Japan Lowers Quarantine To Three Days For Business Travelers From Monday (November 8, 2021)

Japan made official on Friday the lowered quarantine requirement for business travelers and allowing those to enter that come for study or technical training.

If these business visitors have been fully vaccinated with Pfizer, Moderna, or AzraZeneca, they only need to quarantine for three nights. The new entry rules are effective from 10 AM on November 8, 2021.

Business visitors are tested on the third day and are free to roam if the tests come back negative. However, the sponsoring company must monitor their activity for the first seven days. Those who come to the country for a longer period to study or train need to quarantine for two weeks.

Here’s an excerpt from the Japan Times:

Those arriving in Japan for short business trips will only be required to quarantine for three days if they have received one of the vaccines that Japan has approved — Pfizer, Moderna or AstraZeneca.

Those intending to stay long term, such as international students and technical trainees, will need to quarantine for 14 days.

Unvaccinated arrivals or those inoculated with unapproved vaccines will still be required to undergo quarantine for 14 days, either at a designated facility or an accommodation of their choosing, depending on where they are arriving from.

Companies, organizations and schools responsible for those new entries will be required to monitor their activities.

Conclusion

It is unclear what the documentation requirements are for business visitors and how the companies should monitor their activities for the first week after the quarantine.

This is a good step in reopening the country, albeit slowly, to international visitors, first starting with the business ones.

I wish the country would reopen for visitor arrivals with an on arrival negative PCR-RT test by the sakura next year. I would be happy to spend a few weeks in the country after sheltering there for six months in 2020.