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Letter to the Editor: Roadmap to reopening Japan for inbound tourism needed

May 6, 2022 (Mainichi Japan)

The following is a letter to the editor from the Head of Operations of Inside Travel Group, the company behind InsideJapan Tours, a tour operator in the U.K., U.S. and Australia.

The pandemic situation has been a huge challenge for Japan's entire inbound tourism industry, including ourselves.

We started our company 21 years ago. Pre-pandemic, the company was sending around 14,000 passengers per year to Japan from our three sales markets, and employed 200 staff including 62 people in our operations office in Nagoya. Our turnover was 50 million pounds (about $62.83 million) per year, of which around 30 million pounds (about $37.69 million) was spent directly in Japan on services such as hotels, transport, and excursions.

Our approach has been to make sure that we are ready for the bounce back after the pandemic has passed and borders are reopened. Although we have made cost savings (including reducing our number of staff by 50%) we have kept the business operationally ready to look after customers traveling to Japan.

Our customers are determined to travel to Japan, and there is a huge appetite in our market for travel to Japan. Japan is consistently among the top three "bucket list" countries in consumer surveys. Even with the difficulties caused by the pandemic, we still have over 1,800 passengers lined up to visit Japan this year, worth 6.7 million pounds (about $8.42 million) in direct spending in Japan.

It has been extremely expensive and difficult to maintain our operational readiness for what is now two years of no travel to Japan.

We are now reaching a critical period where we have difficult decisions to make. Do we continue this path -- holding firm, waiting for Japan to reopen but losing money month on month?

It would seem a shame to change course now when, surely, we are so close to Japan reopening to inbound travel.

What we would like from the Japanese government is a roadmap to reopening the country for inbound tourism.

Japan is now on a very short list of countries which remain closed and have not announced a reopening plan. Of the major economies, only China is also closed. In recent weeks, South Korea and New Zealand have both announced reopening plans.

We are not asking for a reopening date (although that would be brilliant), as I respect that this decision is for the Japanese government and people. But as a global business with dozens of employees in Japan and a business with a direct economic impact in Japan, we need some indication of how the reopening might happen and an approximate time frame.

By sharing our story, we hope that we can convince the Japanese government to share more information about how Japan will reopen to inbound tourism.

Tyler Palma

Head of Operations,

Inside Travel Group Ltd.

(Tyler Palma resides in Tokyo.)

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Japan reopens to individual foreign tourists, lifts arrival cap

By SACHIKO MIWA/ Staff Writer

October 11, 2022 at 14:29 JST

Individual foreign tourists could finally enter Japan with few restrictions on Oct. 11, when the government lifted most of its remaining COVID-19 border controls.

Gone is the unpopular requirement that tourists must travel on package tours to be allowed into Japan. The government also removed its cap on daily arrivals and resumed visa-free entry for short-term travelers from visa-exempt countries or regions.

Testing for COVID-19 upon entry has been scrapped, in principle. But visitors must provide proof of either three vaccine shots or a negative result from a PCR test taken within 72 hours of departure.

The government on Oct. 11 also started a national travel discount program that will subsidize 40 percent of a trip’s cost. The plan is intended to promote domestic tourism that has taken a hit during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Specifically, discounts of up to 8,000 yen ($55) per person per night will be available for package tours involving public transportation, while discounts of up to 5,000 yen will be available for trips in which travelers drive to destinations or arrange for train or airline tickets on their own.

Eligible travelers must either be vaccinated with three doses or present negative test results. The discounts will also be applied to reservations that have already been made.

The program, expected to run until late December, effectively extends and expands the “kenmin wari” travel subsidy program, which ended on Oct. 10.

The earlier program was limited to residents’ trips within a prefecture or to neighboring prefectures.

The new discount program is currently valid for travel to 46 prefectures, except for Tokyo. It will take effect in the capital from Oct. 20 to cover the entire country.

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Government clarity needed as Japan eyes border reopening for tourism

The government looks to begin a return to normalcy with the economic rewards that come with overseas tourists.

The Japanese government is planning to — gingerly — reopen the country to foreign tourists.

Japan closed its borders to foreign travelers shortly after the COVID-19 outbreak began two years ago, gradually widening the ban to include 159 countries and regions. It eased some of those restrictions — such as allowing foreign residents to return — but reopening proved to be a fitful process as new variants emerged and successive waves of infection battered the country.

