Japan will reopen to tourists from 98 countries after being closed for two years. The opening will be tightly controlled. Only tour groups will be allowed in. A daily cap of 20,000 arrivals has been set and their movements will be monitored. All visitors have to test negative for Covid. Some will need an additional test and quarantine for three days. Japan has had very strict border controls. This played a part in its relatively low number of coronavirus cases.

Japan's tourism industry welcomed the news. It has suffered in the past two years. The number of overseas visitors fell by over 99 per cent in 2020. It fell from 32 million in 2019 to just 250,000 in 2021. A Japanese airline hoped the looser border controls would help the economy. Japan's relaxing of its entry restrictions is timely. Last week, the World Economic Forum ranked the country highest on its list of global travel destinations.