Resumption of tourism - Latest info?

For New Zealand:
he government has also indicated that the dates when tourists will be allowed back . . . will be brought forward.
Correction - the date "might" change. They did not say that definitively. The changes yesterday were due to the current approach being untenable given the case rates went from a few each day to over ten thousand (and those were only the ones tested). On a population basis the community spread and covid numbers are many times higher than Japan.
The point that this thread can take from that particular news is that the situation in different countries can change quite rapidly. The NZ PM has burned a lot of political capital (especially in the last year) and made a lot of very unhappy voters - not quite the same in Japan - so while there was some science involved, also a healthy dose of politics.

Probably comparing Japan and New Zealand is like comparing apples and oranges.

NZ changed the rules yesterday so that NZ nationals can now self isolate at home for 7 days - compared to 14 days of hotel quarantine or similar. The big difference is the large number of families which live in NZ and Australia which means there are a large number of NZ citizens stuck in Australia.

Both Australia and NZ have very strong links with both being able to legally work in each others countries. Japan does not have similar links with the flow of family members with another country. The numbers may be similar to the number of Koreans living/working in Japan and visa versa - but the population of AUS/NZ is much smaller.

Us in Australia used to be envious of NZ - but when they stated that they will open up to tourists in October a few months ago we kind of rolled out eyes and day whatever. What is currently happening in HK with numbers is what will eventually happen in countries with low amounts of the omicron variant - unfortunately it's only a matter of time.

In Japan - it's probably fair to say that it will be a flatter curve but will take longer than other countries. Their aged population also complicates things - as there are so many of them.

And Japan changes the rules again - albeit it's more window dressing this time: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/japan-set-extend-coronavirus-limi...

One thing to consider is that Japan's largest market (China) will most likely not even consider opening up until at least 2023. As such - opening of borders will not result in a deluge of tourists straight away.

https://www.tourism.jp/en/tourism-database/stats/inbound/#monthly

I'm now starting to understand a secondary reason why Japan has not opened up yet (apart from the transmission question) - there would not be that many tourists visiting at the moment anyway due to closed or restricted borders.

Last paragraph makes zero sense.

Doubt they keep borders loosely close because they think no one will come.

10 tourist/student dollars is better than none.

It seems that things now (currently?) are moving fast. I spoke yesterday with my HR department in Japan. I have a COE for a work visa already. Now they need to apply as the receiving organization through a new web page to get authorization for me to travel (which kind of makes 0 sense, but Japanese governments love bureaucracy ). Apparently that web page application is quite easy (much easier than last November) and will take only a few days.
Then I can go with that additional permit to the embassy and get the visa in the passport. I called them yesterday and at least where I live they function per their normal timelines. So it will take about 3 days to get the visa.
What I havenft found out yet is how to book one of the 7,000 daily spots. Will it be simply enough to book a flight and the number of arrivals is already controlled at the level of how many flights are left in per day? Ifll find out when I am at that junction.
Once in Japan per the current rules I will not need to do any quarantine of testing negative upon arrival. This depends on the country of departure and your vaccination status.

A customer of our company is now also applying, through my company, for a business travel visa. So letfs see how that is going. Apparently for the business trip she only needs the web authorization applied by my company and then can get a visa at her embassy.

Ifll let you know how everything will proceed from here.

@Like Bike
Yes the number of seats on/in plane will make up the 7000. There wont be 7,500 seats available per day on flights etc.

When Australia was raising their capacities, the airline companies were fighting over getting the increases alloted to their companies.

For anyone else waiting. Good news, the process to apply in the new ERFS system was really quick. The HR department submitted today and hit the permit within a few hours.

Thanks for the info about flights.ales sense that it is being organized at the level of landing permits for airplanes.

Ifll let you know how my removal progresses in the hope it can help others waiting to enter Japan with a residence visa.

Please keep us all updated @LikeBike if possible. I am so excited for you that you might soon be moving to Japan!

To me, this is all really positive movement. I'm still planning a different Summer trip in case Japan doesn't let in tourists by Summer, but a part of me is hoping that maybe we can go over the Summer.

@Likebike. That is good to hear. Please keep us up to date.

@Rkold I have made other plans for this summer & am not expecting to be able to visit before spring 23. I hope to be proved wrong.

@Stan Norrell, I have a 50% confidence rating for the Summer, which is enough to make plans just in case, but not enough to not make alternative plans. I have to start looking at Summer camps this week end and plan my US itinerary should Japan not work out. I'm not thinking about airfare though until April. I'm just making itineraries and looking at hotels. The same holds true for my potential US trip.

