Over the past month, Japan’s border control policies have flip-flopped over the newly discovered omicron variant of the coronavirus.
After the fifth COVID-19 wave waned and the vaccinated rate reached a high level, Japan opened up its borders to new entries by foreign nationals for the first time in almost a year.
Yet less than a month later, the country reversed course due to fears over the omicron variant, which is believed to be highly transmissible, once again shutting its borders to all arrivals except Japanese citizens and foreign residents.