Japan Reopens: Crew & Passenger Entry Rules Explained

Japan will reopen for individual tourist travel from October 11. Prior to this, travellers needed to be part of tourist groups, or heading there for business or study purposes. But from Oct 11 anyone can enter!

Passenger rules.

Visa free entry has resumed for the 68 countries it previously applied to. Passengers from everywhere else will need a visa.
Passengers will need either proof of vaccination (3 doses) or proof of negative test taken within 72 hours before departure.
There’s no testing on arrival and no quarantine, regardless of vaccination status. And there’s no more checking of which blue/yellow/red countries you’re coming from – that whole matrix has been scrapped.
Passengers are still encouraged to use the MySOS app and register required docs, for fast track entry.

The full passenger rules can be found here.

Crew rules.

Just like for pax, you need either proof of vaccination or proof of negative test taken within 72 hours before departure. If you can’t provide either of these, they’ll let you in but you’ll have to quarantine in the hotel.
If you have a passport from one of the 68 visa exempt countries, that’s all you need. If not, you’ll get issued a crew shore pass on arrival which allows you to stay in Japan for up to 7 days without holding a visa.
Crew don’t need to use the MySOS app. Instead, they should submit a “plan of stay” form on arrival.

The basic crew rules can be found here, which we fleshed out with help from local handling agent Aeroworks. Contact them at fltops@aeroworks.jp for further info.

Are you heading to Japan?

Let us know how it goes! Send us your Airport Spy reports so we can share the gotchas, the things to know, contacts to contact and anything else useful.

What’s Airport Spy? Well, you write a quick little postcard with “what happened” when you went to some airport somewhere. Then you, and others (that’s the magic), can refer to your notes for future flights to the same place. Try it here if you haven’t already.

If you have any further knowledge or recent experience to share, please let us know!

Japan Reopens: Crew & Passenger Entry Rules Explained