While there has been a slowly growing trickle of business travelers and students since March — from 3,500 to 10,000 — tourists have not been allowed entry. That will now change. The government has proposed that it will from June allow small groups of fully-vaccinated visitors on package tours from four countries — the United States, Australia, Thailand and Singapore. This will be in addition to a reported doubling of the number of foreign visitors (to 20,000) allowed into the country.

The policy change reflects a sense that Japan lags the global consensus on how to respond to the disease. Most countries have reopened their borders to visitors that are fully vaccinated or provide negative PCR test results. Kishida has repeatedly used international comparisons when discussing this issue and Japan’s admission protocols are stricter than most.

Calls to readmit tourists have become louder and more urgent as the economy stumbles. COVID-19 and the Ukraine war have had a profound impact, slowing growth and pushing up prices. According to one estimate, the absence of foreign visitors cost Japan ¥10.96 trillion ($85.8 billion) in lost revenues in 2020 alone, or more than ¥22 trillion since the pandemic began. Those losses contributed to the 1% decline in gross domestic product by a Cabinet Office estimation.

In the absence of a change, those losses will grow. The number of foreign tourists had been climbing sharply since Japan made the promotion of tourism a priority. In 2019, 31.88 million tourists spent $46.1 billion in Japan. Two years later, just 240,000 foreign visitors entered the country And as the yen hits 20 year lows, Japan is an even more attractive tourist destination — if they can enter the country. And, it should be noted, many of those tourists were Chinese and they will not be able to visit even if Japan opens its doors.

The principal obstacle to those visitors is public reluctance. Japan has been successful at containing the spread and impact of COVID-19. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Japan is one of the few countries that did not report excess mortality for the 2020 and 2021. The U.S. by contrast, had nearly 1 million excess deaths; Germany had about 200,000.

Japan’s vaccination rate tops 81% and more than 57% have received a booster. This week, the country confirmed nearly 37,000 new COVID-19 cases, down more than 5,200 from the previous week, and a steady decline. There were 39 new COVID-19 deaths.

It is estimated that an infection rate of about 60% is the threshold for acceptance of a disease. In Japan, only 7% of the population is reported to have had the disease, and while that number is likely low — a considerable number of people with infections are asymptomatic or think they have the flu — it is nowhere near that level.

That record has made the public suspicious of opening. In a December poll, 81% of respondents backed the ongoing ban on foreign nationals. Another survey, taken earlier this month revealed a slight shift. That number had fallen to 57%, while 32% wanted restrictions eased.

The prime minister is obliged to carefully move forward. With an Upper House election set for July, he cannot afford to be indifferent to public concerns. He will ensure that progress is slow and tentative. There will be careful messaging to maintain public support.

Success depends on several factors, most — but not all — of which he can control. There must be surveillance of foreign visitors that is both effective and nonobtrusive. Especially important will be the security of the personal information generated by that process. Antigen tests must be made more widely available and inexpensive, preferably free.

There will need to be better preparation within the public health system. In particular, there is a need to be ready to treat foreigners with all the associated issues, such as payment and language. This will be more challenging if visitors venture away from major cities.

There are two obvious problems. The first is the difficulty in extrapolating meaningful lessons from the pilot projects the government is launching. Reportedly, the initial groups will be in the tens of tourists. That seems to be too small a sample size to be very useful. It looks as though this is merely a confidence building exercise for the election.

The second problem is the unpredictability of the virus itself. COVID-19 has proven resilient and adaptable. Variants keep appearing. While they seem to be weaker in virulence, that won’t always be the case. As Japan reopens, the government must remain vigilant for the worst case scenario.

No matter what happens, however, the government needs to communicate with its citizens, clearly and effectively. There must be no doubt about what is being done and why. Public confidence is the foundation of any successful disease response.

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Behind the Japanese Tourism Industry’s Campaign to Reopen the Country

Maki Shiraki, Yuki Nitta and Rocky Swift, Reuters

May 30th, 2022 at 7:00 AM EDT

After months of pressure from businesses reliant on tourism, the Japanese government is finally beginning to loosen restrictions. The prime minister is also facing an election in July. So there's that.

