As Japan continues to ease its Covid-19 border controls, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced on Thursday that tourists will be allowed to enter Japan on package tours from June 10, preparing for the full resumption of inbound tourism. The prime minister has made assurances that Japan would ease border controls in stages to bring them on par with other Group of Seven nations.

After being closed for more than two years, Japan’s move comes after the country began a trial of package tours. In 2020, the number of foreign visitors in Japan decreased from 31.2 million to 4.12 million in 2019, declining even further in 2021 to 245,900, a drop of 99.2% over the last two years. 

The entry cap has been raised to 20,000 people per day from the current 10,000, exempting some people from testing on arrival and quarantine rules depending on the country or region they are coming from. Travelers must be vaccinated three times to participate in the tours.

Japan has divided countries into three groups, and testing and quarantine procedures will be different according to the measures designated for each group. Countries designated in blue will be exempt from arrival testing and quarantine, regardless of vaccination status. Yellow will be exempt only if they have a vaccination certificate. Red will be required to do a PCR test upon arrival and self-isolate. Visitors from all three groups will still need to present a PCR test with a negative result taken 72 hours prior to the departure date.

Here is the full list of countries and regions divided into three groups:

Red Group: Albania, Fiji, Pakistan, Sierra Leone

Yellow Group: Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Botswana, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Cook Island, Cuba, Cyprus, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Federated States of Micronesia, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Kosovo, Kuwait, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Macau, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Moldova, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Nicaragua, NIger, Niue, North Korea, North Macedonia, Oman, Palestine, Peru, Portugal, Republic of Burundi, Republic of Congo, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Republic of Vanuatu, Saint Christopher and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Seychelles, Solomon, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Syria, Tajikistan, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Ukraine, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vatican, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Western Sahara, Yemen, Zimbabwe

Blue Group: Afghanistan, Algeria, Argentine, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cote d’lvoire, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyz, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Sudan, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America, Zambia