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31 Comments
Please leave your comment below, where are you from – city, country – how long have you been waiting? – why aren’t you coming despite the border “open” now? – what could be done better? What don’t you understand? How can the government and tourism agency be clearer on to get you to come? – what would you like to see change? Etc. write a book if you want. The feedback is valuable! Thank you. -John (^o^)/
Real numbers…family of six from the US.
Gave up waiting on Japan to open back up so we're going to Thailand instead for two weeks! All the hotel, food, transportation and tourism money easily will amount to over $10k just like it did when we visited Japan in 2019. None of which will go to Japan now unfortunately. Oh well!
I am from the US. I have wanted to visit Japan for years. While I could see myself going on a short tour bus for a part day excursion, tours are not the American way. We like to explore on our own and create our own itineraries. We have also been living without any sort of Covid restrictions for almost a year now. Until entry to Japan is made more welcoming, I cannot visit.
Chineese are Not tourists! They are Not touring anything!!! Theyare visitors… It's diferent
Japan tourism accounting:
FILO = First In (to close) Last Open 😔
if one comes from a " Blue" country NO VACCINE is required (PCR test only.)
From California. I’ve been to Japan a number of times, and frankly the idea of being stuck in a tour group is as appealing to me as getting my teeth pulled at the dentist without any numbing. Why should I spend double, if not triple, the price to visit when I can go myself and spread my money around Japan as I want? And even if I wanted to go on a tour group, it’s really hard to even figure out what places are accepted, the whole process and such. While I am not at all upset at the Japanese government per se for wanting to try and curb COVID, I do feel that the approach they are taking in relation to tourism is ill considered and may cause More damage to the image of Japan abroad.
I’m from the US and won’t be going to Japan until they open up completely to tourist. A tour group wouldn’t fulfill my needs for my first visit to Japan unless it’s a John Daub tour haha. I don’t mind wearing a mask. Planning to go around February/March
Why depend on tourist from china? That just dumb. I’m from the US and I’m ok with applying visa and the COVID test protocol but only for the individual tour. I’m not going to pay $5k usd for a tour guide that only covers 10 days of hotel and the guide. Still need to buy my own plane ticket and transportation around Japan.
I found a site or two that offered tour packages and there is no solo traveler option. I could humor paying a tourism fee if I could be alone, but I can't. Let's say I go with random people, for something like a week long tour. I have to pay $2000 usd for 5 days. That is not including air fair, housing, food, transportation. That is practically 1/2 to 2/3 the budget of most tourists coming to japan including all those things. Dallas, tx been waiting since september 2021. Last entry january 2020.
If they are reaching out to you to discuss tourism then you should do it. Bring them a little reality. Send out some polls to us about what is making us not come in. Show them it.
I’m from Florida. My wife and I visited Tokyo, Osaka, Nara and Kyoto in 2019. What made the visit so special was the freedom to explore Japan at our hearts content. Being locked into a tour would take that freedom from us, we are holding off on visiting until we have that freedom to explore our favorite trip so far.
from malaysia, i applied for a visa, they asked for a reason, i said for sight seeing and shoping. they rejected my visa. the embassy is selecting people to enter japan.i already had my 4th jab. so i went to your neighbour korea.
My family and I are from Australia 🇦🇺 (Blue category), we have been to japan many times before and to do a tour package is ridiculous because we don’t think a curated tour is a fit for us, and the country Colour coding defeats the visa purpose when Australia is deemed “safe” for foreign travel. We understand about being safe from the virus, I work for an airline in Sydney and I have seen many many foreign nationals including Japanese tourists who are able to travel here without much restriction and are able to return home. I wish it was the same for Australians travelling to japan (equal opportunity). Mind you my wife is a Japanese national, and she is worried for my son and I because we have no hope to travel there in September.
Trying to come from Canada, been trying to visit since March 2020 but have had to delay 6 times now. I have a budget to stay for 3 months but if I have to go with a tour group that would be cut down to 1 month, and I'd have to abandon all the things I've planned in favour of a guided tour to a bunch of places I don't care to go to. Very frustrating. Let me in I want to give you all my money!!!!
Holyquran is in arabic so start learning arabic writings
I’m from Ontario Canada, many reasons to visit Japan. A big reason is how safe it is, so we can explore Japan with little worry. I want to get lost in Tokyo, I want to wander aimlessly. Best way to experience Japan is just walking around, wander into a shop I know nothing about and have something to eat as a surprise. Just randomly hop on the Shinkansen and spend the day in Kyoto…… that is a trip to Japan
US viewer here.
Love Japan, but this is not the way to deal with the END of the pandemic. I was planning a trip but will now cancel because I won’t be baby sat. It’s condescending and demoralizing. I’m a grown up and want to roam freely, especially when having to pay so much money for an already expensive country, flight, food etc.
