From March 14, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has stated that Japan will ease its Covid-19 border controls even more, increasing the daily cap on overseas entrants to 7,000 from the current 5,000. Kishida introduced a new policy to give foreign students priority access because business travel demand is low.

The decision was taken after a phased easing of entry restrictions was criticised at home and abroad for being excessively severe, and there was strong demand for Japan to allow more admissions, particularly from foreign students, ahead of the start of the school year in April.

"We will assist students in coming to Japan by providing them with (use of) vacant seats, particularly on weekdays when there are few business travellers," Kishida said, describing such students as a "treasure" for Japan. "Many international students are concerned about whether they will be able to enter Japan before classes start in April," he added. Due to the Covid-19 travel restrictions imposed in the last two years, an estimated 7 million international students are still waiting for their visas to enter Japan.

When the globe was struggling with the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron strain last November, Japan essentially enacted an entrance restriction on non-resident foreign nationals. Following an increase from the previous ceiling of 3,500 people on Tuesday, up to 5,000 people, including Japanese nationals living abroad, are now allowed to enter Japan on a regular basis. Foreign tourists are still not allowed entry.

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