• The visa-waiver programme from ‘certain countries’ will be reinstated.
• FIT travel will be allowed to resume.
• Daily pax arrival caps will be removed.

We can now confirm that Australia and New Zealand are on the list of 68 countries whose passport holders will have the visa waiver reinstated, meaning that for travel after 11 Oct, travellers holding an Australian or New Zealand passport will no longer need to apply for a visa in advance. This also means that the ERFS certificate will no longer be required.

(Until 11 October, all travelers will still require a valid visa, for which an ERFS certificate is required.)

At this stage, travellers are still required to either:

• Be triple vaccinated and provide a vaccine certificate, OR
• Have a negative PCR test result taken within 72 hours before departure.

Minors who are not triple vaccinated (for instance, have not had a booster) may be exempt as long as they are travelling with parents/guardians who are triple vaccinated. Minors travelling unaccompanied OR with parents/guardians who are not triple vaccinated will be required to obtain the negative PCR test result.

Please note that Japan has strict requirements for the PCR test result format. The Embassy of Japan in Australia has compiled a list of medical institutions in Australia which can meet this requirement (visit the Embassy's website and scroll down to point 3). I'm not aware of a corresponding list for New Zealand so please check the test result requirements on Japan's MHLW website and enquire with the testing centre to confirm that they can meet these.