Hazaado ranpu

So, it's been nearly two months since I last posted here. I have been pretty busy at work since my last post, so I haven't been able to post anything.

As I'm sure you are aware, Japan officially opened its borders to foreign visitors from October 11th. Furthermore, the daily visitor cap was lifted, and foreigners that come to the country can travel across Japan freely, without the need for mandatory guided tours. On top of this, the Japanese yen taken a dive recently, making it much more appealing for foreigners to come and spend much needed tourist money in Japan.

One thing I would like to talk about is my driving experiences in Japan. Recently, I have been working out of town again, and unlike previous times where I would catch a train and possibly stay at a hotel, I have to drive daily due to the location. This also means I need to take expressways, and deal with toll gates on a daily basis. While the driving system is largely the same as in my country, there are a couple of small things I've noticed that are pretty useful, which mostly center around the use of hazard lights (or ハザードランプ / hazard lamp in Japanese.

The first observation is when cars merge in to one lane - something my hometown has problems doing at times - at least when I was last back home. People in Japan follow the "zig zag approach" for merging, and after the car merges, they use the hazard lights to signal thanks for letting them go ahead of you. In my hometown, people sometimes just wave in the rare cases, though it can be hard to see.

Another instance I have observed is on the expressway when you spot a traffic jam. Given the high speed and the need to suddenly slow down, cars and trucks will signal others of the traffic jam up ahead by using hazard lights. Of course, successive cars will signal other vehicles, and this continues on, reducing chances of a traffic accident.

I don't know if other countries have similar practices with use of the hazard lights like in Japan, but I'm curious if anybody has seen other uses of them - whether within Japan or in other countries.

Japan reopening to foreign tourists from June 2022

 I am a little late on this news, since it was announced a few days ago, but it's still pretty important nonetheless.

Following up from my previous entry about Japan considering letting in foreign tourists, Japan has confirmed that the country will slowly begin allowing foreign tourists in starting from June 10. As I had also mentioned, 7 people from the US arrived in Japan as part of the first trials of their controlled group tours, with two different itineraries set up so far. The government is obviously starting small to see what needs to be done in the event that any one in these tour groups catches the CCP virus. 
Just as a reminder though, tourists will not have free reign over where they will go and what they will do. At least, not yet anyway, and some people have drawn parallels with North Korea's controlled tours - though the reasons are completely different: One being to control the spread of the CCP virus, and the other being a means to not highlight its country in any undesirable light, despite the truth of said country being pretty much common knowledge.

Regardless of this "packaged tour" approach, Japan will be classifying countries/regions in to three categories (blue, yellow, red), with blue being the lowest risk (and currently comprised of 98 countries in this category), and red being the highest risk. 

Finally, those coming from overseas will be expected to follow Japan's mask wearing policy. Many other countries have dropped their mask mandates, but Japan still hasn't. As part of the country's CCP virus countermeasures, overseas visitors will have to wear masks. I personally have no problem with this, but I can see a lot of people continue to stay from Japan because of this mask mandate. 

While a complete lift of restrictions entering the country isn't on the cards yet, this is a good start. While not a perfect solution, I can only hope that the Japanese government will make necessary adjustments as overseas tourists slowly start coming back to visit Japan again. 

Japan to finally allow foreign tourists in?

 According to this article, Japan is finally looking to begin accepting foreign tourists in to the country, possibly starting from June. If you're not familiar with the situation at the moment here at the moment, Japan has largely prohibited foreigners from entering the country since the outbreak of the CCP virus. In recent months (since March this year, I think), Japan has eased up on the restrictions on foreigners by allowing up to a limit of 10,000 per day. However, only international students, foreign technical interns, and foreigners who are coming to Japan for business purposes are allowed in at the moment. 

Another article goes in to more detail regarding the plan. It seems to want to do a trial run by allowing foreign tourists in to Japan, but only allowing them to run on a fixed itinerary, supposedly to "grasp their movements" and to determine what to do in situations where the CCP virus is detected in tourists.

This does look like promising news to many who want to enter Japan, and for my mum to come visit again, as she does enjoy travelling in Japan. When it does happen, I would like to take the chance to show mum around Saitama, as she never went to Ibaraki prefecture when she visited Japan in the past (though with it's reputation as the worst prefecture, I wouldn't blame her for not wanting to go there). It will also be good news for one of my friends who was planning to come some time this year on business.