UPDATE: Japan will officially reopen for visa-free tourism on October 11th.
A few weeks ago, someone contacted UJ about promoting an article they wrote for their travel site. It touted the news that Japan would now allow US and Canadian citizens to get tourist visas to the country electronically.
Since the pandemic, Japan has suspended its visa-free relations with all countries. To get a visa, you have to go to an Japanese Embassy or Consulate in your home country.
So this was a small step in the right direction. But many other restrictions remained in place. At the time, you had to purchase travel packages through a group tour. And you had to stay with your tour guide the entire time.
So basically, the North Korean Tourist Package.
I pointed this out to the author, who didn’t mention any of this on their Web site. Will you be making a correction, I wondered?
Crickets.
Moral of the story: a lot of people are trying to profit off of Japan “opening” for travel – even though it’s still a ways off from being fully open.
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An “open Japan” will be a Japan where you can enter freely and of your own accord. You’ll be able either to secure a visa easily or get a 90-day visa at the border when you enter. (Prior to the pandemic, Japan allowed visa exemptions for 68 countries.) You’ll be able to book your own airfare and your own hotels.
Japan announced that it’s lifting some of its restrictions on September 7th. That caused a slew of Web sites to declare Japan “open for business”. However, while Japan did lift some restrictions, it didn’t fully “open”.
On September 7th, Japan will raise its visitor cap from 20,000 people/day to 50,000 people/day. It will also lift the requirement for a PCR COVID-19 test if you are tirple vaccinated. Additionally, as noted above, US and Canadian residents can now secure an e-visa.
Most notably, Japan is lifting the tour guide requirement. You will no longer have to be escorted around your cities of choice by a chaperone.
All that is good. But tourists will still need to book their travel through travel agencies. They will all take a cut in the form of inflated package expenses and fees.
(UPDATE: It now seems you’ll be able to set your own schedule. Which, honestly, just makes the insistence on using travel agencies even more confusing.)
And unless you live in the US or Canada, you’ll still need to get a visa by going to an Embassy or Consulate. For many, this means flying to one of the few locations in your country where they actually exist. That’s additional time and expense added to your trip.
Writing for President Online, author Aoba Yamato notes that, despite the restrictions, Japan is still a top tourist destination for many around the world. Australians, for example, love to flock to Japan during their own country’s hot summer months. People the world over want to see the cherry blossoms in March/April. Or tackle climbing Mt. Fuji as a bucket list item.
But Aoba notes that hardly anyone wants to do this as part of a “package tour”. The tour guide restrictions proved a huge cramp to tourism. In July, the country saw less than 8,000 tourists. In normal times, Japan was host to 2.5 million foreign visitors every month.
Even with the tour guide requirement gone, many tourists will find packaged tours too expensive. Prices for travel have skyrocketed by 3-4x.
The main reason for keeping tourists out was to prevent the spread of COVID-19. However, as Aoba notes, Japan now has more cases of COVID-19 than any other country. So these restrictions are meaningless.
Meanwhile, Japanese tourists can leave their country and visit other G7 nations freely. A uni-directional sakoku.
Japan’s yen fell to its lowest levels in 24 years this week – 140 yen to the US dollar. The lack of tourism, which comprised about 5% of the country’s GDP, continues to have profound negative effects on Japan’s economy.
So when will Japan truly open? It’s anyone’s guess. Some say it’ll happen in the next month or two. Others who work in the country and deal with the government regularly don’t expect anything to change substantively until 2023.
In the meanwhile, be wary of articles proclaiming a total opening. If you’re going to book travel to Japan, make sure you know what you’re getting and what the restrictions are. And give yourself plenty of time to secure a visa.
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