Japan ‘s easing of a two-year ban on foreign tourists seeks to balance the enormous economic importance of tourism with concerns that travellers would trigger a COVID outbreak, insiders say.

The decision means Japan will allow in a limited number of foreign tourists on package tours starting June 10. Last week a few “test tours,” mainly of overseas travel agents, started to arrive.

Relaxing some of the world’s strictest pandemic border measures required months of pressure from travel and tourism executives, three insiders told Reuters, describing both the government’s fears of public backlash if infections spiked and the industry’s concerns of an economic wipeout.

“There were worries that foreign tourists would include a lot of people with bad manners – people who don’t wear masks or don’t use hand sanitiser and that infections could spread again,” said one tourism company executive, who like the others spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

The industry pressed Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its junior partner as well as government ministries, he said, but initially found them unresponsive.

Government resistance softened after Japan’s “Golden Week” holidays in May, when people travelled domestically but infections didn’t sharply increase, the executive said.

“If the government doesn’t open up the country, more companies will go bankrupt, and that’s no good politically,” he said.

Kishida’s LDP faces an election in July. Although the closed-border policy was overwhelmingly popular early on, the public has warmed up to reopening as the pandemic has eased and the cost of closure became more apparent. A recent Nikkei poll showed 67% of respondents felt it was “reasonable” to allow in foreign tourists.

The foreign ministry felt pressure from overseas on the measures, and was one of a handful of ministries that tried to persuade Kishida’s government, another insider said.

Ultimately, foreign pressure may have helped ensure the change, said an industry executive.

Local governments remain worried that foreign tourists will bring in the coronavirus, the industry executive said, making it difficult to open the country fully.

Japan, where guidelines such as mask wearing and hand sanitising are scrupulously followed, has avoided the kind of massive infections that have swept through other countries.

Hotel operator Resol Holdings Co Ltd opened four new locations in the run-up to the Tokyo Olympics, expecting a massive influx of foreign tourists. It was a total bust, said operations manager Hideaki Kageyama.

“You can’t pay the bills, the rent, the labour without inbound tourism,” he said, adding that the border easing would not be enough to quickly revive the industry.

The number of hotels that shut down nationwide rose to the highest in five years last year, and hotel debt levels have more than doubled since 2019, according to researcher Teikoku Databank Ltd.

Government subsidies have helped stave off widespread bankruptcies. Resol might have gone under if it weren’t for side businesses such as golf courses and solar plants, Kageyama said.

Tourism was a rare bright spot for Japan before the pandemic. A record of about 32 million foreign tourists visited in 2019, spending some $38 billion. The government still aims to bring in 60 million tourists a year by 2030.

The rickshaw pullers in Tokyo’s Asakusa temple district have gotten by giving rides to domestic tourists instead of the throngs of Chinese who used to come.

“I want the foreigners to return,” said Yui Oikawa of Rise Up Tokyo Rickshaw. “It was more lively that way, with people from all over coming to Asakusa to pray or have a drink.”

There’s also a lost opportunity: the yen is at its weakest level in 20 years, making Japan a cheaper destination for travellers.

For now, tourists can only come on guided, package tours and as part of a quota of 20,000 arrivals each day, including residents.

Singapore and Thailand began welcoming back tourists in the second half of 2021 and in April further eased entry rules. Japan doesn’t have a timeline for a resumption of full-scale, independent tourism, and the easing could be reversed it COVID worsens, the government says.

The small test tours that started last week are mainly made up of foreign travel agents. They have been subject to strict itineraries that have been mocked online as reminiscent of a visit to North Korea.

The test tours will help the government flesh out guidelines for trips from June 10, officials say.

But Clement Kueh, an Australian travel agent who arrived at Tokyo’s Haneda airport last week, said he and his colleagues still weren’t certain how authorities would define what constitutes “group” travel.

“We’re not sure what that means exactly,” he said.

(Reporting by Maki Shiraki, Yuki Nitta and Rocky Swift in Tokyo; Editing by David Dolan and Gerry Doyle)

Copyright (2022) Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions

This article was written by Rocky Swift, Yuki Nitta and Maki Shiraki from Reuters and was legally licensed through the Industry Dive Content Marketplace . Please direct all licensing questions to [email protected] .

