Eager to admire colorful foliage, eat sushi and go shopping, droves of tourists from abroad started arriving Tuesday in Japan for the first day of lifted border restrictions, which had been in place for more than two years to curb the coronavirus pandemic.
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Travelers are expected to deliver a sorely needed 5 trillion yen ($35 billion) boost to the world's third-largest economy. And the flood of visitors is expected to keep growing.
The daily cap of 50,000 arrivals is gone. Airlines have added flights to respond to the full re-opening of borders. Visa-free travel is back for short-term business and tourism from more than 60 nations.
The only protocols left for entry are that you must be fully vaccinated with one booster or have a negative PCR test within 72 hours of departure. Then, virtually all visitors from the US, the rest of Asia, Europe and South America won't have to quarantine.
Compared to the most recent surge in Japan, when reported infections nationwide topped 200,000 people in August, both cases and deaths have dwindled. Last week, daily deaths averaged eight people nationwide. Japan has provided free COVID-19 vaccines, especially encouraging the elderly and the medically vulnerable to get inoculated.
