Originally Posted by
skimthetrees
Update: Close in award availability from the US to Japan (next 2 weeks) is excellent even in First and Business for multiple travelers. A side effect of many cancellations no doubt. Many obviously fear traveling now but for the adventurous family this may be useful.
Originally Posted by
Sandeep1
For those who want to see cherry blossoms, this is definitely the year to go. I suspect it will still be crowded but probably much less so than normal.
Originally Posted by
allset2travel
Yes, it is great for the risk takers. Hotels during this time must also be hit hard too!
They’re not going to let you on the flight. I would say “banning every foreign national who has been in the United States in the last fourteen days from entry to Japan” puts you at some risk of not seeing any cherry blossoms.
https://www.japan.travel/en/coronavirus/
https://www.mofa.go.jp/ca/fna/page4e_001053.html
Foreign nationals categorized below are denied permission to enter Japan for the time being, unless there are exceptional circumstances.
(1) Foreign nationals who have stayed in any of the areas listed in the following table within 14 days prior to the application for landing.
North America: Canada, United States
I’m going to take a stab and say “I want to see cherry blossoms and got an AS JL F redemption” isn’t the circumstance they are looking for. Given that the airline that takes you to Japan is responsible for taking you back if you are denied entry, and foreign national tourists from the US are denied entry... they're not going to bother to transport you.
And even if it was... two weeks quarantine (see section 2, part 2). Kinda kills your vacation if you ask me.
Stay home.
(I killed a JL F trip to Japan and China in about a week some time ago because it was pretty obvious the US was about to become Plague Central. I wouldn’t count on that US passport letting you go places anytime soon. I won’t send this to OMNI, but I suspect our response to this pandemic will be weighed and found wanting by other countries when it comes to the ability of Americans to travel this summer, possibly longer.)