Japan finally opened its borders to foreign independent tourists after almost three years on Tuesday, with seaports and airports across the country welcoming overseas arrivals — although based on the day’s evidence, it may be some time until the level of tourism returns to its pre-pandemic peak.
Arrivals for purposes other than tourism have been allowed since March this year, and many of those arriving at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Tuesday were either business travelers or residents returning after trips abroad.
Asked his thoughts on Japan’s opening up to the world, Pavel, a business traveler from Poland arriving via a layover in Finland, said it was a “good idea — finally.”
“It’s hard to believe it took so long,” added Magda, his colleague.
Among the independent tourists arriving at the airport was Corey Laroe, traveling from San Francisco to visit a relative and surf the famous coasts of Chiba Prefecture. He said he had been planning the trip “off-and-on for the last year or so, just waiting to see when the restrictions would lift.”
Now that he had arrived, Laroe said he was excited to see the country open and was hoping that it would help boost the local economy.
"I’m just excited to be here,” he said.
Enjoying an entirely different experience was Tommaso Ricci, an Italian resident of Copenhagen, also on the flight arriving from Helsinki. Finding himself with a month to spare before starting a new job, he began looking for flights, settling on Japan two days ago when he realized it was once again possible to enter without a visa.
For a while though, it was touch and go if he would actually make it into the country. His departure yesterday was the day before the short-term visa exemption rule for 68 nationalities — including Italy — again came into effect, and the airport staff in Copenhagen were reluctant to let him board the plane.
“OK, technically now I do (need a visa), but when I land in Japan, actually I will not,” he said, recounting a conversation he had with staff in Copenhagen as he tried, successfully in the end, to board the flight.
“Now it feels great,” he said, reflecting on a situation in which he was probably one of the only people to need a visa on departure for Japan, but not when he actually arrived.
Japan officially opened its borders at midnight on Monday night, completely removing the 50,000 daily cap on new arrivals in place since early September. The latest relaxation of the country’s border measures arrives after nearly three years of partial openings and U-turns that saw the country more or less closed to tourism and other nonessential travel until June this year, when the doors finally began to creak open.
While the prospect of incoming visitors from overseas will be welcomed with open arms by the struggling tourism industry, many fear that an economic recovery driven by an influx of foreign money may be a long time in coming.
That prospect has been heightened by a lack of Chinese tourists, who typically make up a large proportion of visitors to Japan but are currently restricted in their movements by the Chinese government’s adherence to its “COVID zero” policy.
In another move expected to kick-start the post-pandemic recovery of the tourism industry, the government on Tuesday began the National Travel Discount program — a system of accommodation, food and travel subsidies worth up to ¥11,000 per person per day for use by Japan residents in any of the nation’s 47 prefectures. On Oct. 20, the program will be expanded to include travel within Tokyo.
Discounts can be applied for in advance via various national travel agencies.
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