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Why Expecting Japan’s Reopening to Tourism Before Summer 2022 at Best is Unrealistic

The Omicron variant could not appear at the worst time at the end of November 2021! Japan’s borders were indeed (shortly) reopened to students and short-term business trips on November 8 and the Japanese government was preparing to test the reopening to groups starting late December / January in anticipation of the resuming of international tourism. At the times, a significant upturn could even be expected as soon as this early spring , for the cherry trees blooming after 2 years of missing the sakura   🌸 .

However, only 17 days later and as soon as the new variant was identified, the recently elected Prime Minister Fumio Kishida slammed shut the country’s borders. Needless to say it was a world-shattering news, especially to students who were anticipating the end of an unfair and wearing 20 months wait.

Japan was eventually hit by the 6th Covid wave in early January, in the biggest blow since the beginning of the pandemics as much as by the number of cases (until it was officially decided to drastically reduce the number of tests!) as the unprecedented death rate. As everywhere in the world, the peak was reached in mid- February and the trend has been going downward ever since. The quasi-state of emergency, both cautious and useless, that was extended in 18 of the most affected prefectures (including Tokyo , Kyoto and Osaka ) finally ended on March 20 and Japan reopened its borders to all visas except tourism on March 1rst .

It is therefore the occasion for Kanpai to make the inventory of the current situation, in view of the resuming of international tourism toward the archipelago.

😠 Domestic criticism and lobbying have already allowed a significant easing of the restrictions

It is certainly what tilted the balance in favor of the reopening. Whereas Japan has been largely criticized overseas for its reluctance to reopen, within the country it was not even a concern until a short time ago. When newspapers or television reports have started to tackle the international students’ problem in the beginning of winter , many Japanese discovered that they were still barred from entering the country !

That’s what spurred a snowball effect: universities and academics spoke up, the Japan Business Federation Keidanren increased its lobbying, and when the public opinion started to (skittishly) consider a gradual reopening, the government had no other choice than to significantly relax the restrictions.

Consequently, all visas except tourists were granted access to Japan again : students, business (short and long term) and even the working holidays visas as long as they have a sponsor, as well as spouses and parents on case by case bases. The nonsensical entry timeline according to the Certificate of Eligibility (required to definitely get a visa) issuance date was also abandoned. Granted visas were even prolonged so that students could serenely prepare their arrival. As for the quarantine , it was reduced to 3 days with a negative PCR test, and it is not required for travelers who received three vaccine doses and come from countries deemed safe (including the U.S.). Lastly, a unique website was set up to centralize all inquiries, so as to avoid contacting multiple ministries, and is expected to provide an answer within 1 to 2 days.

To sum it up, a great, long-awaited improvement !

Limitations are however still in place with a daily cap of 5,000 entries on the Japanese territory. Besides, this maximum includes Japanese nationals returning from overseas, as they could always leave and come back in the country as they pleased (for studying, work, tourism, honey moon…) as well as foreign residents who temporarily left Japan, for example to meet their family in their home countries.

📈 Gradual speeding-up of the reopening

The Keidanren still complained about the insufficient easing, but 2 days only after the long-awaited reopening date, Fumio Kishida quickly announced a new daily cap. It would be raised to 7,000 on March 14, including 1,000 daily entries specifically allotted to students then to 10,000 from April 10 and it is likely that this capacity is bound to increase on a regular basis. Moreover on April 5, Hiroshige Seko (the ruling party's secretary-general) stated that the cap was not significant inasmuch as local contamination was already high.

Such increase will be necessary anyway, as the official estimates evaluated that about 400,000 foreigners were put on hold for 2 years (including 170,000 students), and even if many of them have quite logically given up their project in the meantime, several months will be necessary to absorb them all, knowing that the cap does not concern only foreigners. Therefore, with a 1,000 students quota per day, provided it is met every day, the process would take until August .

On February 25, a few days after the announcement, 160,000 entry requests had already been made. It is therefore easy to imagine that a large part of the 400,000 visas holders will be admitted by the beginning of summer . On April 12, the Minister of Education Shinsuke Suematsu provided an update on the situation: since March 1 and the reopening to visas holders, 30,000 students have arrived in Japan, and the goal of accepting all the remaining awaiting students (about 110,00 according to the government’s figures) by May is likely to be met.

