Thinking of Going to Japan?
A holdout for tourists is opening up… sorta. One grandmother’s grand escapade.
Wells $treet readers enjoy stories about travel. Today’s is a doozy. And I have more! Click these links to my past travel tales about Peru, Hawaii, and Spain. Oh heck, just make it easy on yourself and subscribe to this free newsletter. You’ll do us both a favor.
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I’ve waited 2½ years to see my son and his family in Okinawa, Japan. My grandson just turned three, and I’ve never met my one-year-old granddaughter. (I know, me, a grandmother. Freaks me out, too.)
My last trip to Okinawa was in November, 2019, when my grandson was only four months old. I planned to return the following February, but as winter rolled around, Covid was spreading across the globe. I was terrified of catching it on a trans-Pacific flight and bringing it to my loved ones, so I canceled and rebooked for April.
By March, you know what happened. The world shut down.
My husband and I remained optimistic. “Oh, this will blow over by May.”
Well, it still hasn’t “blown over,” especially in Japan.
The world’s third-largest economy has been one of the last to reopen its borders to foreign tourists and family members. It’s only doing so in very small steps, even as the economic fallout has been dramatic.
The number of foreign tourists hit a record 32 million in 2019, according to the Japanese government. Bloomberg says 40 million were expected in 2020, but after Japan closed its borders that March, the number went to virtually zero. One study suggests the tourism losses in 2020 alone topped $85 billion.
In 2021, only 90,000 visas were granted, down from 8.27 million in 2019. Japan banned spectators from the Summer Olympic Games — already delayed a year — costing an estimated $800 million in lost ticket sales.
A little more than a year ago, I tried to get an emergency visa to fly over and help my very-pregnant daughter-in-law, but the consulate in Los Angeles told me I had little chance of succeeding. What’s more, if my application failed to be approved, I wouldn’t be allowed to try again for six months. So I didn’t even apply. I was afraid a “rejection” blemish on my record would last longer than Covid.
Last November, Japan began letting some study-abroad students return, along with businesspeople sponsored by a Japanese company, though the daily entry of foreigners was capped at 3,500. Tourists — and overseas family — remained barred.
Then last month, the government began allowing in a limited number of tourists who were part of organized trips going to select places run by Japanese tourism agencies. The cap on daily arrivals is now up to 20,000, still only a fraction of what it was pre-pandemic. (It was reportedly going to 30,000 on July 1, but I can’t find any confirmation that’s happened.)
Individual tourists are still not allowed. So I thought I was still out of luck.
Then my daughter, doing a little Googling, accidentally discovered a notice buried inside the website of the Japanese consulate in Los Angeles. It said that family members who are directly related to Japanese nationals can apply for a three-month visa.
Well, I’m directly related to two very young Japanese nationals who hold dual citizenship.
Could the wait finally be over? After being disappointed for so long, after learning to be patient and relying on FaceTime visits, I felt a glimmer of hope.
My husband and I dove into the process of applying for visas and found ourselves overwhelmed but determined. If you want to travel to Japan right now, here’s what to expect.
The Visa
In pre-Covid days, Americans could travel to Japan with ease and pick up a visa as they went through immigration, literally upon arrival in the country. Now you must apply for a visa ahead of time at a consulate. The process is long and involved, though if you’re going with an approved tour group, that agency will handle a lot of the legwork.
In my case, here’s some of what my husband and I needed to include with our visa applications to prove we had family in Japan:
My daughter-in-law’s Japanese family registry.
Her Japanese passport and U.S. green card.
My son’s birth certificate and passport.
Their marriage certificate.
The passports and birth certificates of my grandchildren.
We also needed to purchase airline tickets before applying and inform the consulate of the date we would arrive in Japan — money we had to spend without knowing if we’d be approved for visas. However, there was one thing we were not required to provide: proof of Covid vaccination.
That, I learned, would come later.
My son and his wife pulled together the requisite information, and my husband and I drove to the consulate in downtown Los Angeles to hand over the paperwork in person, along with our passports. We were not allowed to speak with anyone at the consulate. The security guard placed our forms in a basket marked “visa applications.”
We went home and prayed.
The consulate was very communicative via email. They wanted proof that our son resided in Okinawa, so we emailed a copy of his orders from the Marine Corps. They wrote back that the orders were insufficient, telling us to send a letter from his commanding officer. So we did that, too.
The clock was ticking. My flight to Japan was booked for July 12 (my husband wouldn't be joining me until later). As the 4th of July passed, we still hadn’t been approved for visas. I grew worried. Then on Friday, July 8, our visas came in the mail, glued to pages in our passports.
Mission accomplished! Or so I thought.
My Visa!
The Apps
For some reason — maybe because I’m not that bright — it didn’t hit me until late in the game that there might be more I needed to prepare for. Like, no one from the consulate or Japan Airlines had told me that we needed to test negative for Covid before leaving, and I hadn’t thought to ask. I’d been solely focused on the visa application.
