Forum - View topicNEWS: Japan to Ease Foreign Travel Restrictions Further in June
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Greed1914
 Posts: 4433 |
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I'll be interested to see what they do. Leading up to it, tourism was a big part of their economy, and there is only so much that local tourism can do.
Obviously, acting like everything is "back to normal" is not the way to handle it, but we're also at a point where whatever conditions they were looking for as the time to reopen in general are not going to happen. |
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TarsTarkas
 Posts: 5836 Location: Virginia, United States |
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As with the rest of us, they might as well open up. COVID like the flu is here for good, and we might as well learn to live with it.
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Egan Loo
Posts: 1319 |
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Japan as a whole did focus on masks more than social distancing, but limiting travel is part of social distancing, along with limiting large events. There are large events in Japan now, but there weren't unrestricted large events for much of 2020 and 2021. |
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ZelosZoidberg
 Posts: 636 |
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This will help with the AEW x NJPW events even through I think they would get sponsorship. Sorry if this comment was a little off topic.
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wmderemer
 It...it's not like I post for you or anything! Posts: 302 Location: Stroudsburg, PA |
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Agree 100%. COVID, in one form or another, is here to stay. I say as long as people are responsible (vaccines, masking, etc) there is little to no need to remain closed. The tourism business in Japan has to be suffering massively. The world needs to enter the endemic phase, where we recognize it is here and we have to learn to go on with our lives with it, not hide away. Will things return to how they were in 2019 and earlier, before COVID was a thing? No, I doubt that. THIS is our new normal; it's time we get on with our lives and get as close as we can back to how things used to be. I say this not just as a fan of Japan/Asian culture, but as a person who has a trip to Japan scheduled for March 2023 via PacSet... a trip which has been thrice postponed now from October 2020 to March 2021, to March 2022 and now March 2023... a trip which is my 1st trip to Japan and I am very much looking forward to going! I'm vaxxed, I'm boosted (and will get another booster if required), I'm willing to wear my mask where required (even if the airlines reinstitute masking and I have to wear it on the entire 13-hour flight to Japan & back). I think if people are willing to follow the regulations, it's time to reopen to tourism! |
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Errinundra
Moderator
 Posts: 6528 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
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Disinformation removed, along with responses.
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Greboruri
Posts: 378 Location: QBN, NSW, Australia |
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They really have screwed everyone over the last couple of years, especially family members who have wanted to visit relatives in Japan, foreign nationals who have needed to leave the county and overseas students who have wanted to study there, who have been treated the worst.
I said this before, it was really unfair that other countries had allowed Japanese citizens into their own countries for business, employment, study and even tourism, but Japan just flat out refused to reciprocate these arrangements. I really have my doubts they will open up to pre 2020 arrivals levels any time soon, but we'll see what eventuates. |
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ValkyrieZeroZeroOne
 Posts: 432 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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I wouldn't expect the June movement to be anything spectacular or game-changing. Going by stories from the Japan Times, the restriction of entry measures seem to have popular support among Japanese people, and there's an half election for the House of Councillors (the Japanese equivalent of the Senate) that has to be held by 25 July.
Don't get me wrong, I'd love for the first phase of tourism to be that change, since I have flights booked in late September. However, I don't think it would be that radical given the circumstances politically. |
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luisedgarf
Posts: 657 Location: Guadalajara, Mexico |
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Well, you can blame the fact the U.S. needs Japan to host their military forces there, and they cannot afford to anger the Japanese, considering the geographical closeness with both China and Russia, and the fact the U.S. had to take care of both countries, especially with China threating to invade Taiwan and Russia invading Ukraine. Also, historically speaking, the U.S. is pretty good on granting some privileges to their allies, even when those quirks are detrimental to both Americans and their rest of their allies. |
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JamieRaterman
Posts: 2 |
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I think it's right because now the coronavirus is not as global as it was about a year ago. Hence, it's right that the Japanese government made such a decision because their economy was very dependent on tourists. By the way, I'm thinking of flying to Japan in July if everything goes well. Still, first I want to visit the city of Medellin in Colombia. I've even bought myself a ticket for a tour of this city. If anyone is interested, check out this page , maybe someone will want to fly with me, and I don't mind new acquaintances. If anything, write to me in private messages, if anything.
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NeverConvex
 Subscriber Posts: 2311 |
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I don't agree that we should just treat COVID like the flu, but I think air travel tends to have smaller (not 0, but especially weak once COVID has already spread across national boundaries previously) impacts on the likelihood & size of new large outbreaks in the future, so this may be a case where the benefit of easing restrictions outweighs the costs (unlike with conventions reducing mask or vaccination requirements).
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