As a comparison, before the Corona crisis, a total of about 150,000 travelers entered in Japan daily!

Another (very) good news: the influential Keidanren continued to pressure and emphasized its demands as soon as March 8, by requesting that the virus be considered endemic and urging the government to draw a crisis recovery plan and reopen the borders to all, including tourists !

In the meantime, test sightseeing cruises are discretely performed in Japan, boarding a handful of foreign tourists to evaluate their contagiousness… They should continue until July – August.

🗳 Domestic hurdles: the possible come back of GoTo Travel and July’s election

Since its premature stop at the end of 2020, the come back of GoTo Travel is an old chestnut that everyone outside Japan wish to not hear about anymore. Indeed, this domestic tourism subsidy campaign is bound to delay the international tourism return on the archipelago:

So, will it resume, or not? And when? The campaign has been continually postponed for more than a year due to the successive Covid waves, and the last installment is no exception: its start expected in early 2022 was foiled by Omicron. In the meantime, GoTo Travel was replaced by local initiatives in which municipalities and prefectures give subsidies to domestic travels, to compensate the wait for the financial income from outside.

Simultaneously, on the political side, Japan is preparing for the House of Councilors election (the Parliament’s upper house) scheduled in July. It is an important milestone for consolidating the new Kishida Cabinet as there will be no other major election before 2025. Thus, it would be surprising that the current Prime Minister announced a reopening with much fanfare by then, as he needs to please a rather elderly and nationalistic electorate, even though covert negotiations are currently happening with the country’s partners.

🇺🇦 Vigilance regarding the war in Ukraine

Many seasoned observers had been considering the possibility for several months, but this early 2022’s « surprise » came up in a world already drained by 2 years of Coronavirus  🦠 pandemic. This conflict, whose length or outcome is hard to prognosticate, is a disaster for Ukraine , and it also has important consequences on the rest of the world, and especially on the transportation industry.

As a matter of fact, since late February, Russia’s airspace has become difficult if not forbidden to flight  ✈️ for many airlines (with European, Japanese and American airlines the most affected due to their countries’ opposition to Vladimir Putin). Flight companies have consequently adapted their offers:

• AirFrance interrupted France-Japan flights on February 28, but they resumed the following day after rerouting on the southern route, which is longer by 2 hours (direct flights duration is now about 12:30 to 13:30 depending on the direction of flight and the winds).
• JAL and ANA were not so prompt and waited until March 3 to cancel all their flights, especially to Paris, and dispatched flights between Haneda and Europe on other routes.

Besides these 3 airlines operating direct flights, the many other airlines serving Japan with a stopover are less impacted (such as Qatar or Etihad). Needless to say that Aeroflot, the already controversial Russian national company is now out of the traveling scope.

For all companies however, the price of the round-trip ticket is likely to take off (!), due to the extended flight duration and especially to the flare up of kerosene cost, another major consequence of the war.

🦠 Health situation: 3rd vaccine dose and potential new Covid variants

Without much surprise, and for various reasons we already explained several times on Kanpai, Japan is late again in its vaccination roll-out: in early March the 3rd dose was injected to only 20% of the population. The precondition for mass tourism to be allowed on the archipelago is an optimal protection, which will not be reached before the end of spring :

Moreover and despite the fact that Omicron affected more people than all the previous variants all-together, including in Japan, the threat of a new Coronavirus type is certainly still pending. As a matter of fact, the strain BA.2 was already on the verge of being predominant in European countries' sequencing and in many other places, including Tokyo (not taking into account other strains such as XD / XE / “Deltacron").

The number of cases seemed to have reached a peak in many countries, sometimes an occasional kickback, and financially exhausted governments are increasingly considering Covid-19 an endemic disease. Is it compatible with a relaxing of the sanitary measures? Only time can tell, but as countries reopened to international tourism, the triple vaccination and negative PCR test are prerequisites to traveling in most of the cases.

An important request of the Japanese tourist industry lobby is also the withdrawal of an additional PCR testing at the landing airport in Japan , a sticking point as this obligation generates long waiting lines (up to 5 hours to exit Narita) that are unsuitable for a come back of mass tourism.

