No sooner did I get out of my seven-day stay at the “Hotel Quarantine” when the government announced it would be changing the guidelines for those entering Japan.
Last week, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced that the quarantine period will be reduced from seven to three days for those who have received their booster shots to protect themselves from COVID-19. And those individuals arriving from countries where the highly contagious omicron variant of the virus is “under control” will be exempted from quarantining at a designated facility altogether. That means you'll be able to keep an eye on your health from the comfort of your own home.
Still, unless you meet the new requirements for a no-quarantine entry, chances are that you’ll need to follow some sort of regimen whether you’re a citizen returning from a business trip or an exchange student who has been waiting a long time to get here. Also, and I hate to be grim on this, we still can't rule out the possibility of a new coronavirus variant making all of our lives miserable again.