Opening of Japan? NOT for a while...

The Opening of Japan will NOT be soon. Even though Prime Minister Kishida and the LDP Party had a substantial victory in the July 10, 2022 election, Mike explains why he thinks that there is still a long wait until they officially open up Japan to independent tourists and visitors. The tragic, sudden death of former Prime Minister Abe will also have a big impact, as well as PM Kishida is dealing with an array of problems and challenges, from high oil and food commodity prices, the weak yen, inflation, and the sudden spike of coronavirus new cases. The death and loss of the most influential Japanese politician of the last 20 years, who was a good friend and staunch supporter of PM Kishida, will definitely put much more pressure on him to figure things out without PM Abe. PM Kishida has really lost his LDP political "wingman." This video talks about what is presently happening in Japan and what are the indicators for the future opening or not opening of Japan.

Other videos of interest:
Where are the group package tours in Japan?

What happened to the Foreign Group Tourists' entry into Japan? (started June 10, 2022)

[DedmenY]

The first thing I thought when Abe was assassinated: “Yeah, they aren’t opening up anytime soon…”

[firewalkwithme]

man, I saved up for over 10 years to afford my ultimate dream vacation to Japan and was ready to go in summer 2020. I really hope next year Japan will open up finally, because after that I will have to narrow down my dream vacation for job reasons..

[williamdigiacomo]

Japan is still talking about opening. almost three years later. however, the rest of the world has moved on. Ex spats and investors are involved with other countries now. In my opinion the world is no longer waiting for Japan to open. Now that we are moving into a recession it is the perfect time for people to invest. they can get things cheaper and make millions or even billions later when the recession ends. Japan is going to miss that to. by the time Japan makes up their mind no one will care.

[zeaugust]

Thanks for keeping us informed Mr. Matsuno, such a frustrating situation.

[takuan]

At this stage of the game it is a toss up going to Japan or North Korea. The regulations are about the same.

[FollowTheSunAustralia]

I wouldn't be surprised if he keeps it closed even with the G summit😅 just allowing the attendees, idk if that's possible, great information thankyou

[mechanicat]

I haven’t wore a mask for months, but I will wear a mask in Japan. This is because I have concert tickets to see BAND-MAID at the Tokyo Garden Theater, for the 10th anniversary concert this January. I’ll happily dust off my masks and wear them constantly while in Japan, if it means I can go to this concert.

[anthonyolsen]

Japan has never been tourist friendly which is strange as there is a huge market for people travelling to Japan. Safety first...I mean racism first...I mean...

[kooraymond]

Matsuno san,

I chanced upon your video today, which are very informative, especially the transit issues at Haneda.
I feel that the Japanese government needs to revisit the problem of COVID. Cases are increasing on daily basis despite the country being closed for past 2 years.
The fear of worsening the situation if Japan opens up to individual travellers are largely unfounded as most will abide the mask wearing rule.
There is an immediate need to strike a balance between economy and public health risk.
And you are spot on... package tours are dated, I have been to Japan independently for almost 10 times.

[tsodergrenbaar]

This is my first visit to your channel Mike. Thank you for your excellent reporting of the current situation. I wish to travel to Japan by next summer. I lived in Japan for for years and am now living in the US. It is my hope to return to Japan to visit and eventually move back to Japan. COVID-19 put a halt to that, and I worry about my chances to return. I hope and pray that things improve in the near future and tourists can visit and that I make it back.

[ardiantosony]

THank you for the information Matsumoto-san, Me and my wife ( she is japanese ) just got married in Australia, we cant wait to visit her family in Japan.... hope something good will happen in the next few months =)

[hitokiriizo]

Don't think Japan will open this year period, probably summer of next.

[肝寶]

Thank you for this detailed information. It looks like we will need to cancel our September Osaka trip.

[Akiyama_Shun]

It will change everything, fast. Really fast. On Nature, Lancet, etc. many studies have shown that masks lead to an increase in the number of cases. It is all correlated with the massive presence of bacteria that form in the mask, especially in summer. due to many political, economic and multipolar reasons, in my opinion, the situation in Japan will also change soon and, unexpectedly, very quickly. It will all come from Italy and the US. Btw thank you very much for your updates!

[janlim]

Hello, I'm from the Philippines and there is already a massive influx of tourists coming in here for 4 months now, and from what I've noticed foreigners specially visiting the cities are following mask protocols. So far i have not seen any foreigners not wearing masks.

So I don't see the reason why Japan still only allows group tours. From my point of view, I think the politicians in Japan just doesn't wan't to get blamed for an uptick in covid cases which is negligible since you guys seem to have a far better vaccination rate than ours.

[Batoramu]

@Mike: but thank you for also keeping us up-to-date about Japan opening the doors to tourism

[schottepaul]

Number of covid infections do not count with omicron. However, the number of hospital admissions by omicron and not with omicron.
There is only one remedy for covid: herd immunity. So open borders, take off masks.

[Batoramu]

I really hope by April 2023 Japan does open up to individual travelers, it would be really disappointing that I have to wait another year to go back not only because I miss the country so much but I also wish to move there by 2025
To begin my schooling to learn the language and understand how to read Japanese

[alexdbroad]

so..i'm from toronto and bought a ticket for early september flight. Not knowing about the restriction.. lol. I was hoping to visit kyoto to learn something about zen.. unfortunately I have redirect my flight looks like.. Great video mike!

[jerrycurtis]

Love your videos. Very factual. Thank you