Japan to raise daily entry cap to 10,000 on April 10

Jiji Press

11:00 JST, April 2, 2022

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Japan will raise the daily cap on the number of people allowed to enter the country to around 10,000 from the current 7,000 on April 10, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Friday.

Japan is further easing its COVID-19 border controls to open the gate wider for foreigners who wish to study or work as technical trainees in the country.

“We’ll respond appropriately to the needs of Japanese to return home and the needs of foreigners including international students to enter Japan,” Matsuno said at a press conference.

“We hope to be increasing international flows of people in stages,” the top government spokesman said.

Meanwhile, Japan is seeing signs of a coronavirus infection resurgence, with the BA.2 subvariant replacing the original omicron variant as the dominant form of the virus.

“We are responding properly to infection risks,” Matsuno said, pledging thorough COVID-19 tests before departure and after arrival, as well as health monitoring after entering Japan.

Last month, the government eased its strict border control measures greatly, allowing new entries by foreign nationals for purposes other than tourism.

The daily entry limit was raised from 3,500 to 5,000 on March 1 and 7,000 on March 14.

Meanwhile, some 15,000 foreigners planning to study in Japan and having the necessary visa status remained unable to enter as of March 1.

Since the government started a special program to accept international students on the waiting list, regardless of the daily entry limit, over 10,000 of them have entered the country.