It’s official – Japan will reopen for skiing
We have a date! Japan opens on 11 October for independent, visa-free travel, plenty in time for the ski season
We have a date! Japan opens on 11 October for independent, visa-free travel, plenty in time for the ski season.
From 11 October, independent travellers from 70 countries – including the UK – will no longer require visas to enter Japan, announced Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on 22 September.
The lifting of Japan’s restrictions had been inferred, and travel to the powder capital this winter all-but confirmed, but now we have a date.
Japan has maintained some of the strictest border measures since the pandemic’s onset. It effectively blocked entry for two years, until June 2022 when a capped number visitors could enter as part of a tour operated group.
“We are a nation that has flourished through the free flow of people, goods and capital,” Kishida said.
“COVID-19, of course, interrupted all of these benefits, but from 11 October, Japan will relax border control measures to be on par with the US, as well as resume visa-free travel and individual travel.”
He confirmed that the current cap on visitor numbers of 50,000 a day would be removed on 11 October, allowing individual, visa-free travel for short-term visits.
What will remain in place is the need for proof of vaccination.
Who’s in?