Japan’s government will begin permitting small group tours from four countries later this month.
Japan is slowly opening up to foreign tourism after putting in place strong border restrictions because of COVID-19.
Transport Minister Tetsuo Saito said Tuesday that tours will be permitted from Australia, Singapore, Thailand and the United States as an experiment.
Those taking part must have three vaccine shots. The tours must also have guides and fixed plans. Each tour can have at most four people. A total of 50 people are expected to join the experiment, the Japan Tourism Agency said.
Participants will enter Japan on a special visa, not a tourist visa, the agency said. The results will be used to create coronavirus guidelines for tour operators, hotels and other related businesses, it said.
The experiment is expected to start next week and continue until the end of May. Additional details, including the length of the tours and where they will go, have yet to be decided.
Japan’s…