While they reopened last October, certain restrictions remained in place for all those entering the Land of the Rising Sun. However, today Japan drops all remaining COVID restrictions. While that makes traveling to Japan easier, hopefully, it also helps to boost Japanese travel to Hawaii.
Japan was one of the last countries to reopen its borders, which only happened seven months ago. And while that saw western travelers go flooding back in, it didn’t do much to assuage the far more cautious Japanese people. Well, that and the U.S.’s own entry requirements. And that’s even after Japanese officials lifted their mask mandate.
Japan Drops All Remaining COVID Restrictions
Despite the title of this post, there aren’t really any remaining COVID restrictions, to begin with. In fact, the last remaining one is their pre-entry testing or vaccination rule, which requires that all persons entering the country must either show proof that they received three doses of an approved COVID-19 vaccine OR evidence of a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of arrival. But that ends today.
This will make traveling to Japan a bit easier, especially for the many Americans that haven’t completed the CDC’s recommended course of vaccinations. But, of course, it is hoped that the change will reassure Japanese travelers, too. While far more Japanese citizens are vaccinated compared to Americans, just the perception that COVID-19 is still dangerous likely keeps several from traveling abroad. So, hopefully, this will help.
Final Thoughts
While the fact that Japan drops all remaining COVID restrictions might help with Japanese tourism in Hawaii, it’s not going to be a silver bullet. U.S. entry restrictions remain in place, though they’re going away later this week, too. However, the more significant hurdle is likely the strength of the dollar against the yen. For a while now, the exchange rate has been consistently above 100 yen to $1, which is far higher than it was before COVID. Combine that with our astronomical hotel, food, etc. prices, and it’s easy to see why many Japanese will likely continue to stay away.