Tourism reopening: Japan fails to attract foreign biohazards
In May, PM Kishida told the the UK’s financial elite in the City of London that Japan was going to move towards aligning its border policy with the rest of the G7 in June during his “Invest in Kishida” speech.
The following month, Japan finally reopened to tourists 26 months after slamming its border shut to them. It also raised its daily arrival limit from 10,000 to 20,000! On the campaign trail in early July, Kishida boasted to a crowd in Akita Prefecture that Japan had now reopened and that foreign tourists would now be able to go to the 700,000-spectator Omagari Fireworks Festival in August (pictured). Hooray! Thank you, Fumio!
After so long, visitors must have been pouring off the planes in droves.
Oh dear. The JNTO data shows visitor arrivals in June were lower than in April and May. And almost all of these arrivals were businesspeople, students, and workers.
So how many tourists came in the first month of Japan’s grand reopening?
Just 1500? They could all have stayed in the same hotel. But there are more on their way, right? Well, according to the government, 5467 people have applied to come in August and 1676 have applied to come in September or later, pitiful numbers. In contrast, Thailand is now getting 30,000 tourists daily.
So why aren’t people coming to sample the sights, sake, and sushi? To find out, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK asked an expert.
Rikkyo University researcher Tamai Kazuhiro says such a low figure was unexpected, but may be due to tighter restrictions that include visa requirements ensuring proper quarantine systems are in place.
“Unexpected”!? I expected it. In case you’ve not read my previous post on this…
…foreign tourists can only come on small group tours with North Korean style guides to ensure they constantly wear masks and don’t deviate from a fixed itinerary. Guides are even requested to fix and keep records of seating arrangements on journeys and at meals so that if a group member tests positive for Covid, the guides know which other members to quarantine in the hotel as close contacts.
In London, Kishida had said “By all means, please visit Japan. We’ll offer maximum hospitality.” I think he meant to say “maximum hostility”.
The longer Japanese version of the above NHK report unsurprisingly found foreigners are less than enthusiastic about spending large sums of money for the opportunity to be monitored by a faceless drone to make sure they participate in Japan’s Covid Kabuki.
The segment interviewed a representative from Inside Japan Tours who said the majority of travelers who’d made prior reservations see the guidelines and either postpone or cancel their trip to Japan or choose to go to Vietnam or Thailand, countries that don’t treat foreigners like biohazards.
Unimpressed reactions to the tour guidelines from dissuaded travelers include “Will the guide be accompanying us on romantic dinners too?” and “Being surveilled doesn’t give a welcoming feeling.” Pace Prof Tamai, it’s a wonder any tourists came at all.
All visitors also need to go through the rigmarole of obtaining a visa beforehand and a negative PCR test within 72 hours of departure, which makes Japan less attractive for business travel too.
NHK also interviewed people in Asakusa, a touristy area of Tokyo.
The market stall holders were understandably despondent about Japan’s embarrassingly low tourists numbers, especially since the government and media had got their hopes up about inbound tourism returning.
Big business is also unhappy.
Sadly, the business community has been the only opponent of the Sakoku 2.0 border controls. But all their complaints about lost business opportunities do nothing to fix the reason ridiculous entry restrictions are still in place: the Japanese public’s fear of unmasked foreigners.
Indeed, Prof Tamai may not understand foreigners, but he knows his compatriots.
Tamai added that the recent surge in cases in Japan has caused anxiety among the public about more freely accepting foreign tourists.
Confirming his point, one woman interviewed by NHK in Asakusa said “Because Covid is still spreading, I want the entry restrictions to continue for a little longer.” Frankly, if the Japanese are seriously worried about Covid spreading, maybe exit restrictions would be more appropriate.
But this mentality means that even if the government scraps the entry restrictions, visitors will encounter a people still in the grips of mask-psychosis. As I’ve written before, one of the main reasons pre-Covid Japan was such a peaceful and pleasant place to live and visit was the Japanese prioritisation of group harmony, which the government and media have skillfully weaponised to ensure compliance with Covid measures like 24/7 masking. Japan is still peaceful, but it’s a lot less pleasant.
So if the Japanese business community wants to avoid Japan being left behind and the PM wants foreigners to “Invest in Kishida”, lifting entry restrictions won’t be enough; the Japanese public needs to be made to snap out of its mask mania too.
I wouldn’t book a plane ticket just yet.
Good write up. I had no idea Japan was like North Korea for tourists. Bunch of hypnotized zombies over there that don’t think for themselves or do their own research apparently..
excellent write up. thank you.