Japan reopened to international tourism today with the elimination of the daily quota of tourists entering the country, after almost three years of restrictions, in the hope of revitalizing the Japanese economy.

Japan has also resumed bilateral short-term visa waiver agreements (up to three months) with 68 countries and territories, a list that includes the Chinese special administrative region of Macau.

The agreements had been suspended at the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic, forcing any foreign citizen to obtain a visa to enter Japan.

The measures eliminate the entry quota, which has been set at 50,000 tourists a day since September 7, and the obligation to use a travel agency as an intermediary to organize the visit.

People with at least three doses of a covid-19 vaccine, approved by the World Health Organization (WHO), will not have to present a negative test certificate within 72 hours of leaving for Japan.

Passengers with a complete vaccination or a negative result will not have to be tested on arrival or undergo quarantine, measures that will be applied in specific cases.

The requirement for vaccination or a negative test "is something we have to consider in order to find a good balance between preventing infections and the need to revitalize the economy," Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told a press conference today.

At the beginning of September, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had announced a reduction in the isolation period from ten to seven days, from the moment a person begins to show symptoms, in order to allow workers to return to their jobs more quickly.

According to Lusa, Japan has imposed some of the strictest border measures among world powers, something that analysts say has discouraged tourists from traveling to the archipelago, limiting the recovery of tourism and the country's economy.

In 2019, before the pandemic outbreak, Japan received 31.9 million tourists. In 2021, the number was 246,000, according to data from the Japanese Tourism Office.