[FQA] Things to know about quarantine and standby period when you come to Japan

Here is the checklist of requirements to be fulfilled when you come to Japan during this Corona virus pandemic. For those who come to Japan, summarize the information about things to be reminded in Q&A format..

Quarantine

What am I going to be required before and after entering Japan?

Every one of non-Japanese who enter Japan must be fulfilled with the following listed conditions.

• Acquiring a PCR test certificate within 72 hours before departing from your country
• Securing a place to stand by, where the quarantine station chief designated, for 14 days from the next day of arrival(Specimen collection date)
• Those who have stayed in the new Covid-19 variant epidemic countries in the past 14 days need to stand by at accommodation facilities secured by the quarantine station for 3 days and receive PCR test on the third day.
  

  New Covid-19 variant epidemic countries	UK, South Africa, Ireland, Israel, Brazil, United Arab Emirates, Italy, Austria, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Slovakia, Denmark, Germany, Nigeria, France, Belgium, Estonia, Czech Republic, Pakistan, Hungary, Poland, Luxembourg, Lebanon

• Ensuring means of transportation from the arrival airport to the place to stand by without using pubic transportation
• Register and report to the quarantine station about the means of transportation from the arrival airport and the place to stand by
• Getting tested for Covid-19
• Standing by at accommodation facilities or a certain place in the airport designated by the quarantine station pending the result of the test (It will take you about one to three hours from arrival but there is a case the result may come out the next day of arrival depending on the situation such as retest. Immigration examination will be done after the test result comes out)
• Submitting a written pledge
• The video call app and Covid-19 Contact Confirming app (COCOA), designated by the Ministry of Health、Labour and Welfare, are needed to be installed to your smart phone or other devices. Please be sure to check if your device can install these apps and take it with you whenever you are at the airport.

Things to be reminded

Even if you tested negative for Covid-19 at the quarantine station, you would be required to stand by at the place you secured yourself for 14 days from the next day of arrival and you would be subject to health confirmation by the health center.

If your negative test result was determined to be invalid by the quarantine officer, you would be required to stand by at the accommodation secured by the quarantine station. The PCR test will be done on the third day from the day following the date of arrival and if you tested negative, you would give a sign to a written pledge about such as storing location information and you would stand by at your house or other places for 14 days from the day following the date of arrival.

In addition, those who can’t submit a certificate of the PCR test will be denied to enter Japan based on the Quarantine Act. If you don’t have a certificate of PCR test before boarding in the departing country, you are also denied to get on board the plane.

In a case that it’s quite difficult to acquire a certificate of the PCR test and there is no help for it, you’d better go to the overseas diplomatic establishment. Please check the conditions of a valid certificate of the PCR test from here. Those who can submit a certificate of the negative test result will be required to sign on a written pledge about location information storage and stand by at the place where the quarantine officer designates (except for those who have stayed in the new Covid-19 variant epidemic countries)

Those who tested negative on the third day will be required to sign on a written pledge about location information storage and stand by at their house or other places for 14 days from the day following the date of arrival. In addition, If your negative test result was determined to be invalid by the quarantine officer, you would be required to have a PCR test on the 6th day again. If you tested negative on the second test, you would be required to sign on a written pledge about location information storage stand by at their house or other places for 14 days from the day following the date of arrival.

The countries subject to entry denial

Asia	India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Philippines, Bhutan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Maldives
Europe	Iceland, Ireland, Azerbaijan, Albania, Armenia, Andra, Italy, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, United Kingdom (Great Britain and the United Kingdom of Northern Ireland), Estonia, Austria, Netherlands, Kazakhstan, Northern Macedonia, Cyprus, Greece, Kyrgyz, Croatia, Kosovo , San Marino, Georgia, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Vatican, Hungary, Finland, France, Bulgaria, Belarus, Belgium, Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Portugal, Malta , Monaco, Moldova, Montenegro, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungarystein, Romania, Luxembourg, Russia
Middle East	Afghanistan, United Arab Emirates, Israel, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Bahrain, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon
Africa	Algeria, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Carbo Verde, Ghana, Gabon, Cameroon, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Visau, Kenya, Cote d’Ivoire, Comoros, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Santome Principe, Zambia, Sierra Leone, Dibuti, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Equator Guinea , Somalia, Central Africa, Tunisia, Nigeria, Namibia, Botswana, Madagascar, Malawi, South Africa, South Sudan, Mauritius, Mauritania, Morocco, Libya, Libya, Rwanda, Resoto
North America	USA, Canada
Middle, South America	Argentina, Antigua and Barbuda, Uruguay, Ecuador, El Salvador, Gaiana, Cuba, Guatemala, Grenada, Costa Rica, Colombia, Jamaica, Suriname, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadaines, Chile, Dominican Republic, Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago , Nicaragua, Haitian, Panama, Bahama, Paraguay, Barbuda, Honduras, Brazil, Venezuela, Belize, Peru, Bolivia, Mexico

The scope of quarantine target

Is there difference in treatment depending on the purpose of entrance into Japan?

There is no difference in treatment regardless of the purpose of entrance.

Are people subject to the PCR test, who got on board a plane or ship that came to Japan by way of other countries after departing from one of the countries subject to denial?

