The Japanese government Friday announced it will lift international travel restrictions for students and businesspersons starting Monday. However, the borders will continue to remain closed for tourists for now. Why has Japan lifted travel restrictions now? The Japanese government, in view of the improving Covid-19 situation, had decided to ease restrictions on international travel but the move has followed a strong push from domestic and foreign business groups to reopen the borders in line with other countries. What are the new norms? According to a Nikkei report, Japan will lift the entry ban for business persons, students and technical trainees. For business persons who are fully vaccinated, the mandatory self-isolation period will be cut to a minimum three days. The news report also said that as many as 3,70,000 persons have already been issued entry visas but were being barred from entering the country. Of this, 1,50,000 are students and 1,10,000 are technical trainees. What about tourists? So far, the Japanese government is not allowing tourists to travel there but it will assess the effectiveness of the measures put in place to contain Covid-19 and will consider expanding the scope of relaxations in phases within a year. Which other countries can travellers from India fly to? A number of other countries, including Singapore, the UAE, Germany, Spain, Maldives, Turkey, Thailand, etc are allowing Indian travellers to some extent. Late last month, the city-state of Singapore had lifted its ban on travel of its citizens and permanent residents from India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka effective October 26, meaning people who have been in these countries in the past 14 days are being allowed to enter Singapore. However, only Singapore citizens, permanent residents and travellers under the Death and Critical Illness Emergency Visits Lane are being allowed entry. Newsletter | Click to get the day's best explainers in your inbox
