Can anyone travel to Japan during this time?

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Shounan84

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Does anyone has any idea when can we travel to Japan? Last time I checked Japan is still on lockdown.
 
Shounan84 said:
Does anyone has any idea when can we travel to Japan? Last time I checked Japan is still on lockdown.
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If you don't have a visa already then your best bet is to join the Olympic team of your choice and hope they don't cancel the event altogether. In that case you could come over already in July.

Other than that, your guess is as fine as anyone's else. My prediction is end of the year. And I am hoping it is this year.
 
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I can't imagine Japan can afford to continue its policy of outright lockdown well into 2022. All those billions of dollars invested in new hotels and infrastructure for an Olympics that never happened aren't going to repay themselves. My best guess is that not long after this upcoming disastrous attempt at an Olympics fails and passes, the government will have to very seriously reconsider its current policy on banning outsiders.

That said, regarding "vaccine passports," no idea what Europe and Asia are planning to do but I wouldn't count your chickens just yet with regards to America. Stateside, the governors of red states and Republicans in Congress are vowing to fight the very concept of vaccine passports, framing them as some sort of Orwellian, communist overreach by a leftist, dictatorial government bent on creating a new caste system in America. In other words, the MAGA hat anti-vaxxers are pissed off that the government is going to allow private airline corporations to require passengers to be vaccinated, thereby complicating their plans for a cheap-ticket pandemic vacation to visit their shit-kicking cousins in Florida so they can pack Daytona with 100k other drunken, screaming, maskless illiterates and make sure their entire clan of obese, diabetic inbred relatives all end up in the hospital.

One thing to consider, however, is not Japan's policies but the policies of the rest of the world. As always, Japanese and their government see themselves as the "clean" folks, and the rest of the world are the filthy vectors of this virus and need to be kept out during this pandemic. But seeing as how Americans are vaccinating over 3-million citizens per day, over 40% of the country has received at least one shot and a quarter of Americans are now fully vaccinated--while the entire nation of Japan can't even vaccinate enough people each day to fill a concert hall--we are very quickly approaching the point where the average citizen of Japan will be the most likely carrier of disease, and the citizens of every other civilized nation on earth may not want Japanese coming to visit them, pre-test or not.

Personally, I'd love to see the US/EU issue a blanket ban on all Japanese visitors over safety concerns. It'd probably work wonders in terms of forcing the Japanese government to get its shit together with vaccination efforts, and also a well-deserved slap in the face and wake-up call to the entire stunted population that thinks it's somehow less infected than the rest of the world. You roll out the red carpet for the curb-squatters of the Middle Kingdom and you get everything that comes along with all that tourism money.
 
MikeH said:
And I am hoping it is this year.
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You won't see me shed a tear if it's not. I don't miss tourists one tiny bit.
 
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Olympics wise, they should just give it to Tokyo for 2028. Next year winter Olympics I'm hoping for a planetwide ban. :p
 
just4fun said:
Olympics wise, they should just give it to Tokyo for 2028. Next year winter Olympics I'm hoping for a planetwide ban. :p
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Can we just have the planetwide ban starting now, and ending never? The Olympics is just a cash grab for the IOC these days, the whole thing needs shutting down permanently.
 
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Sudsy said:
Can we just have the planetwide ban starting now, and ending never? The Olympics is just a cash grab for the IOC these days, the whole thing needs shutting down permanently.
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I want to like this say.......a thousand more times!!!
 
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Sudsy said:
Can we just have the planetwide ban starting now, and ending never? The Olympics is just a cash grab for the IOC these days, the whole thing needs shutting down permanently.
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Shame on you. If it weren't for the Olympics there would have been no girls' gymnastics, and then I wouldn't have had anything to masturbate to in 1992, in those dark days before Al Gore invented the Internet, Cinemax Late Night only showed NC-17 movies while everyone was still awake and even the Koreans at the neighborhood liquor store couldn't pretend to believe the I.D. I made down on the boulevard for $15. It was that or the J.C. Penny's catalog youth swimwear section. Man, I used to live for those cameltoe moments.
 
Keihan said:
If it weren't for the Olympics there would have been no girls' gymnastics, and then I wouldn't have had anything to masturbate to in 1992
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Oh shush. The serious corruption is alleged to have started in 1998, but once the IOC got a taste of that sweet sweet payola, they became a multibillion a year money funnel.

Guess who was paying the bribes in 1998?

Hint: Salt Lake City 2002.....
 
