Japan is urging the United States to continue allowing visa-free entry for Japanese after the U.S. tightens passport rules next October as part of antiterrorism measures, Japanese officials said Tuesday.
The Foreign Ministry is holding talks with U.S. government agencies, including the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security, for the continued visa-waiver program, they said.
"If visa-free entry is discontinued, it would adversely affect Japan-U.S. economic relations and hit the U.S. tourism industry, as 5 million Japanese people annually visit the U.S. under the visa-waiver program," one official said.
Twenty-seven countries are currently subject to the U.S. visa-waiver program. They include Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and most Western European nations.