COVID Controls Prevent 150,000 Foreign Students From Entering Japan

Some 150,000 foreign students who hold Japan visas were unable to enter the country by the end of last year due to its strict COVID-19 border controls, the top government spokesman said, Mainichi Japan reported.

Photo Insert: Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno during a press conference

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno also disclosed at a regular press conference that the number of people newly entering Japan from Nov. 29 to Feb. 10 totaled about 6,000.

As the government steps up efforts to stem the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus, the current border controls, introduced in late November, bars new entries by foreign nationals, with few exceptions, until the end of this month.

The restrictions, the strictest among the Group of Seven industrialized nations, have been criticized as being too tough by business and academic circles at home and abroad. Matsuno said the government knows that there are "various requests" regarding the measures, and it is considering presenting a plan to ease them "as soon as possible."

His remarks came after the ruling Liberal Democratic Party asked the government to allow foreign students to enter Japan.

The government is now looking at shortening the quarantine period for nonresident entrants from the current seven days to three or five days and is also considering easing the cap on the number of daily new entrants from overseas from the current 3,500, an official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said earlier this month.

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