TOKYO – Rickshaws in Tokyo are adding English-speaking staff, a sure sign that Japan is receiving tourists from abroad.
Japan’s border controls to curb the spread of coronavirus infections began to relax last month.
This is wonderful news for Yusuke Otomo, owner of Daikichi, a kimono rental shop in Asakusa, a former Tokyo community famous for its temples, ancient restaurants, and rickshaw rides. It may involve your enthusiasm a bit.
“It was a complicated 3 years. But we managed to hold on until today. And after such an experience, to think that foreigners can come back despite everything is just exciting,” Otomo told The Associated Press.
“I think maybe, like before Covid, my shop, Asakusa City, and everyone’s hearts can flourish again. I can’t wait. “
Regardless, crowds have returned with a slow relaxation of the city’s covid-19 restrictions, which demanded early closure of restaurants and social distancing and restriction of attendance at events. But most of the visitors are Japanese.
Shuso Imada, general manager of the JSS Information Center, a sake and shochu showroom in central Tokyo, said he feels lonely and can’t wait to tell foreign visitors how to combine classic Japanese rice wine with all sorts of non-Japanese dishes. cheese and beef.
“In a way, we didn’t have much to do and we just had to wait. The doors are now reopened,” he said.
Visitors will need to adhere to rules that require travelers to have a special coordinator, stay on express itineraries, and comply with regulations such as the use of masks and the normal use of disinfectant.
Before covid, tourism was booming as a mainstay of the Japanese economy, the third largest in the world. Foreign visitors reached a record 32 million in 2019 and the target for 2020 was 40 million. After the covid hit, the government gradually imposed restrictive limits on the arrival of foreigners, many foreign citizens for a while.
Since June 10, it allows the visit of foreign tourists, but in limited numbers and only organizational visits, and not as individual travelers.
Visas are required for almost everyone, even those from countries that would have visa-free entry. minimal threat of physical condition and they can enter without quarantine if they provide evidence that they tested negative for covid within 72 hours prior to departure.
Japan, an overcrowded island nation, is plagued by external hazards and infectious diseases. After about two years of very few tourists, the Japanese have to adapt, Otomo and others said.
So the government brakes.
“I would love to bring in foreign tourists, as long as everyone, adding to me, respects the rules, such as wearing masks and adhering to sanitary rules,” said Minaho Ie, who recently visited Tokyo from Aichi in central Japan.
Back in Asakusa, rickshaw type Shunpei Katayama has yet to drive its first post-covid foreign tourist, but English-speaking drivers have returned to work. And for now, Japanese visitors from outside Tokyo are keeping it busy.
“Other Japanese people who can’t go to Guam and other places abroad come to climb in Shibuya. And Asakusa,” he said.
Recently, Otomo took photographs of a Japanese mother and daughter dressed in a colorful kimono to attend a friend’s wedding in Tokyo.
The foreign clientele who frequented his shop were so enthusiastic about dressing up as samurai, ninja and geisha, with swords and hair ornaments. Some were temporary friends, regardless of their nationality, Otomo recalls with a bit of sentimentality.
“When they are happy, I am happy. They make my adrenaline shoot up,” he said.
Information for this article provided through Tassanee Vejpongsa and Haruka Nuga of the Associated Press.