it actually makes a lot of sense to open borders when infection numbers are high. At that point the additional infections that could come in from outside aren�ft relevant. And potentially with all the testing / quarantining even less risk from a traveller than from a random resident.
But to explain this to the Japanese public and politicians who overall seem to be quite comfortable in the Japan �gbubble�h won�ft be easy.

I'm betting this will be the last blanket ban, it would be a bad political move if it's maintained any longer.

With the daily infected number approaching 100,000, I doubt if the government is contemplating opening the border soon.

Purely personal opinion: I think there is a 80% probability that the borders will be reopened to everybody except tourists on March 1. Kishida is too much of a pragmatist despite his surprising taste for populism.

It also looks like the peak of the omicron wave is about to be reached next week.

With the daily infected number approaching 100,000, I doubt if the government is contemplating opening the border soon.

https://www.nippon.com/en/news/reu20220205KBN2KA09Y/

Other countries are opening up for tourism whilst having high cases, but obviously, Japan seems to do its own thing, regardless...

I wonder what are the consequences for keeping the borders closed for tourists indefinitely. Not all countries rely on tourism for their economy. So, if Japan's economy doesn't rely much on tourism, they won't see it as a priority in the meantime, meaning the borders will continue to closed. In my country, tourism is very important, that's why the borders or restrictions are not always in place (sometimes they last 2 or 3 months, then we have a period of tourism, then they close for winter again, like a game of pingpong).

Japan's economy doesn't rely on tourism right now, but Japan's economy is also stagnant and has been for over thirty years. International tourism has become a major party of the plan to revitalise the economy once and for all in the coming years. People who have been in and out of Japan over the last 10-20 years will have seen the effects of this without even making an effort to read about policy. Maybe not even 10-20 years. I'm pretty sure that maybe 5-6 years ago it was rare to have your convenience store onigiri labelled in English, even in Tokyo. Some things have been changing quite rapidly. Japan is 100% committed to a future as a major international tourist destination, which is why it is so amusing whenever someone shows up here to tell us all that the borders are closed forever. The fact is that Japanese politicians and industry are more desperate to open back up than most people realise. They would do it tomorrow if they could get away with it politically. But also the last thing they want is to get into that game of ping pong as you called it. I expect that once Japan finally opens the borders back up, I wouldn't expect them to close again unless the whole thing turns out to be a total disaster beyond what anyone could have reasonably predicted.

@LIZ

Any sources for that?

When it comes in students, workers and family I think that Uji's comment of early March or April is probably spot on the money - dependant on another variant occurring.

The Japanese government are in a tight situation - some of their own causing. It's pretty fair to say that closed borders are VERY POPULAR politically but there has also been a large amount of pressure being faced internationally on the closed border front.

I've actually got tickets to visit Japan in April and it occurs on the same weekend as the Grand Prix in my home town. I'm almost comfortable enough to buy main grandstand tickets with the expectation that there will be no flight that day or I can't go due to closed borders. That's how much trust I have in quick and drastic changes in tourism I am.

One thing which has changed in my home country of Australia since Omicron is expectations of what will happen. We can do almost everything now - just with masks and social distancing. Last year my city closed down due to 5 cases but people are now dying of covid (strangely at similar levels to the flu pre-covid). Now we are about to open up to almost all international visitors.

@ mfedley,

Australian Prime minister, Morrison, declared that dealing with COVID is now all about "personal responsibility instead of mandates" https://www.sbs.com.au/news/scott-morrison-urges-personal-responsibili...

Any sources for that?

Sources for what? I made a few points so please be specific. Japan's economy being bad since the 90s? The government promoting international tourism? The government and industry leaders not wanting to thee the border closed forever?

Any sources for that?
The mass media - tv and news papers for a start. It is reported clearly enough.