To actually give a true response here, we refer you to the official government link for entry information:

https://www.mofa.go.jp/ca/fna/page4e_001053.html

In general summary though, Japanese and existing residents with re-entry permits can leave and return to Japan.
From what I've read, tourists & new visa holders are not permitted to enter unless under exceptional circumstances. (i.e. spouse of Japanese national or other approval by the Japanese consulate) Refer to http://www.moj.go.jp/isa/content/001338898.pdf - Section 2 for 'exceptional circumstances'.

Quote: (from link above as of April 23, 2021)
Currently, all foreign nationals who wish to newly enter Japan need to apply for a visa except for those with re-entry permit. Please note that due to the impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the visa approval procedure may take longer than usual. Your understanding and cooperation are greatly appreciated.

For those who can legally enter Japan:
1) https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/000769032.pdf < Testing & Quarantine Requirements
2) http://www.moj.go.jp/isa/content/001337717.pdf < Format of Test Results (this has been made stricter)
 
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Keihan said:
Shame on you. If it weren't for the Olympics there would have been no girls' gymnastics
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Just like the socialistic movement the Olympics might have a meaning in the history but now it's just a relic of the past.

And I was way busier with the bra advertisements, at least they were in colour unlike the TV on those sad prehistorical days.
 
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Sudsy said:
Oh shush. The serious corruption is alleged to have started in 1998, but once the IOC got a taste of that sweet sweet payola, they became a multibillion a year money funnel.

Guess who was paying the bribes in 1998?

Hint: Salt Lake City 2002.....
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Is this a veiled reference to Shitt Romney??? Not a fan of his, not at all. But then again I can't, in good [online] faith, pretend to have a problem with bribery and corruption. That's for campaign season, when I stand on my GOP soapbox and pretend I have integrity.
 
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Keihan said:
Is this a veiled reference to Shitt Romney???
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Oh hell, nothing that specific. Just pointing out that it was the USA that got that particular ball rolling.
 
Keihan said:
while the entire nation of Japan can't even vaccinate enough people each day to fill a concert hall
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Where is this concert hall with a capacity of over 200,000 people? Not that I'm heaping praise on the vaccination effort or anything, but it seems to have picked up in the last few days, albeit from pitifully low levels. Mind you no doubt "Golden Week" will put a dent in the numbers.
 
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Sudsy said:
Oh shush. The serious corruption is alleged to have started in 1998, but once the IOC got a taste of that sweet sweet payola, they became a multibillion a year money funnel.

Guess who was paying the bribes in 1998?

Hint: Salt Lake City 2002.....
Click to expand...

Actually, I assume the alleged corruption goes back even further than that when it comes to the Five Rings.
 
SugoiBoy said:
Actually, I assume the alleged corruption goes back even further than that when it comes to the Five Rings.
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All the more reason to do away with them.
 
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I don't know if this made news in Japan or if it's even pertinent to Japan, but apparently the EU is preparing to grant vaccinated American tourists access again and I'm assuming this is something that works both ways. At least in the western world, international travel is about to resume again. However, considering that the US and UK are approaching 40% of their populations inoculated and Japan is boasting somewhere just north of 1%, I can't imagine any industrialized nations are in any sort of rush to reopen travel with the land of the rising sun. And that, too, will probably work both ways.

Doesn't look good if you're hoping for that Japanese vacation this year, or even for most of next year. But it did occur to me...I'm assuming most of the guys here are on spouse or permanent resident visas. Has anyone considered flying back to your home countries to get vaccinated? As far as I can tell here stateside, just about every state has open eligibility for 16+ and, thanks to the number of anti-vaxxers, getting an appointment is a breeze. Might be worth that 2-week quarantine and an alcohol-free flight.
 
Durg50 said:
Wtf flights arent serving alcohol?
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As I understand it, international flights around here aren't serving any sort of food or beverage, period. Not even water. They want passengers to have as little reason as possible to remove their masks. And at least stateside, the US-Japan international flights always featured free alcohol service, which was a huge part of the attraction. That's on pause indefinitely.

To be honest, I don't see that changing any time soon. The CDC just yesterday updated its guidance and is now "allowing" vaccinated people to go unmasked if outdoors and not in close contact with strangers. I'd imagine it's going to be at least Fall before the official guidance allows Americans to pack planes with no masks again.

On the bright side, the airport priority lounges are operational again, so at least there's somewhere to get proper shitfaced before the flights.
 
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