Japan to reopen to international visitors after more than two years

After two and a half years, one of Wanderlust’s favourite countries and our October cover star has announced it will finally fully reopen its borders to international visitors.

Japan, the East-Asian island nation known for its stunning golden temples, blossom-carpeted mountains and bustling futuristic cities, has had some of the world’s strictest coronavirus restrictions when it comes to travel.

From June this year, Japan began to welcome back a limited amount of international tourists from certain countries, but only those who were part of small guided tour groups. This was later relaxed to self-guided tours.

However, from 11 October 2022, all coronavirus restrictions will be dropped, lifting the cap on visitors and allowing free-flowing travel in the country once again, something President Fumio Kishida said has been much missed.

“We will lift the ceiling of the number of entrants into Japan, lift the ban on individual travel and lift the ban over visa-less travel,” the president said at press conference in New York City during the UN general assembly meeting.

He continued: “On the same day, we plan to launch a campaign to offer domestic travel discounts and event discounts to residents of Japan and hope that many citizens will take advantage of the offer to support the hotel, travel and entertainment sectors that have suffered enormous blows during the pandemic.”

The reopening campaign is in effort to stimulate Japan’s economy, which has seen the Japanese yen fall extremely low against the US dollar.