AP VIDEO
Eager to appreciate the colorful foliage, eat sushi and shop, hordes of foreign tourists began arriving in Japan on Tuesday for the first day of the lifting of border restrictions, which had been in position for more than two years to curb the coronavirus pandemic.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Police officers stand guard at the departure of foreign arrivals at Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport on Tuesday. Japan’s strict border restrictions are being relaxed, allowing tourists to enter smoothly for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
One of the foreigners walks on arrival at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Tuesday.
TOKYO >> Eager to appreciate colorful foliage, eat sushi and shop, throngs of foreign tourists began arriving in Japan on Tuesday for the first day of the lifting of border restrictions, which had been in position for more than two years to curb the coronavirus pandemic.
Travelers are expected to supply a much-needed five trillion yen ($35 billion) condiment to the world’s third-largest economy. And the number of visitors is expected to continue to grow.
The daily ceiling of 50,000 arrivals is over. Airlines have added flights to respond to the full reopening of borders. Visa-free is back for business and short-term tourism in more than 60 countries.
David Beall, a Los Angeles-based photographer who has been to Japan 12 times, has already booked a flight, making plans to move on to Fukui, Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo. The last time he was in Japan was in October 2019. But they’re the things you’re looking for most, like dining on Japan’s popular fried red meat dish, tonkatsu.
“As cliché as it sounds, being back in Japan after all this time is what I look forward to the most. This, of course, includes meeting new people, eating the food I missed like a smart tonkatsu, being in nature right now. of the year, taking the trains,” he said.
As a recommendation for others planning trips, he recommends getting a Japan Rail Pass and a Suica or other card that allows cashless bills for a simple trip.
Tourists like Beall, which had about 32 million people before COVID-19, are welcome for a smart reason. Many will have more purchasing power because the Japanese yen has lost price in recent months against the U. S. dollar, euro and other currencies.
The only protocols left for access are that you will need to be fully vaccinated with a booster or have a negative PCR within 72 hours prior to departure. Then virtually all visitors from the United States, the rest of Asia, Europe and South America. You won’t have to quarantine.
Compared to the most recent outbreak in Japan, when nationally reported infections topped 200,000 people in August, cases and deaths have declined. Last week, deaths averaged another 8 people nationally. Medically vulnerable to vaccination.
But visitors would likely have to adapt to face masks.
Most Japanese people still wear masks everywhere. Many department stores and restaurants require the use of masks, as well as hand sanitizing at entrances, it is reported that these recommendations are relaxed in open outdoor spaces. Some institutions close early or have closed completely.
However, bookings with All Nippon Airways Co. de Japan, or ANA, have already increased fivefold from last week, while those departing from Japan have doubled. The increase builds on smaller, slower increases from last week.
Air Canada said Canadian bookings to Japan are up 51 per cent this month from last month, while bookings from Japan to Canada were up 16 per cent over the same constant period.
The Japanese economy can take advantage of the influx of tourist spending.
Fitch Ratings forecasts a genuine expansion of Japan’s GDP of 1. 7% in 2022 and 1. 3% in 2023, supported by its loose fiscal policy, a recovery in the sector and a slow resolution of supply chain problems, which will encourage production and exports. Reopening to foreign visitors is expected to work positively, despite dangers such as geopolitical tensions and emerging prices.
Japan had necessarily closed its borders to hikers, but began allowing tour packages in June. Many other people have chosen to wait for a person of indefinite duration before getting a plane ticket.
With nervousness waning over the risk of infections, local people across the Japanese are also expanding, encouraged by discounts offered by airlines, bullet trains, onsen spas and hotels to revive the suffering industry.
Although Japan offers a variety of attractions, from the ski slopes of northern Hokkaido to the tropical beaches of the Okinawa Islands in the south, experts insist that the next few months are one to enjoy what Japan has to offer.
The foliage acquires colorful colors; the climate is temperate, icy, suffocating or humid; Seafood, grapes, chestnuts and other culinary delights are new and plentiful.
“Now we are all in a position to welcome other people from abroad,” said Shuso Imada, general manager of Japan’s Sake and Shochu Information Center.
Imada’s task is to promote sake, rice wine and shochu, made from barley, potatoes or vegetables, both at home and abroad.
“Autumn is the season to enjoy Japanese cuisine with sake and shochu,” he said.
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