Finally! Japan will lift its COVID-19 border control measures on May 8th for travellers from overseas. This decision comes as Japan is set to downgrade COVID-19 as a common disease on the same day, marking a significant shift towards normalising social and economic activities.
Instead of the current measures, Japan will start a new genomic surveillance program aimed at detecting new infectious diseases. The program will test entrants with symptoms such as fever voluntarily.
Currently, all entrants must present certification of three COVID-19 vaccinations or a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours before departure. Japan’s border control measures, first introduced in February 2020, were considered by some to be the most stringent.
Having visited Japan twice now over the last 6 months, I can only tell you how ridiculous the whole process was. If you recall, for my first visit I had to jump a few hurdles, the second time things were more streamlined but no less than 3 QR codes were required upon entry.
Japan is one of the few remaining countries in the world to drop all covid requirements, but I’m glad to see they are finally getting there!
This comes as last month Singapore (finally), dropped their requirement for foreign nationals to be fully vaccinated. Now we only have the USA left, which is expected to lift the vaccine requirement for foreign travellers from May 11th.
This is great news for travelers! Japan’s decision to scrap vaccination requirements will make it easier for people to explore this wonderful country. It’s a positive step towards opening up the tourism industry and restoring international travel.