Latest Japan travel updates

Last updated 15 September 2020, 04:00 GMT

Travel entry status and restrictions
Latest travel updates
When will travel to Japan be possible?
Subsidised travel to Japan?

Travel Entry Status and Restrictions

As of the time of writing, entry into Japan is not possible from at least 150 countries including the UK, US, Canada and Australia (with some exceptions for citizens and residents). However, announcements from the Japanese government in June are that limited forms of business travel, including from Australia and New Zealand will be allowed to resume later this year.
Government advisories and your travel to Japan
UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office
From 4 July, Japan is exempt from the FCO advice against all non-essential international travel. This is based on the current assessment of COVID-19 risks. Entry into Japan is also not currently possible for those who are not Japanese residents. Japan has also suspended its visa waiver system for anyone travelling on a British passport until at least the end of September. See the latest official government information on travel to Japan from the FCO here.
US State Department and Centre for Disease Control and Prevention
On 6th August the US State Department lifted it's global 'Level 4: do no travel' advisory, and the CDC has downgraded Japan to Level 3: Covid-19 risk is high. The CDC recommends travellers avoid all non-essential travel to Japan. Entry into Japan is also not currently possible for those who are not Japanese residents. See the latest official government information on travel to Japan from the CDC here.
Canadian Government
The Canadian government continues to advise against all non-essential travel outside of Canada. Entry into Japan is also not currently possible for those who are not Japanese residents. See the latest official government advice on travel to Japan here.
Australian Government
There is currently a ban on travelling overseas from Australia. The official Australian government advice regarding travel to Japan is do not travel. Entry into Japan is also not currently possible for those who are not Japanese residents. See the latest official Australian government information on travel to Japan here.

Latest travel updates

Japan has been included on the UK government's list of countries exempt from advice against "all but essential travel" from 4th July, as it no longer presents an unacceptably high risk to travelling British citizens (gov.uk). However, entry restrictions to Japan remain in place.
Japan will build new coronavirus test centres exclusively for international travellers at three major airports in Tokyo and Osaka, expected to open in September (Kyodo News). Testing capacity for arriving travellers is expected to reach 10,000 per day by September (Japan Times).
All foreign residents are now allowed to re-enter Japan from September 1st. This will be providing they pass a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test and self-isolate for 14 days upon arrival (Kyodo News)
Japan has confirmed a travel bubble with seven Asian countries: Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. For now this will be limited to residents only, and subject to strict coronavirus testing and quarantine measures. Short-term business travel will also be able to resume between Japan and Singapore from 18th September (Timeout Tokyo)
In encouraging news for Europeans and Americans, the Nikkei Asian Review reported that Japan is considering easing travel restrictions for business travellers from the US and EU. We have not yet heard anything concrete from the government since this report in July however.
For a more detailed summary, see our 'When will travel to Japan be possible again?' section.

For a full list of countries with Japan entry restrictions visit: www.japan.travel/en/coronavirus/

When will travel to Japan be possible again?

This is the trillion-yen question for Japan. Tourist arrivals have been down 99.9% on the previous year's levels for three consecutive months since April. The number of arrivals from foreign travellers was just 2,500 in June. These are the lowest totals recorded since records began in 1964 when the previous low for monthly foreign visitors was 17,543, recorded in February of that year(Kyodo News)
As one of the country's boom sectors over the past 10 years the question of how and when to re-open Japan's borders, currently closed to nationals from over 110 countries around the world, is near the top of the agenda.

Current Japanese government plans
On 18th June, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that Japan is looking to allow business travellers from Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and Vietnam to enter the country. Talks have also begun with a total of 16 Asian countries such as Malaysia and Singapore about easing travel restrictions from as early as September. This will be subject to travellers testing negative for the virus both before and after their flight to Japan and keeping GPS data on their smartphones to aid in contact tracing. They must also provide an itinerary of their first 14 days in the country, and cannot use public transportation (Kyodo News). According to the Nikkei Asian Review, this will initially involve business travellers only, before being expanded in stages, first to students, and finally tourists, depending on infection rates. Despite the restrictions, this is an encouraging sign for the beginning of the resumption of international travel to Japan.
For a more detailed summary of the 12th August Japan Immigration Service information on who is allowed to enter the country, what paperwork and measures they need to abide by, as well as basic policy steps for future travel, see Japan Real Estate's article here.

At InsideJapan Tours we will be keeping a very close ear to the ground for all official announcements and general information from the Japanese government this and future developments.
Japanese newspapers began reporting on 11th June that this would begin with quotas of 250 travellers per day from each country (Kyodo News), however this has since been denied by Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi (Asahi Shimbun). Discussions with the four countries remain ongoing.
The EU lifted a travel ban on 14 countries outside the bloc, including Japan, on 1st July. While Japan has not yet reciprocated, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga hinted it may now look to include the European Union in easing travel restrictions (Kyodo News). Talks could also begin this month (July) with Taiwan and Brunei (Japan Times).
In encouraging news for Europeans and Americans, the Nikkei Asian Review reported that Japan is considering easing travel restrictions for business travellers from the US and EU.
Japanese citizens can now freely cross prefecture boundaries after advisories from the government were lifted, paving the way for domestic tourism to return to the country (Japan Times). Japan Airlines also plans to operate its domestic flights at full capacity by October, in another encouraging sign for domestic tourism (Kyodo News). Some travel reservation systems have reported recoveries of up to 70% of pre-coronavirus demand for domestic hotels and accommodation (Japan Times).

Subsidised travel to Japan?

Numerous news outlets have been reporting that the Japanese government may be looking to subsidise travel around Japan in an effort to kick start the tourist economy once Covid-19 is considered under control.

https://onemileatatime.com/japan-may-cover-half-the-cost-of-your-visit/
The Guardian (27-May-2020)
Sounds exciting right? Sadly, all is not as it first appeared. When we asked JNTO in LA where we could sign up, they informed us that sadly this has been misreported by an over-eager press. The real story is that the Japanese government is considering a campaign targeting Japanese residents to boost domestic travel in the wake of Covid-19.

We're as disappointed as you that at the present time the Japanese government has no plans to subsidise inbound tourism from foreign visitors. But you never know - maybe this situation with change! Watch this space. We'll be sure to post any big announcements on our web site.
Since then, the Japanese government has officially announced it's 'Go To Travel' campaign, targeted at boosting domestic tourism in the country by providing discounts to Japanese residents on hotels and travel, as well as vouchers for restaurants and other services. However, due to the numbers of coronavirus cases in the capital, residents of Tokyo are exempt from this campaign, and there are calls from other parts of society to halt or delay the campaign altogether as cases rise nationwide. Nonetheless, from its inception on 22nd July, 2 million people used the campaign in its first month of operation (Japan Times).

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