Finally, Japan is Easing Travel and Visa Rules for the Christmas Season

Japan will soon ease its entry requirements with an eye on the fall and winter seasons, or the months leading to Christmas for Filipino travelers, Kyodo News reported.

This will include lifting the 50,000 cap on daily tourist arrivals and the requirement for a visa and a packaged tour. These will take effect in the "not so distant future", according to the report.

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Kyodo News did not say whether the visa free privilege would be extended only to nationalities who, before the pandemic, did not require a visa to enter Japan, like U.S. passport holders.

Philippine passport holders, before the pandemic, required a tourist visa at the very least to enter Japan. Currently, Philippine passport holders need a special visa as a friend, relative, worker or student to enter Japan since all tourist visas issued pre-COVID are suspended.

"Japan has seasonal attractions in fall and winter. We know there are a lot of people overseas who want to come to Japan," Kyodo News quoted an unnamed Japanese official.