Hi! Kirk here with news that I’m sure most of you have already gotten and that fits in the category of “not specific to Kumamoto but is as relevant to those of us here as it is to the rest of Japan.”
I’ve seen some articles that make it sound as though Japan has decided not to allow any foreigners into Japan. Here, for example, is a sentence from Nikkei Asia:
“Japan will suspend entry into the country by foreign nationals starting Tuesday, citing the emergence of the omicron variant of COVID-19.”
Fortunately, though this wording is extremely misleading (lousy journalism), there is more nuance to the actual policy. Both the following NHK article and video and the Japanese reports I’ve seen indicate that those of us with legal residency status will not be banned.
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20211129_22/
However, if you’re returning from an area in which Omicron has been discovered, you may be significantly delayed by the need to quarantine. Here’s the government page on that topic:
https://www.mofa.go.jp/ca/fna/page4e_001053.html#section3
And here is the text currently on the page regarding the countries that have been newly added to the special restrictions:
Countries/ regions subject to the quarantine measures mentioned in (i) above. On November 26, 2021, the following countries are designated (The above-mentioned quarantine measures already commenced from 0:00 am (JST) on November 27, 2021.): Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho On November 27, 2021, the following countries are designated (The above-mentioned quarantine measures commence from 0:00 am (JST) on November 28, 2021.): Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique
