Japan has been facing an unprecedented rise in the number of COVID-19 cases into 2021. The Japanese government has now been forced to broaden its January 8, 2021 implemented national emergency measures. The state of emergency has expanded beyond Tokyo and its surrounding prefectures to seven additional prefectures, including Osaka and its surrounding prefectures. The state of emergency is set to expire on February 7, 2021 and may be extended in the future. The nonresident foreign entry ban into the country (announced in late December and discussed in our prior blog post) has now been expanded to apply to the special entry of business travelers from 11 countries, including China and South Korea. This special treatment pursuant to bilateral business travel arrangements has now been suspended for the duration of the state of emergency.
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