The Japanese Embassy in Manila has started accepting applications for individual tourists planning to visit Japan from October 11 onwards.
The embassy said it opened on October 4 applications for all kinds of visas, including for individual travel, visiting friends, and multiple-entry.
Registration for entrants, returnee follow-up system (ERFS), it said, is also no longer needed while requirements for visiting friends have been relaxed with the removal of “written pledge” from the inviter. Departure date for these visas would start October 11.
Multiple-entry visa and APEC Business Travel Card would also be honored again beginning October 11 as long as the travel date is within the term of validity.
The Philippines is under Japan’s “blue” category, meaning a pre-departure Covid-19 test is no longer required as long as the passenger has a valid vaccination certificate that he/she has three doses of Japan-approved vaccine.
The vaccines approved in Japan are the following:
- COMIRNATY / Pfizer
- Spikevax intramuscular Injection / Moderna
- Vaxzevria intramuscular Injection / AstraZeneca
- JCOVDEN intramuscular injection/Janssen (In the case of primary series, one dose is considered equivalent to two)
- COVAXIN/Bharat Biotech
- Nuvaxovid intramuscular Injection / Novavax
- Covishield (manufactured by the Serum Institute of India) and COVOVAX are treated as identical to Vaxzevria intramuscular injection/AstraZeneca and Nuvaxovid intramuscular injection/Novavax
“All entrants/returnees to Japan with a valid vaccination certificate which proves 3 doses of COVID-19 vaccine accredited by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare are not required to obtain a negative certificate. Other entrants/returnees need to obtain a negative test result for COVID-19 conducted within 72 hours prior to departure,” the embassy said. (PNA)
