Travel

Who are the Foreign Arrivals in Japan? (at KIX Airport, Osaka)

Jul 04 (Mike Matsuno) - What foreigners are arriving in Japan? I waited and watched at the international arrival area at KIX Airport in Osaka for three hours to see just who was arriving in Japan.

I was also checking if there were any foreign group package tourists that the Japanese government approved from June 10. Surprisingly, there was much more activity at KIX than I expected. Also, there were more than double the number of arrival flights since I was at KIX over a month ago. So foreign passengers were arriving, but they were not foreign group package tourists nor were they individual tourists or independent foreign travelers. The majority were groups that were coming to Japan for training in a specific field of work, technical interns, athletes that were coming to take part in a competition, study abroad students, or relatives of residents of Japan. So there was arrival activity at the international arrival area but no one entering Japan on a tourist visa. Everything still seems to be on hold, wait and see.

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