Japan allows free entry of foreign tourists from this Tuesday after keeping its borders practically closed since the start of the pandemic, with which the country hopes to once again attract tens of millions of visitors each year and revitalize its economy.
The Asian country maintained the strictest border restrictions among the G7 powers and some of the most severe among the major world powers, with the exception of China, which had been slowing down the post-Covid recovery of tourism and its economy.
Among the measures that were invalidated as of this Tuesday is the daily quota of 50,000 entries to the archipelago, which had been in force since September. As of midnight this Tuesday, the country will no longer have any limitations in this regard, except for the airlines' own offer, as before the pandemic.
Although Japan began to allow the arrival of tourists in June, it did so with many limitations, including the obligation to process a visa for any visit and the mediation of authorized travel agencies in the case of tourist visits.
As of this Tuesday, the archipelago resumes the visa exemption agreements for stays of up to 90 days that it has with 68 countries (including the United States, Argentina, Mexico and the European Union), which many visitors used to travel to the country. and what marks a normalization of international tourism to Japan. These agreements were suspended with the outbreak of the pandemic.
In the case of travelers from countries that do not have a bilateral agreement in this regard, they must adhere to the pre-pandemic requirements to travel to Japanese territory.
As for immigration controls, Tokyo has simplified them. Those who certify having received three doses of any of the covid vaccines approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) will not have to take a test within 72 hours before boarding, something that will be necessary for the rest.
Those who have the required vaccination or a negative certificate issued during the three days prior to their arrival in the country will not have to undergo a test upon arrival or quarantine, measures that are maintained in specific cases.
Apart from the certificates, all travelers arriving in the country will have to previously fill out a covid questionnaire and download an application called MySOS in which the documents still necessary to travel to the country can be linked and which are available on the Ministry's website. of Exteriors.
The arrivals area of the main Japanese airports looked considerably full this Tuesday, after several years almost empty. In Kansai (west), a 26-year-old Thai woman who arrived in the country along with two other members of her family shared her happiness with the Nikkei newspaper: "I feel like going shopping and eating takoyaki [the balls of wheat flour and octopus typical of the region]," he said.
Japan received 31.9 million tourists in 2019, before the outbreak of the health crisis. In 2021 the number was 246,000 people, according to data from the National Tourism Office (JNTO), and the number of people with foreign passports who entered the country in August was 169,800 people, most of them residents.
The tourist reopening of Japan occurs at a delicate moment for its economy, which has not yet recovered after several years of almost total closure of borders and is being affected by the rise in imports due to the rise in prices due to geopolitical tension and also because of the weakness of its currency, the yen.
This trend, however, is highly beneficial for foreign visitors, especially those who move with dollars and euros, since the purchase of yen is favorable for them.
The Japanese authorities hope that this particularity of the current moment will contribute positively to the reopening of tourism, serving as one more of the country's attractions.
Japan hopes that the cheap yen "will benefit socioeconomic activities" in the face of the return of tourists, framed in "the transition of coexistence with covid" in the country, government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno explained on Tuesday at a conference. of press.
It is not clear what the initial impact of the reopening will be, given that the arrival of Chinese tourists, traditionally those with the highest proportion and disbursement for Japan's coffers, remains weak due to Beijing's strict "zero covid" policy.
