While other Asian countries are inching toward reopening, Japanese borders will likely remain shut for some time to come. That’s a hardship for the many businesses that had come to rely on foreign tourists, who numbered 32 million in 2019, before the pandemic.

While mandatory quarantine requirements have been eased somewhat after the number of new coronavirus cases plunged from hundreds per day to a few dozen per day in Tokyo, unlike the Indonesian resort island of Bali and some destinations in Thailand, Japan remains off-limits to foreign tourists.

Japan has also effectively shut out foreign students and business travellers.

Read the full AP story here.

In this April 29, 2021 file photo, people walk through a shopping street along the famed Sensoji temple in the Asakusa neighbourhood in Tokyo, Japan. — AP/File
In this April 29, 2021 file photo, people walk through a shopping street along the famed Sensoji temple in the Asakusa neighbourhood in Tokyo, Japan. — AP/File

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