Japan says it will ‘lift entry ban on 106 countries,’ but tourists still can’t enter

A authorities assertion late Wednesday mentioned that Japan will “elevate the entry ban on 106 international locations,” inflicting confusion on social media and giving false hope that vacationers would quickly be allowed into the nation.

In actual fact, there might be no change to the established order.

“In actuality, there might be no change to who can enter Japan,” mentioned a Justice Ministry official when requested to make clear the assertion. “There gained’t be anybody new who will have the ability to enter Japan because of this modification.”

International college students, researchers and enterprise vacationers who’ve been allowed into Japan since March 1 will proceed to have the ability to enter the nation, however vacationers stay barred from getting into.

The newest case illustrates how arduous it’s to navigate Japan’s bureaucratic wording on entry restrictions, which have brought about confusion amongst overseas nationals all through the pandemic.

Within the assertion despatched by the Cupboard Workplace’s Nationwide Safety Bureau, which was additionally posted on the International Ministry web site, the federal government mentioned it’ll elevate the ban on 106 international locations together with america, the UK and France, from Friday.

The Justice Ministry bans the entry of individuals arriving from international locations the place the International Ministry has issued journey alerts over the unfold of an infectious illness, apart from “particular circumstances,” such because the partner of a Japanese nationwide. The alerts vary from stage 1 (low) to 4 (excessive). If the nation is designated as stage 3 or increased, the Justice Ministry robotically bans arrivals from these international locations, and vice versa.

Based on the official, the most recent revision was primarily based on the International Ministry decreasing the alert stage of these 106 international locations on April 1. However for the reason that International Ministry continues to be limiting the issuance of visas at embassies abroad, Japan will proceed to limit who can enter the nation.

Japan closed its borders to overseas vacationers in April 2020, and has solely just lately reopened to overseas college students, lecturers and staff. At present, there’s a each day restrict of seven,000 arrivals from abroad in place, though the federal government plans to elevate this to 10,000 a day from Monday.