Summer kimono yukata-clad Japanese tourists view a commemorative photo at the Kaminarimon gate of Sensoji temple at Asakusa, downtown Tokyo, Japan, 07 September 2022. Japan raised its daily entry cap on arrivals from 20,000 to 50, 000 on 07 September 2022 as a part of easing the strict COVID-19 border controls which were imposed for more than two years. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida inacted the policy to invite more foreign visitors for to aid the Japanese economy. EPA-EFE/KIMIMASA MAYAMA Prime Minister Fumio Kishida may decide as early as this week on the easing, which would also allow individual travellers to visit Japan without travel agency bookings, FNN reported. Japan did not require tourist visas for 68 countries and regions before the pandemic.
The government may scrap a daily cap on arrivals by October, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Sunday.
Deputy chief cabinet secretary Seiji Kihara said on a television programme on Sunday that "a weak yen is most effective in attracting inbound tourism," adding that further steps must be taken to draw in foreign visitors.
Japan last week raised the daily ceiling of inbound travellers to 50,000 from 20,000 and eliminated a requirement for pre-departure COVID tests, easing what have been among the most restrictive border measures among major economies.
(Reporting by Rocky Swift; Editing by Kim Coghill)