Forum - View topicNEWS: Japan to Ease Foreign Travel Restrictions Further as Early as September
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Cutiebunny
 Posts: 1767 |
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So...you're still in a tour group, the only difference is that I might get a free day? No thanks. I'll pass. Let me know when I can wander Japan alone again. Sorta like how your nationals are allowed to do in my country. |
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andyos
ANN Associate Editor
Posts: 269 |
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That's not what's implied, afaics - you can travel without being in any group, but you'd need to have an arranged itinerary with a travel agent.
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Cutiebunny
Posts: 1767 |
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^ Depending on the tour group, that's often what a tour group is. There is generally an activity or two that the group does or there is a free day where you largely stay in a city and explore.
I don't think there's any travel agency, short of being in an actual tour group, that would be able to monitor any tourist's daily location, especially when lots of customers are involved. Filing daily itineraries for thousands of people would be impossible, especially as people are prone to change plans due to health, weather, etc. So, it's sorta as if they're still saying that you need to be in a tour group, except now you get a free day instead of being tied to a tour guide all day/every day. It's basically a CYA policy. |
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andyos
ANN Associate Editor
Posts: 269 |
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Hmmm... I'm not convinced it amounts to being in a tour group, but then I've never used travel agents. Presumably if you arranged all your accommodation with the agent in advance (where you're staying on each night), that would give some idea of where you are. In my case, I'd be happy getting a trip just to Tokyo - not sure the agencies would demand to know if I was in e.g. Ikebukuro on the afternoon of the 26th, as long as I'd booked a hotel in Shibuya the same night.
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ValkyrieZeroZeroOne
 Posts: 434 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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I don't see what using travel agents is going to achieve aside from knowing where people say they're going to be.
I booked my flights nearly a year ago, and I booked hotels last month. I have absolutely no need for a travel agent other than getting my rail passes from JTB's Australian offices. This is more about appearances and appearing to have accountability. |
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dragonquiz
Posts: 72 |
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According to this post https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20220824_01/
So its a quasi-individual style of traveling, just with the help of probably getting hotel bookings and whatnot, still its kinda a bummer that without a travel agency confirmation you'll be denied entry. Sigh... looks like in December Japan will take the travel agency component out, but still keep the 50k and in 1Q23 the cap will either increase to 100k or no cap and everyone will be welcomed like it was prior to Jan 15, 2020 (or whenever Japan said no to foreigners) |
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AJ (LordNikon)
 Posts: 516 Location: Kyoto |
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My stupid country could not do week earlier!? Sigh. I fly back to Kyoto on 3 SEPT
 Still have to pay $200 for Rapid PCR test, because Japan not accept rapid antigen tests offered at airport
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AJ (LordNikon)
Posts: 516 Location: Kyoto |
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You are required to be accompanied by tour guide at all times, except while bathing, or sleeping. "We become nanny state to keep you out" - LDP Read: mofa.go.jp/ca/fna/page4e_001053.html |
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Joe Mello
 Posts: 2312 Location: Online Terminal |
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Just so everyone in 2022 is aware, you should still be able just book individual travel through an agency. I imagine the concept of this proposal is less about monitoring and more about controlling traffic flow. On my last trip to Japan, I primarily used hotel sites to book accommodations and they're not going to care how or when I got there, By booking through an agency, there's an advance notice of who is going and where they're generally going to be, especially if the agency is arranging other experiences for them (eg Disney, etc).
