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Timatic says the following about entering Japan. The list is very long, but doesn't actually cover every country - e.g. Fiji is not there. What's the full list of territories from which one can travel to Japan? Or is this Japan's peculiar way of banning all foreigners without explicitly saying so, so no one can actually enter Japan at the moment? If so, what's the reasoning behind this indirect approach to restricting travel?

Passengers who have transited through or have been in Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, {long list of countries removed}, Venezuela or Viet Nam in the past 14 days are not allowed to enter.

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  • A resident of any country can enter if they have legal Japanese permanent residency, given that they left the country before a set date which I can't recall.
    – xuq01
    Commented Aug 6, 2020 at 21:13

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I would suggest that this is a total exclusion on travel and omissions are errors and not intentional omissions, given that the list for prohibited countries is pretty darn complete - but the thing which sealed it for me is that countries where COVID-19 is eliminated from the population-at-large is on that list, for example New Zealand.

I can also find no scheduled direct flights between Fiji and Japan currently, meaning that if you travel from Fiji to Japan you will almost certainly transit through one of the other countries on the list, which would bar you from entry.

Some other countries not on the list which also don't have direct flights to Japan:

  • N Korea
  • Taiwan
  • Greenland
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    @FranckDernoncourt thats pretty darn complete - as we both note, transit would immediately exclude people from most countries anyway...
    – user29788
    Commented Aug 3, 2020 at 23:37
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    Taiwan is under "Chinese Taipei". And North Korea is not recognized by the Japanese government as sovereign, so its citizens would be covered under South Korea. And Greenland would fall under Denmark, they don't actually issue passports.
    – JonathanReez ♦
    Commented Aug 3, 2020 at 23:55
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    FWIW, in regular times there are direct flights between Fiji and Japan, and the country is COVID-free. Then again, so is New Zealand and that country is in the banned list, so who knows.
    – lambshaanxy
    Commented Aug 4, 2020 at 10:36
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    @JonathanReez FWIW, Japan considers N Korean citizens to be stateless, not South Korean. There's a large North Korean expat community in Japan which the Japanese government treat as stateless (or specifically, they are recorded as Chosen-seki, which is in effect statelessness).
    – xuq01
    Commented Aug 6, 2020 at 21:10
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    @JonathanReez I think no one knows for sure, so I don't want to sound official. But the widely accepted consensus is that there is a de facto ban on entry of foreigners to Japan.
    – xuq01
    Commented Aug 6, 2020 at 21:14
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The current list is:

Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Rep., Chile, China (People's Rep.), Chinese Taipei, Comoros, Congo, Congo (Dem. Rep.), Colombia, Costa Rica, Cote d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Rep., Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Eswatini, Finland, France, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong (SAR China), Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland (Rep.), Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Korea (Rep.), Kosovo (Rep.), Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Macao (SAR China), Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova (Rep.), Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, North Macedonia (Rep.), Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palestinian Territory, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russian Fed., San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Sudan, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Uruguay, USA, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, Vatican City (Holy See), Venezauela or Viet Nam.

That's 147 countries, which means ~50 countries aren't not in this list, e.g. Seychelles, Tanzania or Tuvalu. But getting a visa or a direct flight might not be straightforward.

Update 2021-05-19: Regarding Moo's answer and comments implying that Japan authorities meant to list all countries and simply mistakenly omitted some countries ("I really don't think they put that much thought into it - the list sounds ... odd"), that is incorrect, e.g. read https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/05/20/national/thailand-travel-ban/ (mirror): it clearly says that some countries such as Sri Lanka and the Seychelles were allowed, until now. One can also see on https://www.iatatravelcentre.com/world.php -> Japan that the list of countries is been updated, e.g. Thailand is currently not on it (but it used to be on it on 2020-08-03, and will but soon be on it again due to Thailand's 3rd COVID-19 wave).

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  • But does the Japanese government actually intend for people to travel from Tanzania or are they merely omitted because there aren't any direct flights?
    – JonathanReez ♦
    Commented Aug 3, 2020 at 23:34
  • @JonathanReez No idea, but one can always charter so that doesn't seem like a good idea to omit a country they don't want passengers from just because there aren't any regular commercial flights.
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Commented Aug 3, 2020 at 23:38
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    @JonathanReez I really don't think they put that much thought into it - the list sounds ... odd anyway, given some of the entries (the Vatican?!)
    – user29788
    Commented Aug 3, 2020 at 23:40
  • @JonathanReez Let's ask the "road warriors and seasoned travelers": How can I get the list of commercial flights between 2 countries over the past x days?. I am curious too.
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Commented Aug 3, 2020 at 23:43

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