The announcement ends a two-year border closure due to the pandemic.
Japan announced on Thursday that it will reopen its doors to tourists from 36 countries from June 10.
The Japanese government has revised border control rules to resume accepting group travel for tourists from 36 countries and regions where the Covid-19 situation is relatively stable, he said in a statement. .
These countries include Britain, Spain, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, but not France.
Japan will also increase to seven the number of airports accepting international flights by adding Naha, in the department of Okinawa (south), and Chitose, near Sapporo, in the department of Hokkaido (north).
All arrivals must test negative before traveling to Japan and most must be tested again upon arrival, although people who are triple vaccinated from certain countries can avoid the additional test, as well as a required three-day quarantine. for the others.
Tourist groups will also be supervised and will have to ensure that foreign visitors respect the wearing of masks and other measures that have kept the number of Covid-19 victims at a relatively low level in Japan.
Japanese in favor of restrictions
The total number of people likely to benefit from this gradual and cautious reopening remains unclear.
Next month, Japan's daily entry limit will be doubled to 20,000 people, but tour groups are not expected to be counted in that figure, according to local media.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has said he wants to ease border control measures, but things are expected to go slowly as the public favors the current restrictions.
For most of the pandemic, Japan barred all tourists from entering its territory and allowed only Japanese citizens and foreign residents to return, although the latter were periodically barred.
Before the Covid, Japan relied more and more on tourism to support its economy.
In 2019, it had welcomed 31.9 million foreign visitors, a new record, and was aiming for the 40 million mark in 2020, the year in which the Tokyo Olympics were originally to be held.
The pandemic ruined this objective and the Olympics were finally held behind closed doors in 2021.