Japan bans all new foreign visitors, bubble hopes dashed

Japan will ban all incoming foreign travellers for a month from today, as concerns over the spread of the Omicron variant grow. The ban will apply to new entrants from every country, including business travellers, students and technical trainees. Tourists are already prohibited from entering the country.

The news comes just days after Australian Prime Minster announced that fully-vaccinated tourists from Japan would be allowed to enter Australia from December 1, an arrangement that would “match the trouble bubble currently in place with Singapore”, according to a post on the PM’s social media channels.

There had been hopes that this arrangement would be reciprocated for Australian tourists entering Japan, but these now appeared to be dashed.

Japan now heads into its second consecutive ski season with no foreign tourists, a situation that will leave many businesses struggling. A number of Japanese ski resorts opened for business over the weekend, as a 3-day storm delivered over a metre of snow to some of the country’s top winter destinations.