On Wednesday, the Japanese government lifted its last remaining warnings against non-essential trips abroad due to the coronavirus after lowering travel alerts for 76 countries and regions, including Australia and Taiwan.
The Foreign Ministry said it lowered the travel warning for those destinations, also including New Zealand, Mexico, and Turkey, from the second-lowest level 2 on its four-point scale to level 1, which advises Japanese citizens traveling to those areas to "remain fully alert."
The ministry confirmed that the decision came "because the infection situation globally is improving in general" and that the Group of Seven other industrialized countries has already canceled travel warnings for the Coronavirus by country and region.
It stated that 76 countries and regions consist of six countries from the Asia-Pacific region, 11 from Latin America, 20 from Europe, and 39 from the Middle East and Africa.
By August, Japan had designated 125 countries and regions as Level 1.
The ministry added that those planning to travel abroad are still encouraged to get the full vaccination to prevent COVID-19 infection.
Wednesday's action came after the government last week scrapped the 50,000-person limit for daily arrivals, as the nation aims to revive its struggling inbound tourism sector by easing border controls that have been criticized as being too stringent.
Japan has also ended the requirement that tourists travel on tours, and that visitors obtain a visa if they are citizens of one of the 68 countries and regions with which the country had a waiver agreement before the pandemic.
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