Japan recently announced they will be throwing open the doors to foreign tourists on October 11 - no daily quotas, no visa required, no quarantine, no travel agency involvement required.
Currently contemplating a visit in the near future, as Japan is coming down off of its horrendous omicron wave. But I’m wondering how foreign tourists are being treated by local Japanese folks these days. I imagine if you operate a souvenir shop in a tourist area then you welcome foreign visitors and the revenue they bring, but what about other folks? Will I be shunned as a plague vector? Will I get dirty looks for not wearing a mask outdoors? Or is everyone fairly mellow about COVID now, and crowding izakayas and shopping arcades like the good old days?