Travelers must visit Japan on a guided tour with a predetermined itinerary that is organized by a Japan-based travel agency. The travel agency will be held responsible for the tour participants and will need to follow the guidelines of the government if a tour participant was to contract Covid.
“Japan is like traveling back in time to 2020!”
That was what John, a Londoner mentioned it was like visiting Japan recently. We crossed paths in Furano when he was visiting his in-laws in Hokkaido.
First Foreign Tourist
John would be the first western foreign tourist that I have met since 2019, so few are the visitors to have come to Japan since the onset of the pandemic. The last official count was less than 8,000 tourists since Japan opened to guided tours at the end of May.
“There’s the visa requirement and the PCR test 72 hours before departure.”
He mentioned that things were nearing normality in London, “so it was strange visiting Japan and having to jump through all the hoops that the government makes you jump to visit here,” he said.
The chance meeting with John was a week ago. Since then, the Japanese government, having obviously realized tourist numbers are still well down, will discontinue the requirement of a PCR test from September 7. The daily cap on new arrivals will also be increased from 20,000 to 50,000 people per day.
Officially at the moment it is only spouses of Japanese, (in the case of John), business travelers, and tourists booked on guided group tours who are allowed to enter.
So what are the hoops that need to be jumped to ski some powder in Japan this winter right now as a ski tourist?
Prime-Minister Kishida has stated in a press conference today (Wednesday 31 August) that the government will allow independent travel which has been booked by a Japanese travel agent. He didn't elaborate on when these changes will take affect.
Hokkaido Powder Guides is partnered with a Japanese travel agent and will be running tours this season as planned.
Continuing to chat with John, he gazed up at the green ski resort and said that he’d hope he would be back to ski some powder some time. I gazed up the slopes as well and imagined a ski resort that had more than just a few skiers on it again.
Read more journal entries
To give you an idea of the present situation, Covid rates are high at the moment as we are in the midst of the 7th Wave. In the past, the government has imposed a ‘State of Emergency’ during previous waves and asked people not to travel. The 7th Wave has been different. The country has just had their summer holidays and Japanese made the most of unrestricted travel since the pandemic began. Festivals that had been on hiatus for the last few years were now being held again.
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chuck olbery
Chuck Olbery is the director of Hokkaido Powder Guides and is a qualified ski guide with the New Zealand Mountain Guides Association. Before coming to Hokkaido he worked in Canada and New Zealand in the heli-skiing industry. Chuck started Hokkaido Powder Guides seventeen years ago after a search around Japan’s mountainous regions for the best location for guided ski trips. "Choosing Hokkaido was easy as it has some of the best quality snow in the world."
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Write a comment
Sam Forbes (Saturday, 03 September 2022 15:34)
Hi guys I'm really keen to do one of your tours next year hoping to start around mid Feb depending on what you have available?
I need to go to Niseko Village first to pick up all my back country gear that has been stored there since march 2020.
Can't wait to hear back from you guys,
Best regards!
Sam Forbes
Agostina Rey (Monday, 19 September 2022 13:21)
Hi! We would love to hire a day or more ski tours to explore backcountry and offpiste with a guide. Would that be possible? There’s 2 of us. How can we get in contact? Thank you!
Steve Peckar (Saturday, 24 September 2022 10:52)
Hey there. Two Colorado skiers are interested in a couple days of powder cat skiing between January 25 and 30, 2023. Can we get info on that?