GetSetJetSet

Now that the state of emergency is being lifted

Pickles

Well, considering the last 鎖国 lasted 220 years, it could be a while.

nishimark

Some time between now and the next Tokyo Olympics.

Q Shoe Guy

Now might be a bit too soon, how about 1 day before the Tokyo Olympics ? I still want to have at least 2 holidays in Japan without "feriners" taking up needless space.

acregal

This actually brings up something interesting - Japan has to have some kind of plan for allowing most foreign nationals to enter before the Olympics.
Given that they can't simply announce it a day before the opening ceremony, it would have to be announced some time in advance.
I am not sure how insurance is with the Olympics (I know a bit about event insurance, but obviously the Olympics is completely different), but I could imagine disputes with insurers arising if Japan adopts some incredibly conservative approach then decides to try and get insurers to cover losses.

BRITINJAPAN4

A number of points, Japan is open to foreign nationals , or many, but with quarantine of course.

Second a plan ? Hmm not sure if that translates. There will probably be about 50 plans, none of which will make much sense ( remember Izakaya have to close at 8 pm and it seem the virus is only infections late in the evening ) and will be amended and ignored and changed.

But they will for sure be determined to get the gates open to one and all well in advance, No matter the consequences !

So far the only sign of a conservative approach is to action, not prevention.

jib71

Japan is open to many foreign nationals in the sense that a Bugatti Veyron is available to many car buyers. Since foreign nationals are barred from entering Japan from all of the countries that have commercial flights to Japan, the possible routes for foreign nationals these days are quite exotic - people have mentioned chartering a private plane from Cambodia as one.

jib71

On second thought, when it comes to the olympics, charter flights for large groups of fans are not uncommon. So perhaps the plan is for all of the athletes and fans to take chartered flights via PNH.

ainternational

I’m guessing July or August. End of June at the earliest. Japan is slow. Always.

acregal

I will put it this way - I have tickets on AA to spend Christmas in SAN ($1300 for 2 RT) and always visit my father for Thanksgiving - I am expecting to be able to travel then, but would not be overly surprised if the government here is moving slowly.

I am going with by the end of March next year at the latest. Japanese companies send people overseas for assignments based on the Japanese FY and I imagine there will be a fair bit of pressure from companies themselves to rotate people (not to mention expats themselves wanting to visit Japan), which would lead to a fair amount of pressure to relax restrictions.

Q Shoe Guy

I was hoping for beginning of September for a few countries , they see how that goes, then gradually open up to more. But I don't believe that restrictions will be lifted until after they see what the flu situation is like come the fall. What everyone is calling the second wave (Japan is now on the downward slope of it) is really the third or fourth. The GOJ is going all in encouraging stay in Japan for summer and beyond holidays. Once infection-less movement is assured to a reasonable degree nationwide then they will start a cautious phase in.

evergrn

I'm hoping it'll be possible to enter Jpn from USA (and without the 14day quarantine) by late July.
But logically, it should be opened up to places like Taiwan and Korea first before NA/Europe.
Timeframe I'm personally hoping for:
June 28: open to most Asia/Oceania countries
July 26 (4 wks later): open to USA/Canada

jib71

Iceland has announced its plan to open borders to all visitors by June 15, (Currently open to arrivals from EFTA and EEA countries only).
https://www.icelandreview.com/travel...rs-on-june-15/

People arriving in Iceland will be required to have an app and will have to choose between a 14-day quarantine or taking a test (or possibly showing a recent, approved, test result). Since tests are not sensitive enough to detect virus during the first days after infection, this is a risk, but I guess that Iceland feels it has enough testing and tracking capacity to manage sporadic cases that slip through the net.

This isn't quite the model that I foresee in this region, but it gives some indication of what a "new normal" for International travel might look like. In this region, I imagine a series of bilateral agreements rather than countries opening to the whole world at once. I also expect that Taiwan, Korea, and China will put pressure on other countries (e.g. Japan) to implement robust testing and tracking programs in order to have the least restrictive entry requirements. While Japan's policies and social conditions have demonstrably kept the outbreak in check, the lack of test data means that an outbreak spreads for a couple of weeks before the alarms are raised. That will not reassure countries that want to "trust but verify," their neightbors.

(I think Korea and China would get a kick out of announcing that visitors from Vietnam will be free to choose between a test or a quarantine, while visitors from Japan must quarantine).

5khours

My guess is that within a couple of months, there will be a few virus free countries in Asia and travel will be allowed between those countries on a restricted basis. Given the likelihood that there will still be a significant caseload elsewhere, Japan probably not allow any entry from those countries or possibly do it on extremely restricted basis (family members only and strict quarantine on arrival.)

I suspect for most people getting into Japan from the U.S. or Euroope will involve some kind of intermediary quarantine in a 3rd country from which travel is permitted into Japan.

jib71

That will create some interesting loads for airlines (Japanese citizens only on inbound flights to Japan but Japanese and foreign citizens on outbound), and some interesting diplomatic pressures - e.g. Why is Japan dumping untested visitors on Vietnam? (OTOH, Vietnam might welcome the boost to inbound tourism, provided it has confidence in its apparently good testing and tracking capability).