Japan Raises Daily Cap On Arrivals To 10,000
The Japanese government has raised the daily cap on the number of arrivals from abroad to 10,000. The figure includes Japanese and foreign nationals.
The goal is to revive social and economic activities despite the continuing coronavirus pandemic.
The cap was raised on Sunday for the third time since March 1. On that day, new entries of foreign visitors other than tourists resumed and the number of entries was raised from 3,500 to 5,000 a day including Japanese nationals. The cap was raised further to 7,000 on March 14.
Officials say it is now possible to accept 10,000 a day because of stepped-up measures against the coronavirus, such as quarantine controls.
The government plans to further raise the limit step by step to accept more foreign students, technical trainees, and business people. It hopes to reopen the country also for foreign tourists at some point.
The timing and scale of the increase remain uncertain as new daily cases of the coronavirus are currently rising again in Japan.