I am much more confident, 80% confidence rating, we will be able to go for our Winter Break in December 2022. (I work around school breaks.) Once we get to Fall 2022, my child stops getting child rates for everything so that will be a big change and I will need to get her a new Suica card.

For me, a lot depends on what happens between now and the end of the March. It's not a big thing, but I do consider it a good sign that quotas have already been raised.

Well, as things finally starts to brighten up a bit, most flights from Europe are cancelled due to the Russian invasion.

most flights from Europe
Really, I shared with a friend yesterday based in Kyushu that Finair were resuming direct flights mid-year. Short versus long term would make a difference, and even with 7,000 arrivals per day, that is tiny compared to the more than 100,000/day pre pandemic.

Assuming the article @Mfedley linked to was correct, that's 7,000 per day not including students. It's still a small number, but is definitely moving in the correct direction, particularly since students are exempt from that quota.

I've not been monitoring flights from my location to Japan. I know they were still taking place pre- Russia's invasion of the Ukraine, because one of my daughter's classmates went back to Japan for Winter break and then came back to the US.

I am just also going to point out that there are tourists, like me, who just like going to Japan, so get a temporary visitor visa, but there are also "tourists" who have a much stronger connection to Japan who get a temporary visitor visa. Just in the small circle of people I know personally, I have a friend with PR, a Japanese wife, and two children who still have dual US/Japanese citizenship. My friend's mother likes to visit to see her son, daughter in law, and grandchildren. I have a friend from Canada who gave up her Japanese citizenship to keep her Canadian. That doesn't mean she doesn't like seeing her aunts, uncles and cousins in Japan. My stepfather in-law also has a son with PR in Japan, a Japanese wife, a son who still has dual citizenship and I believe a daughter who recently picked Japanese citizenship.

So temporary visitors aren't just people traveling around Japan or doing group tours, they're also sometimes people going to Japan to see family.

Summer 2022 might not work out, as I said I'm not booking anything until the end of the month unless there is an actual announcement. But unless the world breaks out into World War III or we get a new and more dangerous strain of Covid or some other virus, I have very high expectations that Japan will be open in December 2022 for tourists.

I think xmas would be a very sfe bet. Probably be open before then.

The last month has been a massice shift. 01/20/22 = 3500 arrivals a day. 01/03/22 = Any student plus 7000 a day.

The ball has been given a big kick, and it'll only increase in speed the further it goes downhill.

People are moving on in their mindset, and are willing to travel. Most of the popular asian tourist locations (except) China have all but opened, or announced that they will soon open/asap. Japan wont be behind the 8-ball and miss out of that slice of the pie.

Really, I shared with a friend yesterday based in Kyushu that Finair were resuming direct flights mid-year.

Well, not forever. But for now most of Finnairs flights to Japan are cancelled. A few will still run but at a detour around Russia adding almost three hours. Other Nordic companies like SAS will probably not fly at all the coming months.

ANA and JAL has also cut back on traffic but are of course maintaining some lines.

I have spoken to British airways, and they have confirmed they plan on flying the southern route to Japan once their service starts back up again (stopped because of Japan's entry requirements). It adds around 2 hours to the total flight time. They've already started going that way to Singapore.

Lufthansa already flies that route from Frankfurt to Haneda if you want to get an idea of what the southern route is like.

Actually, it looks as though JAL are going via Alaska, which adds around 3 hours to the flight time.

Given that virtually all other major countries have reopened to tourism, there is no reason to think Japan will wait much longer to follow suit. I have no idea where some of you are getting December 2022 or even Spring 2023 from.

I predict that tourism will resume just after Golden Week, and maybe a bit earlier depending upon how quickly Japan can A) let go of the security blanket of on-arrival PCR testing and B) digitize the entire entry process.

Bureaucracy is whatfs holding back further reopening, not anything related to Covid itself.

I would be thrilled if even just small numbers of tourists were allowed back into Japan before July. Then, in August we will most likely have another wave. Depending on how big it will be, we may or may not have larger number of tourists being able to return in the second half of 2022. Yes, this is pure, personal speculation.

Why would allowing small numbers of tourists into Japan before July result in a new wave of infection in August? Japanese travelers have been allowed to come and go freely ever since the border closed to foreigners. They have imported all past waves into Japan; they would likely cause any future ones.

Some people here have drunk far too much of the Japanese governmentfs Koolaid. JFC.