There are still countries and territories where the COVID-19 pandemic has had a strong impact on the lives of citizens and tourists. In particular, compared to countries such as the United States and Europe, which more or less enjoy their pre-corona lifestyles, the pandemic still shows a much stronger presence in Asia. Japan, where the Tokyo Olympics 2020 were held this past July, is one such country along with China.
However, on September 22, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced in a news conference in New York, that it would remove all restrictions on measures against the COVID-19 pandemic, ahead of China, where some strict measures continue. From June 2022, visitors of foreign nationals were allowed to enter Japan only through package tours through travel agencies. The removal of Covid related restrictions will at last allow the non-Japanese to visit on a private tour.
For a decade since 2012, Japan has been developing a so-called “inbound policy” to actively accept international tourists. In 2019 before COVID-19, nearly 32 million foreign tourists visited Japan, and the Japanese government set a goal to accept 60 million by 2030. Combined with the current exchange rate of the Japanese yen, which has shown historical weakness against the US dollar and Euro, the removal of restrictions will certainly attract travel lovers to visit Japan, but with travel bans for more than two years, the question is how many tourists would direct their interest to Japan.
Additionally, despite the removal of restrictions, it has now become a common practice for people to wear a face mask in public and are afraid to remove them. Hence the shadow of the pandemic is still dark. In August-September, Japan experienced the “7th wave”, and yet the government hastily opened its borders, which is presumably because the country desperately wanted to avoid missing the momentum of inbound visitors.
One important milestone before 2030 is 2025. Japan is to host the Osaka World Expo in 2025, and is expected to open an IR (Integrated Resort) including the country’s first legalized land casino. Now that the Tokyo Olympics ended with a disappointing limited economic effect despite the initial expectations, Japan wishes to avoid further loss of inbound momentum due to the pandemic in preparation for these two big events.
IRs, including casinos, have a somewhat complicated background in Japanese society, and there is a lot of pressure to ensure success. In the country, basically all domestic gambling sites are considered illegal, while there are a few exceptions such as publicly-run horse racing and bicycle racing. Pachinko parlors are flourishing not only in big cities such as Tokyo and Osaka but also in small rural towns. These are proof of the high level of public interest in gambling.
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“Even on our online casino review site, queries around legality have larger traffics, and it shows the high level of interest people have in gambling,” said Masa Sasashima, editor of onlineacsinojapan.com says.
In the midst of these arguments, there are many challenges on a global scale, such as the destabilization of international relations and securities. When Japan opens its gates to foreign tourists, it could be more difficult than expected to predict whether the numbers will soon return to pre-pandemic leve
