Japan has announced that – as of September 7 – international visitors will no longer need to show a negative Covid-19 PCR test ahead of entering the country, so long as they are fully vaccinated with three doses of a vaccine.
Japan’s prime minister Fumio Kishida confirmed the news.
The country has been one of the slowest to reopen to in-bound tourism and has only done so very gradually over the past few months.
As a result of the extended lockdown on tourist numbers, Japan’s economy has been one of the slowest to recover from the pandemic shock of the past two and a half years.
Japan actually reopened its borders to international visitors in June, but has struggled to attract tourists due to it still maintaining strict quarantine and visitor requirements.
The September removal of the PCR test requirement for vaccinated guests is being seen as a step forward towards the further loosening of other restrictions.
Individual visitors are still banned from entering the country. Holiday visitors must be part of an organised tour group and need to travel with a tour guide on all aspects of their stay. There also remains in place a complicated set of local quarantine regulations.
