Hi! I’m Nathan and welcome to Ninja monkey. The place for all things related to Japan.
I do all the research so that you don’t have to, and I put all the readily available
information into one place, so if you are a potential tourist, student, or simply interested
in visiting for business you’ve come to the right place.
I might not have all the answers but hopefully my updates will help you make informed decisions
leading to answering the question “When will Japan’s border open?” and if not,
leave you with a better understanding of what’s happening.
So, in the last few hours Nikkei Asia has reported something that I just had to share
with you, I wasn't expecting on actually putting out a video so quickly so please excuse me
if this video is not up to scratch and a little bit rough in the edges but I wanted to get
this out to you as quickly as I could.
Looking like some great news is about to be announced for Students and business people
so I think this merits the Bandana! However, unfortunately tourists are being left out
for now… but more on that later.
The article recently published by Nikkei Asia which in my opinion is one of the most reputable
news outlets states that Japan is to ease entry for students and business people too.
And that quarantine for short stay visitors will be reduced to 3 days.
The article which I will leave a link to in the video description and as always I do recommend
you do your own reading, states that Japan will let foreigners wanting to visit the country
on business, study abroad programs and technical training finally enter the country.
And, although unfortunate, and something that I expected might happen. Tourists have been
left out in this round of easing entry into Japan.
Noteworthy is the fact that the article states that the government is expected to make things
official as early as this week with things easing as early as this month!
Also it is important to note that the article states that the quarantine will be reduced
to up to 3 days for Vaccinated visitors, so it is unknown wheather or not quarantine might
depend on the country of origin. Additionally, Companies and universities will have to monitor
foreigners during the duration of their stay in Japan.
The eased rules will also apply for vaccinated Japanese nationals returning to the country
and new visitors from companies, schools or other organisations which will be responsible
for reporting on their infection control measures.
It is interesting to note that as from the 1st of October about 370,000 foreigners have
not been able to enter Japan because of its strict border controls, and roughly 70% of
those wanting to enter in that period are technical interns and foreign students. This
has lead to a shortfall in labour and really put international schools and universities
under pressure.
It is also very important to note that we will need to continue being vigilant as Tokyo
is prepared to reimpose tighter controls quickly if new variants emerge overseas.
Team, Could this be the start of the news that so many of you have been waiting for??
I really do hope so! We must remember however, that although this is great news, there still
needs to be an official announcement and this is not it.
There are still many un un answered questions, such as which vaccines will be accepted what
will happen to those who are unvaccinated and whether or not a mix of vaccines will
be allowed. We also need to find out whether or not quarantine will change depending on
the country of origin.
As always I like to air on the side of caution regarding any news until it becomes a reality
and is announced officially, we need to also remember that this is only one source, and
I usually try to use multiple sources but I decided to share this anyway since its from
quite a bid news outlet.. after all it is very positive that such a reputable news outlet
is making such claims and I do hope that things do turn out the way they have reported.
For tourists, This is obviously rather disappointing but I do think that it’s a great first step,
The fact that they are considering reducing the quarantine to up to 3 days might suggest
that a similar scheme will come into place when tourists are finally allowed to enter
Japan.
The fact that it seems that those able to enter will be closely monitored and that some
form of responsibility will fall upon the companies or schools to which they belong
also make me wonder how things might work for tourism in the future.
I will continue to monitor the situation closely and I will make sure to report, even if it
is an off the cuff video like todays, As always I will continue to produce my weekly update
and I really appreciate your support.
I do hope that once all this is over, you will continue to be part of Team ninja monkey
and I will be able to give you other insights regarding travelling around Japan or even
topics of interest.
So Team, how are you feeling now? If you are a student I’d love to know your thoughts
on this and if you are a tourist, do you agree with the way things are being done? I understand
that it must be frustrating for tourists but Like I said earlier, its amazing that we finally
have a first step towards Japan reopening!
Also how do you feel about 3 days quarantine if you are a tourist? Would this be a deal
breaker?
As always, if you do have any updates that you would like to share with the rest of Team
ninja monkey and you feel that I should be sharing in a future video, please get in contact
with me through one of my my social platforms of by posting it as a comment to this video!
And as always, I suggest that you make sure that notifications are turned on so that you
don’t miss any crucial future updates!
Thanks so much for watching, stay positive team! Till next time! Bye!