Hi! I’m Nathan and welcome to Ninja monkey. The place for all things related to Japan
where I’m currently focusing on what’s going on behind Japan’s closed borders.
My aim in this video is to put all the readily available information into one place, to make
it easy for you, potential tourists, students, business people and anyone interested in Japan
to follow what’s happening whilst the Japanese border remains closed.
Keeping a close eye will hopefully help you make informed decisions leading to answering
the question “When will Japan’s border open?”
So today, a slightly different sort of video. More of an explainer, I will try to summarise
and make it easy to understand Who can Currently enter Japan, a question that is asked many
times in the comment section. I will not however be going into individual quarantine procedures
for countries as this is changing frequently.
Firstly and foremost, all of this information is available online and I will leave all the
links in the video description and I do encourage you do your own reading.
Currently the latest guidelines were updated on the 16th of August, and although not much
has changed, I am aware that there are new viewers that might find this information useful
and some things might have slightly changed too
Looking at the official MOFA or Ministry of Foreign affairs website, the very first thing
that will become evident is how closed Japan currently is.
The website starts off by clearly saying
“For the time being, foreign nationals who have stayed in any of the following 159 countries/regions
within 14 days prior to the application for landing are denied to enter Japan”
159 countries! Out of …. 195 Countries are banned entry, So you might think which countries
can actually enter Japan?
Well currently, At present, all foreign nationalities are barred from visiting Japan as tourists
or on business as these entries were suspended and although there have been hints of them
starting up again, nothing concrete has actually happened. Basically in simple terms you cannot
enter Japan … unless..
There are actually some very specific circumstances when people can enter, and are actually entering
Japan. This has actually been the case for some time, so a refresher..
People with special circumstances can enter Japan.
And if you do have special circumstances, all foreign nationals who wish to newly enter
Japan need to apply for a visa except for those with re-entry permit.
These visa apporvals seem to be taking longer than normal and slow down even further during
a state of emergency (which Japan currently is in)
Firstly and quite importantly each person can apply for special circumstance on a case
by case basis, and when doing so my suggestion is that you have prepared well and can prove
that you either have one of the following special circumstances or a very good reason
for entering that might not be listed.
Currently those with “Permanent Residency”, “ a Spouse or Child of Japanese National”,
“Spouse or Child of Permanent Resident” or “Long-Term Resident” Should be eligible
for special circumstance entry.
There may however be restrictions depending on the country of origin, but this is something
to check out with your embassy as its always changing. For example, foreign nationals entering
Japan with re-entry permit who had been in Pakistan within 14 days before the day of
application for landing had been banned entry Since May 14, but this was recently amended
and these measures ware cancelled on August 13,
Other special circumstances include
Foreign nationals who are entering for the roll of "Instructor" or "Professor" and will
fill a vacancy at the educational institution that he or she belongs to
in which ultimitly them not entering will result in the suspension of the educational
activities. In other words can the course continue without you? If it can then you’ll
likely not be able to enter.
Also, foreign nationals who are entering to cover "Medical Services", and who contributes
to the enhancement and strengthening of Japanese medical systems. Should also be able to aquire
special circumstances
"Diplomats" or "Officials" can also enter.
Interestingly, In addition to the cases already mentioned, foreign nationals who are recognized
to be in special exceptional circumstances corresponding to an individual situation such
as the need for humanitarian consideration or the need for public benefit may be considered
for special circumstance entry. Some examples of public benefit are athletes and other persons
linked with the Olympics and engineers engaged in the development of the vaccine.
Depending on the purpose of your entry, you may need to get a Certificate of Eligibility
at the regional immigration bureau and / or get a Japan Visa at the Japanese embassy/consulate
in your country or region.
Currently some Government sponsored pupils and teachers have also been able to enter,
this includes Mext students and Jet employees.
I think that most interestingly for me is the mention of public benefit. Recently there
have been athletes such as basketball players and DJ’s whom have been allowed entry, or
are scheduled to enter Japan. I don’t exactly know or feel that I should judge weather or
not these cases should be deemed of public benefit so I’ll leave it to you in the comment
section.
Students unfortunately remain locked out of the country, in my last update I came across
some signals about Japan restructuring their use of the vaccine passport after the state
of emergency is lifted which seemed very promising. This is due to happen on the 12 of September,
but we will however need to wait and see if it is lifted or extended once again? However
what is evident is that changes and decisions will likely come once the state of emergency
is lifted.
I do suggest that if you are a student you contact your education institution as soon
as possible for the latest update as I am also aware that some universities and institutions
have either decided to suspend their September / October entry for the following semester
or will be making decisions on weather to go completely online at some point before
the end of the month if the Japanese government does not make a decision soon.
I’m on your side, there is nothing more that I want to see than seeing the students
that have waited and put their lives on hold finally enter to pursue their studies. I am
hopeful and know this day will come.
I will as always have a more indepth update in the weekend, so make sure you turn on all
notifications so that you don’t miss anything.
Most of Japan continues in the state of emergency, however Wednesday’s total in Tokyo was 1,060
less than the count a week ago on Aug. 25th , according to government data.
Additionally The seven-day moving average was 3,971 and falling on Saturday,
Lets hope that this trend of numbers dipping continue in Tokyo and that I’ll be able
to report it on my weekend update!
So, as always, Thanks so much for watching this far and staying tuned to the end of the
video.
Till next time . Arigatou, gracias thanks bye! See you at the weekend and I look forward
to reading and interacting in the comment section!