Effective from October 11, 2022 (JST), Japan is to resume no-visa entry for short-term stay and the quarantine restrictions and the mandatory COVID testing at the border are scheduled to be lifted along with other restrictions.
No-visa Entry Resumed
From the Effective Date, the visa exemption measures will be resumed and a foreign national from 68 visa-exempt countries will not need to obtain visa to enter Japan for short term stay for business or sightseeing purposes.
No ERFS Certificate Required
From the Effective Date, ERFS Certificates will not be required for all entries in Japan.
No On-Arrival COVID Testing or Quarantine Period
From the Effective Date, the mandatory COVID testing, and the quarantine requirements will not be imposed at the border on entrants if the entrants have no infectious symptoms. There will be no ban on use of public transportation after arrival. These treatments will not be applied to entrants who are from non-Omicron-variants-dominant counties or regions designated by the Japanese government. However, currently there is no countries or regions so designated.
Either a valid vaccine certificate or a negative result tested within 72 hours from the departure will be required at the border. The basic requirements of a vaccine certificates are three shots of vaccines in the WHO emergency use list; and vaccine certificate is further subject to specific requirements issued by the Ministry of Heal, Labour and Welfare.
No Mandatory Packaged Tour for Tourists
From the Effective Date, Japan will finally lift the restriction to only accept foreign tourists participating in a packaged tour. Foreign tourists who arrange a trip to Japan by themselves may enter into Japan. A valid vaccine certificate or a negative test result will be required at entry as mentioned above.
No Upper Limit of Daily Entrants
The government of Japan will lift the upper limit of daily entrants of 50,000 and Japan will finally become the same level as other G7 countries.
This article describes the changes from the Effective Date, based on information issued on governmental website on September 30, 2022.