If you had stayed in one of the countries subject to denial in the past 14 days, you would have been subject to the PCR test but from 9th March in 2021, all the entrants are the subject to the PCR test.

　

Even if Japan is the transit point, will I be required to stand by at a designated place for 14 days for the PCR test?

If Japan is just the transit point of the final destination, where you don’t go through immigration procedures, you are not subject to the standby request. However, if you enter into Japan even temporarily, you are required to have a PCR test for Covid-19. Every single person who enter into Japan is requested not to use public transportation and to stand by a certain place designated by the quarantine station chief but is allowed to depart from Japan without the need to stand by for 14 days.

Are crew members also subject to the request for standby and a PCR test for Covid-19?

Yes, they are generally. However, crew members of a plane who need to enter into Japan in the course of of their work and leave Japan on the next day, as long as they are satisfied with the conditions to be considered, they are exempted from the PCR testing target. Moreover, if crew members are ship’s sailors, there is a case that they are exempted from the requests for a PCR test and standby if there is a situation that the quarantine station chief would approve that they don’t need to accept the requests, like the situation where they don’t enter into any of the countries subject to entry denial because of just handling cargo at ports in other countries.

For example, is Gibraltar, which is an outlier of the UK located quite away from the mainland, also included as one of the countries subject to entry denial?

Yes, included.

Places for standby except for a business track and a residence track

Where is exactly a certain place for standby designated by the quarantine station chief?

Your house, a company residence, your friend’s house, a monthly apartment and the hotel you booked.(An accommodation that has joint use facilities like a sharing kitchen, shower rooms, a toilet are not covered)

In addition, those who enter into Japan from the countries subject to entry denial are principally required to stand by at a place like a certain space in the airport or a facility designated by the quarantine station until getting the testing result from a PCR test.

Please check the information about the places to stand by when using the framework of a business track and a residence track at the content of “Phased Measures for Resuming Cross-Border Travel” down below.

Are there any points of attention for an entrant and his/her family when standing by at home?

In accordance with an health card that is handed to every entrants when entering into Japan

• Wash your hands carefully and frequently
• Get sufficient sleep and nutritious foods
• If you have a fever and a bad cough, contact to the Corona-virus Consultation Center in advance and go to a designated medical institution.

If you stay near his/ her family during the standby period

• You have to try not to contact to your family
• Wash your hands carefully and frequently
• If you feel not really good, you wear a musk and reduce frequency to meet your family.

Transportation means

How can I move from the airport to a place to stand by?

You have to prepare a car or a rental car yourself to move to a place to stand by. You would be requested strongly not to use public transportation (train, bus, taxi, plane(domestic), ferry).

In addition, if you enter into Japan with a written pledge and use the framework of a residence track and a business track, be sure to use transportation means mentioned in a written pledge without using the bus arranged by the quarantine station.

What should I do if I can’t arrange any transportation means?

Just in case you can no longer arrange any transportation means, you will have to book a hotel around the airport and stand by there but you have to somehow find transportation means yourself as much as possible.

Health check

How will a health check be done by a health center?

You will receive a call or a mail to check your health every day for 14 days after entrance from a health center in your jurisdiction to the contact information you wrote on a questionnaire which you submit to the quarantine station.

If you signed an agreement document which you submitted along with a questionnaire, it is possible to have your health checked with the LINE talk app instead of receiving a call or a mail from a health center.

Is there anything to do to prevent the spread of infection after entrance?

“Cocoa” which is abbreviation for a Covid-19 Contact Confirming app is one of the effective measures. You should download it to your smartphone. Download it from here

You should also store GPS data with a map application in order to explain accurate movements to a health center just in case you are confirmed to be infected with Covid-19.

Phased Measures for Resuming Cross-Border Travel

When entering into Japan from one of the covered countries with a business purpose by the Phased Measures for Resuming Cross-Border, are there any additional required measures?

Currently, the Japanese government is under discussion with the government of partner countries so there is possibility that the policy content may change. Please be sure to check the details in the webpage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Quarantine

• PCR test at the airport
• 14 days standby
• The requirement not using public transportation
• Every day health check from a health center

Health check

• You need to sign on a written pledge about installing Cocoa (a Covid-19 Contact Confirming app) and saving GPS data
• 14 health check will be done through LINE, talk app.
• Every day health check from a health center

In terms of a talk app, “LINE”, a foreigner who doesn’t have Japanese mobile numbers, a personnel manager of a company that hires him is supposed to report it instead of him.

You need to secure an acommodation that has private room and private bathroom as a standby place. If there is a sharing space like a kitchen outside the private room, you don’t use a kitchen.

For your transportation means, you should choose any of the following means without using a bus prepared by the quarantine station.

• Private car
• Company car
• Rental car
• Taxi

Submissions

• A written pledge
• A PCR test certificate within 72 hours before leaving the country.
• An activity plan ( for those who use “business track” and “Short-term business trip for businessmen living in Japan” )

The following link is the questionnaire to be submitted when you receive a PCR test. You just answer the questions on the webpage and create a QR code. You print and show it when you receive a PCR test.

Questionnaire