On April 15, Shigeru Omi, overseer of a government panel health experts and top adviser on COVID-19 pandemic in Japan, declared that stopping or closing all social activities or places was not necessary anymore as Omicron's symptoms were less severe than the previous variants’, a statement radically different from what he said for 2 years. According to Omi, the pandemic entered a new phase in Japan and the population got used to living with the virus. He added: " It's hard to gain public understanding and cooperation if we continue to focus on measures just to reduce the number of infected people ." He thinks that the number of cases in Japan will probably continue to rise with the Golden Week , with a peak of severe cases in June when the effects of the booster dose will start to fade in the elderly population, and before a likely decrease.

🇯🇵 Tourists allowed under conditions from this summer?

Fortunately, the trend is to the reopening both on international and domestic levels. However, as we explained in a previous article, Japan will probably be the last to do it... Indeed, the countries that are still closed to tourism are only a quasi-literal handful: China, North-Korea, Libya, Syria, Turkmenistan, Yemen… and Japan . You don’t necessarily want to be part of those "happy few"!

Moreover, on April 8, Fumio Kishida announced in a press conference that there were no schedule for the come back of international tourists in Japan, whereas the country was undergoing the second week of a slight raise in Covid contamination, especially among the 20-30 years old. Kishida also added that the decision would be made regarding reopening to tourism after comparing the various steps endeavored by the other countries in their borders restrictions lift off. As most of the countries in the world have completely reopened, let’s take it is a positive announcement.

Make sure to not miss the announcements on the borders' reopening , subscribe for free to Kanpai’s Newsletter and get information on real time:

Considering all the elements listed above and at the time of writing, here is what we can foresee about the resuming of international tourism in Japan:

• No announcement before July , most likely;
• A reopening in August at best ;
• Entry allowed only from countries deemed safe / green regarding their situation with Covid at a given point in time;
• Possible daily entry caps , however significantly higher than now;
• Entry possible only for travelers who received 3 vaccine doses (Japan does not considerate a Covid infection equivalent to vaccine) and with a negative PCR test made less than 48 or 72 hours before arrival;
• A travel insurance , which is likely to be mandatory ;
• No quarantine (those logistical aspects would not be sustainable anyway), and it is one of the main reasons of a late reopening.

Naturally, the situation can quickly swing a way or the other but we hope that it will continue in the right direction for an easy and fast resuming of tourism travels.

As usual, we will communicate on the next evolution, but what is certain is that we are the closer as can be to the return of international tourists in Japan, even though the wait will certainly last several month!

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Japan players urge more reopening clarity from Japanese government

Specialist Japan travel companies are hoping that a general election in July will herald the reopening of the nation’s borders, with some calling on the government to provide more ‘certainty’ on the relaxing of the ban on foreign tourists.

Japan effectively sealed its borders to both inbound and outbound tourists in the early weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic, although it has in recent months begun to open up to business travellers and foreign students. With most of the world reopening to tourism, operators say it is time that Japan learnt from other countries’ experiences and release a road map for visitors to return.

Alastair Donnelly, founder and director of UK-based Inside Japan Tours, said that as with all businesses, the Japanese travel sector needs certainty, even if it is not a good certainty.

“The biggest problem that we face now is the deafening silence from the Japanese government,” he added.

Set up in 2000, Inside Japan grew rapidly and had expanded to a turnover of 50 million pounds (US$62.8 million) in 2019, as well as 200 employees, including offices in Nagoya, Colorado and Brisbane.

However, within weeks of the coronavirus outbreak, there was a decrease in enquiries and an influx of cancellations. Hopes that the worst of the crisis were over had been repeatedly dashed, most recently with the emergence of the Omicron variant, with a “brutal impact on the business,” Donnelly said.

“The Japanese government needs to communicate better and indicate their plans for opening up again, or at least the conditions needed to be able to release a plan,” he told TTG Asia. “The official line is that they are protecting public health and that is exactly the right thing to do, but the reality is that Japanese people are able to leave and enter the country on business, so the border is not closed.”

With the virus and its variants detected in Japan, closing the border to foreigners has arguably not worked.

Scott Gilman, co-founder and managing partner of Washington DC-based JapanQuest Journeys, agreed that Japan has been “a laggard internationally” on permitting travellers to return, but he is optimistic that a return to normal is drawing closer.

