Japan plans to double entry cap to allow 20,000 daily arrivals starting in June

Japan's government is arranging to double the cap on arrivals from overseas to 20,000 people per day in June, government sources said Wednesday. The relaxation of the cap is expected to go ahead following an examination of airport quarantine infrastructure and the coronavirus situation in the country after the Golden Week holidays, which ended Sunday. Additionally, the government is considering accepting tourists by trialing small-scale tours as soon as this month, with an eye to expanding the number of tourists in stages. Japan, which adopted the strictest pandemic border measures among Group of Seven nations, has been under pressure to reopen. In late April, private-sector members of a government panel on economic and fiscal policy called for relaxing the daily foreign arrival cap and easing additional immigration procedures. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said during his visit to London on Thursday that Japan will review its COVID-19 measures "in stages" after consulting with public health experts, and bring them on par with other G7 nations. The government closed Japan to all nonresident foreign visitors on Nov. 30 in response to the emergence of the highly contagious omicron variant. Since March 1, controls have been relaxed for entries of businesspeople, foreign students, technical intern trainees and others entering for nontourism purposes. The cap on arrivals per day was raised from 3,500 since November to 5,000 on March 1, 7,000 on March 14 and to the current 10,000 on April 10.<br/>