Japan is to scrap pre-departure Covid tests for fully vaccinated travellers, making holidays in the country much easier.
The Asian country has had some of the strictest pandemic border measures among major economies since the start of 2020.
This has included requiring visitors to show proof of a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours of departure, signing a written pledge for quarantine and self-isolation rules, and completing a pre-travel health questionnaire online.
However, fully vaccinated travellers will no longer be required to take a pre-travel Covid test from September 7, the Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida confirmed last week.
Daily caps on entrants will remain in place however, limiting the number of entrants to 20,000 a day.
"We will continue relaxing these measures gradually," the prime minister said. "We hope to announce something soon based on the quarantine setup and the situation with infections."
In May Kishida said that he wanted to bring Japan's border measures more in line with those of other Group of Seven nations, which includes the UK and US.
At the start of the summer Japan opened up to tourists for the first time in two years, but requirements that they apply for visas and stick to guided, package tours have kept actual numbers of inbound visitors small.
The border easing comes as Japan deals with a seventh wave of infections, driven by the infectious BA.4 and BA.5 variants.
They have forced companies to idle production lines and driven Covid deaths to a record 343 on Tuesday.
All the same, Kishida is pushing a living "with corona" strategy of weathering the surge without imposing restrictions on businesses or mobility, and focusing medical resources on elderly and high-risk patients.
Travel restrictions can change quickly during the pandemic. Always check the Foreign Office's latest Japan travel advice before booking or going on a trip.