But as questions suddenly dawned on me — at midnight, naturally, while trying to sleep — I bolted awake and started Googling, “Requirements for entering Japan.” What followed was a chase down various internet rabbit holes where I discovered that, yes, we needed negative Covid results from a test taken within 72 hours of departure.
But that’s not all.
JAL notified me that every traveler needs to download two government apps. One called the SOS app required me to enter all of my health and personal information before arriving in Japan — including my vaccination card and Covid test result (including a mandatory form written in both Japanese and English). The other app is a Covid tracker that notifies me if I’ve been exposed to someone who tests positive for the virus, and vice versa.
The Japanese Government Health App (lower right-hand corner was my area)
The Covid Tracking App
The Official Covid Test Form
I downloaded the apps, filled out the information, went to CVS and paid $200 out of pocket for the appropriate Covid test, and then sweated for an hour waiting for the result. Success! I uploaded a PDF of my negative result into the health app, along with a PDF of my completed official Covid test form (see above). The app’s home screen eventually turned blue. This meant I was medically cleared to enter Japan (and fortunately, U.S. residents don’t need to quarantine upon arrival).
YAYYYYYYYYY!!
The Blue Screen of Approval
But that’s still not all.
I also received a barcode on the app that I was supposed to show authorities when I arrived, though finding the barcode took a little poking around.
Confused yet?
The Flight
JAL told me via email that I should get to LAX at least three hours before my flight, as the check-in process is very long, and some passengers had missed previous flights.
My husband dropped me off four hours early, thrilled to let me be the guinea pig for a process he won’t have to go through until late July. I had no baggage to check, but I still had to go through the main line. There were probably a half dozen groups of couples or families ahead of me.
It took 45 minutes to get to the counter. Some people hadn’t filled out their paperwork ahead of time…
However, my check-in took only two minutes, and then I was off through security and ready for the three-hour wait at the gate. Except… the flight was two hours delayed.
As I finally boarded the plane several hours later, the gate agent scanned my ticket and I walked on. A red light and buzzer went off. “Stop!” the agent barked. My heart sank.
So close, I thought. Now what?
He sent me over to another agent at the counter who scanned my boarding pass and looked confused. “You’ve already boarded,” he told me. “Go ahead.”
Great, I thought, someone’s probably sitting in my seat.
Uh… someone was sitting in my seat.
Fortunately, the young man was merely in the wrong seat. He and his buddy told me they’d recently finished pharmacy school and were headed to Thailand to celebrate “before starting our real jobs.”
At long last, the plane took off. No one could kick me off now.
I soon learned that most of the passengers on the flight were not going to Japan; they were only transiting through there to other parts of Asia — just like the pharmacy guys. When the flight attendant came down the aisle with Japanese customs forms, I seemed to be the only one who raised a hand. She was surprised. So was I.
The Arrival
As everyone deplaned at Narita Airport in Tokyo, the only walkway available was labeled “international connections.” This did not include me. I asked an airport employee how to get to arrivals and immigration. She looked at me oddly. “No connection,” I said. “No connection?” she repeated, taken aback.
She consulted with her colleagues, and I was asked to stand in a corner and wait. Ten other passengers eventually joined me. Out of a packed Boeing 777 with over 300 seats, there were fewer than a dozen people staying in Japan.
We were finally escorted to the arrivals area. JAL had said via email that going through immigration could take up to five hours, but… Narita was empty. I got through immigration and customs in ten minutes. (Hot tip: Have the SOS app opened to the blue screen and flash it everywhere, and get that barcode ready.)
I took a cab to a Hilton near the airport to grab a few hours of sleep. Like the airport, the hotel was pretty empty. The host at the restaurant asked me if I was part of an airline crew.
Totally Worth It
Being back in Japan, I remember how much I love it. It’s so… different. The country is still reeling from the assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe, but that tragedy hasn’t changed what’s wonderful about Japan. It’s not just the aesthetic of balance and beauty that always impresses me, but all the little things: the way your credit card is elegantly handed to you with both hands, the efficiency of public transport mixed with a little chaos, and the warm toilet seats (how can America call itself the greatest nation on earth and not have pre-warmed toilet seats?).
The flight to Okinawa the next morning was uneventful. Most people don’t realize how far Okinawa is from Tokyo. The island is a 2½-hour flight from Japan’s capital. It’s closer to Taiwan than mainland Japan.
But 2½ hours was nothing compared to 2½ years. I’m finally in my happy place. It’s been worth the wait.
How cute is that little girl?
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Questions? I might have answers. I mean, I could probably charge a FORTUNE to walk people through this crazy process. But I live to serve. Leave a question or comment by joining the discussion below or 📧 jane@janewells.com. And if you want to see more photos of my beautiful grandchildren, wellllll… I‘ll try not to overdo it on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Can’t make any promises.