After more than two years of being sealed off to the world because of the coronavirus pandemic, Japan is getting ready to welcome international tourists again.
Starting next month, holidaymakers will be welcome to explore Tokyo’s neon streets, Kyoto’s ancient temples and the slopes of Mount Fuji.
That’s because the Japanese government aims to ease restrictions on foreign travellers arriving in the country, with no quarantine or self-isolation for fully-vaccinated travellers from June.
New rules from Japanese authorities will also allow up to 20,000 daily overseas visitors to fly to the country, according to a report from local news outlet Kyodo News.
The updated arrivals cap will go into force in June, the news agency reported on Wednesday, citing a government source. The increase in foreign arrival numbers is double the 10,000 cap previously in place for business and student visitors.
It comes following Japan’s Golden Week holidays, which ended with Children’s Day on May 5.
During this popular holiday period, authorities examined airport quarantine facilities and monitored domestic infections to assess whether the country was ready to embrace travel again.
Japan has been restricted to tourists since the early days of the pandemic. Even as much of the world started to travel again, the country stayed firmly closed.
Tourists and spectators were excluded from attending the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics last summer and the country opened to business travellers and those on student visas only in late 2021.
In March, Japan reopened to all new foreign arrivals, but the rule excluded one major group: international tourists.
Plans are in place for the return of tourism, with travellers being considered fully vaccinated if they have received three doses of a recognised Covid-19 vaccine. The country will first reopen to small tour groups with fixed itineraries before resuming general tourism, according to Bloomberg.
More than 80 per cent of Japan's population is vaccinated, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, higher than the average world rate of immunisation.
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MATCH INFO
Juventus 1 (Dybala 45')
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Red card: Rodrigo Bentancur (Juventus)
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Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
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Tickets range from Dh110 for an advance single-day pass to Dh300 for a weekend pass at the door. VIP tickets have sold out. Visit www.mefcc.com to purchase tickets in advance.
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Tuan Phan of SimplyFI.org lists five signs you have been mis-sold to:
1. Your pension fund has been placed inside an offshore insurance wrapper with a hefty upfront commission.
2. The money has been transferred into a structured note. These products have high upfront, recurring commission and should never be in a pension account.
3. You have also been sold investment funds with an upfront initial charge of around 5 per cent. ETFs, for example, have no upfront charges.
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Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
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Uefa Men's Player of the Year: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
Uefa Women's Player of the Year: Lucy Bronze (Lyon)
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Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
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The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
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Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
In 2018, the ICRC received 27,756 trace requests in the Middle East alone. The global total was 45,507.
There are 139,018 global trace requests that have not been resolved yet, 55,672 of these are in the Middle East region.
More than 540,000 individuals approached the ICRC in the Middle East asking to be reunited with missing loved ones in 2018.
The total figure for the entire world was 654,000 in 2018.
Founders: Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain.
Based: Riyadh
Offices: UAE, Vietnam and Germany
Founded: September, 2020
Number of employees: 70
Sector: FinTech, online payment solutions
Funding to date: $116m in two funding rounds
Investors: Checkout.com, Impact46, Vision Ventures, Wealth Well, Seedra, Khwarizmi, Hala Ventures, Nama Ventures and family offices
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THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
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