Go see the fish market before they replace it with that new monstrosity

Not sure the process in Japan atm, but in most countries you won’t even reach the immigration stage, they’ll turn you down before

Yes.. oh I should check the updated regulations. My plan was to go to SG first since I thought Korea was still banned :)

completely insane but validates the theory

so someone really just needs to give it a go

Or be a baller. 2 weeks at sea ain't easy.

Travel for tourism and most other short-term purposes is still not permitted, and there is no indication that this will change in the short term. Visa-free travel is suspended.

but the ministry of foreign affairs for japan says that the united states, canada, and like 5 other countries still have visa free travel to Japan

it was never suspended. the link you posted is incorrect, as crazy as it sounds.

all of the guidance around this issue has been worded as confusingly as possible on purpose. if you actually read the rules you’ll see that visa free travel from the US was not suspended, you just can’t enter Japan directly from the US. You have to go through one of the countries not on the banned list, like Singapore or South Korea. A citizen of Singapore can’t fly from Singapore to Japan because their visa free entry IS suspended, but a US Citizen can.

Canada, Chile, North Macedonia, Mauritius, Serbia, Turkey, and US passport holders are supposedly not suspended.

This sounds like an exciting loophole to visit Japan! I'm heading to Thailand next week with a stop over in Japan but they told me I couldn't leave the airport so I chose a quick one. I'm coming from the US with a US passport and am fully Vaxed (with a new booster even). I would be interested in trying this from Thailand via Singapore with a cheap Air Asia flight of somekind. So has anyone sucessfully done this?

🛬 eluzzobycah just arrived in Aichi, #japan

for a month. might be back on the table in January

I'm tempted by the MVNO operators like Mobal/Sakura which have no contract and decent rates for data but none seem to have inclusive minutes. 22 yen for 30 seconds can add up when on hold, etc

Just in case anyone else reads this, I have found the best deal (for me) at Docomo directly. Here's what I found:
• Getting a Japanese mobile phone got a whole lot easier this year.
• When buying a phone in Japan, the device and the plan isn't bundled together any more.
• Mobile phone providers aren't allowed to lock phones to their network (or must provide ability to unlock)
• (I didn't, but if you need a device, you'll have a 2 year contract but you can pay it off whenever you like)
• You choose the plan separately from the device and there is no contract any more. The plan is immediately on a 30 day rolling period with no tie-in whatsoever
• Docomo has two main plans
◦ "5G" plan where you are billed for the amount of data you use in stages - so no need to decide up front how much data you need per month
◦ Ahamo - this is what I went for.

Ahamo is online only (you can't get it in-store) has:
• No setup fees
• You'll need an unlocked phone. Docomo won't make any guarantees of it working with your device but almost all new phones are fine.
• No contact
• 20GB per month for ~ 2900 Yen / month including tax
• On top of that you can optionally pay either:
◦ 550 Yen/month for the first 5 mins of any call to be free
◦ 1300 Yen/month for unlimited voice calls
An all-round good deal in my view

Japan-Wireless (another MVNO) uses Docomo but you do not get a proper Japanese phone number, you get an 050 (IP phone) number instead which isn't accepted by banks, etc.
Sakura Mobile also uses Docomo and apparently, you do get a proper phone number.
But none of those MVMOs have "kaketai hodai" i.e. all you can eat phone calls.
Do your own research, just wanted to share my own experience

i think japan opens may/june fwiw

march for people with work visas

Mexico is good too

Right now I am in singapore. it is expensive, but its very stable and restrictions aren’t too bad. can easily travel from here to other countries. so far no quarantine, just need to do some tests everyday for first week you’re here.

I've also been hoping to get to revsit Japan this Spring (Currently in Thailand). I just saw that they just changed the rules 14 day QT for anyone coming from Thailand ,if you could even get ibn in the frst place. I'm giving up any hope on getting back to Japan for now.

I haven't met too many DNs myself there but there was a large expat community when I lived there 2 years ago

As far as the government taking omicron lightly, I think that is mostly DNs living with their head in the clouds. Our daughter's school told us that unless we are essential employees and can make no other arrangements at all that we should keep her home for the next month.

And a holding balance limit of 1 million JPY

(I cannot post links)