“To me, this really circles back to a political issue and I expect (international arrivals) to start to happen…after the July general election,” he opined.

Gilman believes Japan is the perfect destination for a post-pandemic vacation precisely because it has “an excellent record during the pandemic”, including relatively low rates of infection in the general population, a vaccination rate above 80 per cent, and more than 50 per cent for the third booster shot, as well as a public that habitually wears masks in public and high levels of sanitation and cleanliness.

Paul Christie, CEO of Walk Japan, said his business “was shattered” by the pandemic as it relied almost completely on overseas visitors. However, he also anticipates positive developments after the July election, and a swift bounce-back in visitor numbers as soon as the regulations are eased.

“I’m very optimistic, for all the reasons that made Japan a popular destination up to 2019,” he said. “Also, Japan has built a great many new hotels and other accommodation, while skills and experience at servicing foreign guests have improved at the national and local levels. Many new experiences are being provided in a more sophisticated manner.”

Christie expects Walk Japan to rebound close to 2019 levels as early as the beginning months of 2024.

Gilman, who describes Japan as “just an awesome destination,” is also “exceedingly optimistic” and anticipates demand will quickly pick up where it left off in 2019, returning to those levels “by the end of 2023 or the early part of 2024”.

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A timeline of Japan’s border reopening measures: meme edition

When words fail, memes speak

We know, we know. Waiting for Japan to fully reopen its borders has been a test of patience, to say the least. The country is taking an extremely cautious approach to ease its border restrictions, but we would like to be optimistic about the prospects of Japan welcoming tourists again soon. 

While the government has pledged to make Japan as accessible as other G7 countries from June , we’re still waiting on a tangible roadmap that we can use to finally begin drafting travel plans. Bear with us – we’ll do our best to update you as quickly and accurately as possible on Japan’s reopening plans as more announcements are expected in the coming weeks. 

In the meme time, here’s an ultra informal timeline of Japan’s border reopening scheme from January 2022 onwards. (You can find a more detailed rundown of Japan’s border rules here ). 

January 2022: Tokyo and several other prefectures in Japan are put under quasi-state of emergency . Majority of foreign non-residents have been unable to enter Japan since April 2020. 

March 1 2022: Japan reopens to business travellers and foreign students, but remains closed to tourists.

March 21 2022: Japan lifts quasi-emergency measures , business establishments no longer asked to shorten operating hours.

April 2022: government announces the lifting of entry ban of 106 countries, but tourists are still barred from visiting japan..

May 2022: Japan’s tourism industry submits an official request to the government to reopen to tourists, noting Japan is one of the few remaining countries in the world still closed to foreign visitors.

Government announces plans to begin welcoming small group tours on a trial basis , and doubles daily entry cap to 20,000 overseas arrivals in June. 

But these group tours will be limited to a group of 50 travellers for the time being.  .

July 2022: Parliamentary election.  The New York Times  reckons the government will have more leeway to ease border restrictions after this.

When japan finally reopens its borders (soon, fingers crossed)....

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Japan’s Roadmap to Reopening

As of yet, there is still no definitive date when Japan will reopen to international travel, however there are promising signs with last week’s announcements about the proposed ending of domestic restrictions. On September 9, 2021 the government announced a plan to assist in the easing of restrictions on travel, dining and public events for vaccinated people.

• Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has said that by November vaccines will have been administered to all people who wish to receive a shot. Currently 49% of Japan’s population (62 million people) have received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine.
• Digital Vaccine Certs to be launched in December, intended for international travel [*Source: Nikkei Newspaper (Sep 5, 2021)]
• State of emergency has been extended until Sep 30th for 19 prefectures.
• Restaurants and bars will be able to serve beverages and stay open without restrictions or the risk of fines, by early October.
• Revive the ‘Go-To-Travel’ Campaign (introduced in 2020 for domestic travellers in an effort to boost domestic tourism) for fully vaccinated people.
• Entering hospitals and nursing homes
• Cross border travel within Japan
• Attend large events
• Attend university classes in person
• Participate in extracurricular activities in schools
• Public dining for ‘special’ occasions such as funerals, weddings, school entrance, graduation

With the above in mind, our hopes for 2022 travel are much brighter.

