By SACHIKO MIWA/ Staff Writer
October 11, 2022 at 14:29 JST
Foreign tourists visit the observation deck at Mount Arakurayama Sengen Park in Fuji-Yoshida, Yamanashi Prefecture, on Oct. 11. The deck is a famous spot for viewing Mount Fuji. (Go Takahashi)
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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