Japan's State of Emergency Continues

Today, the Japan Times reported a government spokesman discussed the possibility of extending the current State of Emergency in Tokyo, Osaka, and other prefectures beyond the May 31, 2021, expiration date.

For example, Japan placed the Okinawa Prefecture under the State of Emergency through June 20th.

Recently, the U.S. CDC announced, 'because of the current situation in Japan even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants and should avoid nonessential travel to Japan.'

This Level 3 Travel Alert issued on May 19, 2021, says, 'if you must travel to Japan, get fully vaccinated before travel. See the CDC recommendations for fully vaccinated travelers and unvaccinated travelers.’

To increase COVID-19 vaccine availability, Japan authorized its version of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on May 22nd.

If you are planning to visit Japan, foreign nationals who have stayed in any of the following 159 countries/regions within 14 days before the application for landing are denied to enter Japan according to Article 5 of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, unless special exceptional circumstances are found.

Furthermore, when returning to the USA, all air passengers, including U.S. citizens and fully vaccinated people, are required to have a negative COVID-19 test result from no more than 3 days before travel or documentation of recovery from COVID-19 in the past 3 months before they board a flight to the USA, states the CDC.