Thanks, but no thanks, Japanese law makers.
sometimes it makes me think that Japan does not want tourists but wants people to buy and consume their products…so what Japan wants is your money, not your presence…this is just my thinking, but, I hope I am wrong…by the way, Japan tourist/foreign agency has been very aggressive in placing ads on youtube especially on Japanese YouTubers about coming to Japan yet they are not accepting tourist…when one visit a country especially Japan with all the things that can be experienced, no one wants to be in a guided tour group with restrictions and time constraints…
John David emperor of Japan
Trying to be respectful over this whole thing is not easy. Many of us have utterly written Japan off as a destination…. well at least for a while. Unrequited love ain't no fun.
Hi John! I'm from Perth in Western Australia. This is my first comment here. I was due to travel to Japan for the first time in March 2020 and was so excited! Unfortunately I had to cancel the trip a few weeks before I was to fly overseas due to the pandemic. I still hope to visit Japan possibly next year. I am not interested in travelling to Japan right now because I prefer to travel independently, plan my own experiences (had a ticket to the Download Festival) and choose where I want to explore day by day.. I hope foreign travellers can travel to Japan without the current restrictions and help out the local businesses that are struggling to stay afloat!
We’re from the US, and my husband and I have been planning our trip to Japan since April 2020 when our daughter was 5 months old….she’s about to be 3 and we don’t wanna go to Japan being babysat. We’re adults and COVID is all over the world!
From Oregon USA. I've been waiting ever since COVID to come back. I've been two times before, one with a group, and one on my own. I've done tour groups before, but I just don't enjoy traveling like that anymore. I much prefer traveling in small groups. I'm don't want to do a tour group because I want to get out of the more touristy areas. I also like traveling on my own, which can be very rewarding. For me, exploring without a net is the whole point of traveling. I've been waiting to go to Japan with my parents, and we sure as heck don't want to do a tour group. If I wanted to do a tour group, I wouldn't even know where and how to book one. I hardly know any concrete information, and I have no idea who is actually running the tour groups. I'll go when they reopen for individual tourism.
If you wear a mask you can't eat all the delicious Japanese dishes.
From Canada here, after my 2019 trip we had immediately started planning for a trip in 2020. Of course with covid happening we understood we'd have to wait a while. Had more optimistic plans for spring 2022 but of course Omicron started up, then now planned for October 2022 but we're going to have to postpone again at this point as there just seems to be zero transparency on any plan to have open tourism there so we can't rely on it, is there one!? It's been stressful trying to plan a trip around a place that can't seem to understand their situation with their own tourism sector and don't want to provide any plans. We'll try again for Spring 2023, for now, October we'll be going somewhere else.
As for why we're not coming, well like I mentioned, seems to be to public plan or information, even to their own tourist agencies. I'd like to see a timeline of when they'll open, even if they want to break it down into stages of sorts, something that at least their own people can review and plan for instead of unknowingly trying to ramp up for business that they have no idea when it's coming.
A good majority of the 8000 tourists are probably rich and or Streamers. 🤣
I think I would jump through most hoops other than the guided tour requirement, that's the biggest issue. Heck I'd pay a substantial tourist visa fee – $1000 – crazy money, just let me come and travel freely.
I am from Mexico, and my wife is Canadian. We’ve been waiting for very long to come and visit. We’d love to come and enjoy the full experience of that amazing country.
I'm waiting to travel ANYWHERE I can't drive to until a few things stabilize:
1) My own financial situation (since my wife and I both got laid off due to Covid and have been experiencing employment instability ever since);
2) The situation with the airlines, flight delays and cancellations, flight availability, gas prices, etc.; and
3) Access to other countries, without a morass of visas, applications, test results, and so on.
Right now, Japan is just off the table. I WANT to go, but the want of financial security, not being sure if the airplane will get cancelled or lose my luggage, and Japan's own rules make it not worth the bother right now. I eschew group tours ANYWAY, because none go to everything I want. I mean, I don't know, there MIGHT be a Godzilla tour out there that will take us to Awaji Island, Seibu-en, Hotel Gracery, and the little statue by the Imperial Palace, and if they could get us in to the Toho Studios I'd even take it! But that's not ALL I want to do either. Which is the Godzilla tour that ALSO takes us to the Studio Ghibli Museum and theme park, AND Tokyo Disney, AND Mount Takao, AND Ueno Park and Asakusa, AND dinner at the Trader Vic's Tiki bar, AND Nara, AND around Kyoto, AND Hanamaki to see the Kenji Miyazawa sites? Can I even flip between different group tours, one after another, if there even were tours that did exactly everything I wanted? And how much would that cost?! I suppose entrepreneurial Japanese people could start their own custom "group tour" companies where they act as tour guide for whatever their clients want to do… But again, how much would it cost for my wife and I to basically being paying for a third person tagging along?
Nah, better just to wait.
Hawaii tourists want to come and we waiting for Japan tourists
COVID is not the cause of low tourism, politicians are the cause of low tourism.