That being said:
They're still over 200,000 new cases per day so that's a big ol nope. |
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Amiantos
Posts: 345 |
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From the sounds of it you can do your own thing but the thing is travel agencies often prioritize revenue over what a person ultimately would like and are told. Japan's really suffering right now economically to where one of their galaxy brain moves was "get the younger people to drink more so more revenue." My guess is the forcing of travel agencies is to have it be more directly with airlines like ANA and JAL vs say Canada Air, and use fairly expensive hotels vs an Air BnB. All just to boost as much profit directly to Japan to help the economy. Current system has tour groups and 1 day free. Guess they assumed people would be so desperate to come back to Japan they could control their movements and steer them towards tourist traps hasn't worked out that well. |
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charliepanayi
 Posts: 53 |
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Are you saying their case numbers justifies them keeping their borders semi-closed to travellers? Or that you won't travel there because of those numbers? They're never going to get to zero anyway. Last edited by charliepanayi on Wed Aug 24, 2022 9:54 am; edited 1 time in total |
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ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 3031 Location: Email for assistance only |
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I used a travel agency for my honeymoon in 2015. My husband and I did not have a guide nor were with a group of any sort. Our agency provided us with an itinerary (it was Audley Travel fwiw) that had our day to day planned out. We traveled from Tokyo to Kyoto to Yudanaka and back to Tokyo. We had tickets provided for everything, like the shinkansen and entertainment programming, like seeing a Noh play. In the end it was up to us to "show up" to the station in time, but this is probably what the gov't is looking for on paper. "They'll be at these hotels on these days, traveling from here to there on this day and train, etc". You can argue that it's pointless bc any tourist could skip certain things or buy a ticket to go somewhere else on the train for the day but travel agencies absolutely provide solo itinerary for people.
It's extremely obvious that they didn't say anything even remotely suggesting that. |
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Tempest
 I Run this place.ANN Publisher  Posts: 10461 Location: Do not message me for support. |
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These are the current rules. The new, post-September, rules haven't been published yet, but the NHK articles make it clear that the new rules will not require tourists to be accompanied. |
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Tempest
I Run this place. ANN Publisher Posts: 10461 Location: Do not message me for support. |
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A bit of background for everyone here.
Most of you know most of these facts: • Japan's ruling party is the LDP; • Despite the name, the LDP is quite conservative, but not the wacky "FREEDUMB" variety of conservatism that has taken over some conservative movements (eg: the US Republicans); • Japan's population has the oldest average age of any country in the world; • The LDP's voter base is primarily comprised of the elderly; • Japan is a somewhat xenophobic nation (most Japanese don't hate foreigners, but a large portion of the population doesn't trust foreigners to behave). So, it should come as no surprise that many Japanese elderly are somewhat uncomfortable with large crowds of "unruly" foreigners bringing more COVID to Japan, and acting in unsafe ways in public (If you compare how Japanese people act in public, and the videos of anti-mask Americans refusing to wear masks anywhere and frothing at the mouth about their FREEDUMB, it's not particularly surprising that elderly Japanese, and even many younger Japanese aren't that comfortable with the idea of tourists right now - this is a country where most people, of all ages, still wear their masks outdoors). Feeling the need to appease this older population, the LDP has been very conservative when it comes to tourists. This is largely for show at this point, Covid-19 is circulating in Japan endemically now. Travelers are a vector for introducing disease to a country, but they won't contribute much to increasing the spread of an endemic disease. There was a Japanese election on July 10, so the LDP was pandering to its voter base, regardless of actual facts, until the election. Following the election, the government was expected to ease the travel restrictions. I've had sources in the Japanese government confirm that there was a set of rules already circulating among MOFA departments. However in July Japan was in the midst of their worst Covid wave to date. So the government has delayed the rules changes. The case rate has been dropping, although it's still very high relative to the past, but despite this, Japan is slowly easing the travel restrictions. It's also worth noting that, although the LDP relies very much on the elderly vote, they are also a very business friendly party, and the Japanese business lobby, including but not limited to the tourism industry, has been pushing very hard for the rules to be eased. -t |
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Greed1914
 Posts: 4640 |
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I can understand that, for sure. For me, probably the biggest thing that has curtailed any motivation I had to travel was that it seems like just about every person I know, either personally or online, who has gone on a lengthier trip has gotten sick. For some, that meant spending part of the trip unable to do stuff and wasting the days. For others, it meant delaying when they could return home since they couldn't travel back. For others, it meant returning home, only to feel it and staying home. It's kind of hard for me to get excited about taking a couple weeks for a vacation, but also potentially needing to take a third week off just in case. |
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