Japan to shorten or drop quarantine requirements for most arrivals from March

Japan plans to shorten the period of quarantine for all arrivals — both Japanese and foreign nationals — from the current seven days to three days starting in March, when it opens the border for travelers other than tourists.

For some arrivals, the government is considering dropping the quarantine period entirely. According to NHK on Wednesday, new nontourist arrivals to Japan may be able to skip quarantine — currently observed at designated facilities or at home — if they meet three criteria: acceptable proof of a negative test result, acceptable proof of a third vaccine dose and arrival from a country or territory deemed to have contained the spread of COVID-19.

Government officials also plan next month to ease the cap on the number of daily new entrants from overseas, raising it from the current 3,500 to 5,000 — the same level as November, before the omicron variant started to spread, the report said.

Some 150,000 foreign students who hold Japanese visas were unable to enter the country by the end of last year due to its strict COVID-19 border controls, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Tuesday.

Matsuno also said that the number of people newly entering Japan from Nov. 29 to Feb. 10 totaled about 6,000.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is expected to hold a news conference Thursday to explain the details of the plan.

The current border restrictions have banned, in principle, the new arrivals of all nonresident foreign nationals. The ban, due to expire at the end of February, has been in place since late November as part of Japan’s efforts to slow the spread of the highly transmissible omicron variant of the coronavirus, buying time for scientists to find out more about it.

But the restrictions, the strictest among the Group of Seven industrialized nations, have been criticized as too severe by business and academic circles at home and abroad.

The move would be a major shift for Japan, yet still relatively cautious and incremental when compared with many countries, where borders are starting to open to all travelers.

From Monday, Australia will open its borders and eschew quarantine requirements for foreign travelers — including tourists, provided that they have received two shots. Thailand started accepting travelers this month, and other Southeast Asian countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore are gradually opening up.

For Marcus Schuermann, CEO of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan, the expected easing of entry restrictions is a move in the right direction — but still inadequate.

“It is an increase which is appreciated, but still limited. This will not be enough,” said Schuermann, urging Japan to raise the cap on entries to around 8,000 or 9,000 people a day, excluding tourists.

What’s more important, Schuermann says, is for the government to draft a future road map where entry restrictions will be managed transparently so that businesses can plan ahead.

Doing so would see Japan regain some of the trust it has lost, he said.

In an online survey conducted by the German group late last month, 11% of German companies have already or will downsize their operations in Japan, up 4 percentage points from a year ago, while 13% said they have already or plan to move regional responsibilities to other locations outside Japan, up 11 percentage points.

Christopher LaFleur, special adviser to the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, welcomed the reported move, stating that it would address the needs of businesses, foreign students and teachers, as well as separated family members.

“To make this decision meaningful, however, it is critical that the government greatly streamlines application and visa processing and procedures at ports of entry,” he said.