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Moscow metro to be more tourist-friendly

A new floor sign system at the Moscow metro's Pushkinskaya station. Source: Vladimir Pesnya / RIA Novosti

For many years now, Moscow has lagged behind St. Petersburg when it comes to making life easy for tourists, especially where getting around the city is concerned. Whereas the northern capital installed English-language maps, signs and information points throughout its subway system in the late 2000s, the Russian capital’s metro remained a serious challenge for foreign visitors to navigate.

Recent visitors to Moscow may have noticed some signs that change is afoot, however. In many stations of the Moscow subway, signs have appeared on the floor – with large lettering in Russian and English – indicating the direction to follow in order to change lines. Previously, foreign visitors using the Moscow metro had to rely solely upon deciphering the Russian-language signs hanging from the ceilings.

Student volunteers help tourists find their way in Moscow

However, this new solution has a significant drawback. “The floor navigation is visible only to a small stream of people – fewer than three people per meter. During peak hours, this navigation will simply not be noticed,” said Konstantin Trofimenko, Director of the Center for Urban Transportation Studies.

One of the biggest problems for tourists in the Russian capital remains the absence of English translations of the names of subway stations in the station vestibules and on platforms. The Department of Transportation in Moscow has not commented yet as to when this problem will be solved. However, Latin transliterations of station names can already be found in the subway cars themselves.

Finding the right exit

At four of the central stations – Okhotny Ryad, Teatralnaya, Ploshchad Revolyutsii, Lubyanka and Kuznetsky Most – the city authorities have now installed colorful stands at the exits with schematic diagrams of the station’s concourse and surrounding area, which provide information about the main attractions and infrastructural facilities.

The schematic diagrams are the work of British specialists from the City ID and Billings Jackson Design firms, who have already implemented successful projects in New York and London.

According to Alexei Novichkov, expert at the Design Laboratory at the Higher School of Economics, the design of these information booths raises no objections: The color solutions, font, layout and icons are consistent with international standards.

However, the stands do have some shortcomings. “Many questions are raised about the fact that the developers of these maps did not apply orientation to the north, and have provided layouts of the surrounding areas with respect to the exits,” says Novichkov. “A system like that is used for road navigators, but most of the ‘paper’ guides and maps are oriented strictly to north. The subway map is also oriented to north, so people may become confused.”

Muscovites and foreign visitors are generally positive about these navigation elements, with most of them citing the numbered exits from the subway as the most useful feature.

The fact is that many Moscow subway stations have several exits. One of the busiest central stations of the Moscow subway in particular, Kitay-Gorod, has more than a dozen exits. Previously, these exits were differentiated from each other only with signs in Russian referring to the names of streets and places of interest to which they led – making it easy for tourists and those with poor navigation skills to get confused.

Now, when making an appointment to meet a friend, instead of struggling to find the right spot when they tell you: “I'll meet you at the exit to Solyanka Street,” you can just propose to meet under a specific exit number.

“I’ve lived in Moscow for seven years,” says Angelika, a designer from Voronezh, “but I still don’t always know where to go to find the place I need, so the new schematic diagrams will be very useful. Previously, some subway stations had maps, but not with so much detail.”

Teething problems

Foreigners, meanwhile, focus their attention on other elements. “It is good that the new information boards have QR-codes, which can be ‘read’ by smartphones,” says Florentina, a writer from Vienna. But there are also shortcomings. “The English font of the information on posters and in the captions to theaters and museums is too small – you have to come very close to see it well,” she says.

Pleasant encounters on the streets of Moscow

Florentina was also dissatisfied with the fact that such posters are not provided at all subway stations: “When I was trying to find Tsaritsyno Park (a museum and reserve in the south of Moscow) at a subway station with the same name, it turned out to be quite difficult,” she says.

“There are no maps with landmarks for other areas, such as those already in the city center. There were no clear pointers in the English language, and the passers-by I met did not speak in English, so they could not help me,” she adds.

Officials say that the navigation system is gradually being redeveloped and improved. According to Darya Chuvasheva, a press representative for the Department of Transport of Moscow, the introduction of a unified navigation system will take place in stages.

“By the end of 2014, the system will first appear on the first subway stations on the Circle Line. By the end of 2015, we plan to install the system at all major stopping points, subway stations and transport interchange hubs,” says Chuvasheva.

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