Entering Japan, A Month of Shifting Rules

Above, Shibuya Crossing during pre-pandemic times. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

As we have 50 states, each with their own rules on regulating visitors during the pandemic, people are often confused.

Japan has people in confusion as well. Rules were announced, modified and retracted during the course of the past month. 

People are wondering, What the hell is going on?

The Japan Times tries to sort out the rules in an article posted yesterday.

They start it with:

Over the past month, Japan’s border control policies have flip-flopped over the newly discovered omicron variant of the coronavirus.

After the fifth COVID-19 wave waned and the vaccinated rate reached a high level, Japan opened up its borders to new entries by foreign nationals for the first time in almost a year.

Yet less than a month later, the country reversed course due to fears over the omicron variant, which is believed to be highly transmissible, once again shutting its borders to all arrivals except Japanese citizens and foreign residents.

For a brief period, the government even went a step further, announcing on Dec. 1 that it had asked airlines to stop taking new reservations for all international flights into Japan. But this drastic move was retracted the following day amid criticism that the measure was too strict, as it would have effectively prevented Japanese nationals from returning.

To read the full article, go here.