- Joined
- Mar 6, 2019
- Messages
- 2,367
- Reaction score
- 4,609
Japan reopens to international tourism next year? Just curious as to what those of you actually living in Japan think. January? Spring? Summer? Never?
As a safety measure, I went ahead and purchased my airline tickets to Japan scheduled for mid-March. Now, I'm not terribly optimistic that the country will be open by then, but my regular airlines is charging no date-change fees and, more importantly, with fuel prices surging stateside (Let's Go Brandon) and a noticeable uptick in Japanese tourists booking flights here for the new year, RT fares to NRT/HND have been skyrocketing recently.
I used to pay $550-$650 RT (not including my seat upgrades) to HND. Two months ago those same routes were $800. When they hit $900 I gave in and booked flights. Friends are now telling me basic coach for next year is in the $1200-$1500 range. It's fucking insane.
There definitely seems to be pent-up desire amongst Japanese for a vacation here and elsewhere stateside. I'm also beginning to see a lot of Japanese clients returning to town and contacting me to make arrangements/accommodations for their employees to return. There's definitely the sense that Japanese are preparing at least somewhat of a return to normalcy.
But then you folks in Tokyo are clocking, what, a dozen new infections a day? Meanwhile, cases are steadily increasing here stateside, particularly up in the northern blue states where they previously enjoyed a very low infection rate, mostly thanks to high vaccination rates and very low numbers of shit-kicking, sister-fucking MAGA hat anti-vaxxers. And Thanksgiving and Xmas are just around the corner. If I were Japanese and looking at America's numbers, I certainly wouldn't want us back in the country yet. Or ever.
It's OK. I've long since gotten used to not even hoping to take vacations. And not taking my usual 3-4 trips to Japan each year for almost two years has saved me a shit-ton of money. If the Japanese government decides to continue to deny me entry, maybe I'll make some sort of symbolic protest gesture and blow all my play money on something really stupid. Maybe buy myself a Rolex for each wrist. Or trade in my SUV for that new Toyota Supra, in yellow. Or maybe I'll buy myself a pet Ostrich and try riding her to work. In any event, I'll look really cool when my other half murders me.
As a safety measure, I went ahead and purchased my airline tickets to Japan scheduled for mid-March. Now, I'm not terribly optimistic that the country will be open by then, but my regular airlines is charging no date-change fees and, more importantly, with fuel prices surging stateside (Let's Go Brandon) and a noticeable uptick in Japanese tourists booking flights here for the new year, RT fares to NRT/HND have been skyrocketing recently.
I used to pay $550-$650 RT (not including my seat upgrades) to HND. Two months ago those same routes were $800. When they hit $900 I gave in and booked flights. Friends are now telling me basic coach for next year is in the $1200-$1500 range. It's fucking insane.
There definitely seems to be pent-up desire amongst Japanese for a vacation here and elsewhere stateside. I'm also beginning to see a lot of Japanese clients returning to town and contacting me to make arrangements/accommodations for their employees to return. There's definitely the sense that Japanese are preparing at least somewhat of a return to normalcy.
But then you folks in Tokyo are clocking, what, a dozen new infections a day? Meanwhile, cases are steadily increasing here stateside, particularly up in the northern blue states where they previously enjoyed a very low infection rate, mostly thanks to high vaccination rates and very low numbers of shit-kicking, sister-fucking MAGA hat anti-vaxxers. And Thanksgiving and Xmas are just around the corner. If I were Japanese and looking at America's numbers, I certainly wouldn't want us back in the country yet. Or ever.
It's OK. I've long since gotten used to not even hoping to take vacations. And not taking my usual 3-4 trips to Japan each year for almost two years has saved me a shit-ton of money. If the Japanese government decides to continue to deny me entry, maybe I'll make some sort of symbolic protest gesture and blow all my play money on something really stupid. Maybe buy myself a Rolex for each wrist. Or trade in my SUV for that new Toyota Supra, in yellow. Or maybe I'll buy myself a pet Ostrich and try riding her to work. In any event, I'll look really cool when my other half murders me.