Good news, you can travel to Japan as early as September 2020!
But you have to be on official business.
Yes, in case you can’t tell, that’s going to be the new norm for countries opening up their borders; business travellers first, leisure later.
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And that’s exactly what Japan and Singapore are trying to arrange between the two countries.
Everything About the SG-Japan Projected Border Reopening for Business Travel
On 13 Aug 2020, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong took to his Facebook page to announce a piece of momentous news.
He said that he had met up with Japan Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu (茂木 敏) at the Istana and they had a great discussion on how Singapore and Japan “can do more together” in the midst of Covid-19.
Singapore, he said, is trying to set up a reciprocal ‘green lane’ with Japan; basically, to resume essential travel safely
This step, he says, is essential to restoring connectivity between the countries and “adjusting” to the post-Covid-19 world.
The Proposed Arrangement
Not much is known yet about the arrangement but here are a few details that were reported.
For one, both countries are eager to bring this arrangement to life and they are targeting to get it going by September 2020.
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There are two tracks, according to what we understand.
One is the Residence Track, which is targeted at business executives and business professionals (work pass holders), allowing them to travel between both countries.
There will be a 14-day Stay-Home-Notice (SHN) period upon arrival in both countries.
The other is the Business Track (Reciprocal Green Lane) which allows short-term business visitors to visit without being subjected to an SHN.
However, they’ll need to be subjected to a “controlled itinerary” for the first 14 days with safeguards in place.
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Yes, it sounds very similar to the arrangement we have with Malaysia at the current moment.
Agreement To Be Hammered Out By Early September 2020
Officials from both countries are told to start making arrangements and finalise the agreement by early September 2020.
If this arrangement comes to fruition, Singapore will become the first country to resume connectivity with Japan.
Previously, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said they were asking the Singapore government to either:
- make more green lane arrangements
- or allow small controlled groups of leisure travellers into the country.
Doing so could help to soften the impact (somewhat) for Singapore’s tourism industry.
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They admitted that the campaign to encourage domestic tourism will not be enough to fill the gap left by foreign visitors.
More needs to be done because the industry is going to experience even more job losses in the near future.
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