The Tourism Agency says that it would start allowing small group tours to enter into the country as "test cases" to assess conditions for a broader tourism resumption some time in the future. For some context, Japan has closed its borders to tourists since the start of the pandemic - only allowing for students and some business travelers to enter.
The "test tourism" initiative will allow for travelers who have been triple-vaccinated from the US, Australia, Thailand, and Singapore to take part in the tours. The tours themselves will be conducted in a planned manner alongside travel agencies and accompanied at all times by tour conductors.
It's not much but it is a first step at least towards the reopening of borders again in Japan. For now, there is still no specified future date as to when they may loosen border controls in line with other major economies just yet.
