State Department Issues “Do Not Travel” Warning for Japan

The State Department has advised US citizens against traveling to Japan because of a sharp increase in Covid-19 cases. The department placed Japan under a “Level 4: Do Not Travel” advisory. While the warning level is the highest possible, the U.S. has not outright banned Americans from flying to the country.

“Travelers should avoid all travel to Japan,” the CDC says. “Because of the current situation in Japan even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants and should avoid all travel to Japan. If you must travel to Japan, get fully vaccinated before travel.”

The news comes just two months before Tokyo hosts the 2020 Summer Olympic Games which were delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Japan has been closed to US leisure travelers for more than a year now, with “very limited” circumstances in which US citizens can enter. Also, Olympics organizers have already said there will be no international tourists at the Summer Games, which are scheduled to run from July 23 to August 8.

Japan has seen a big increase in Covid-19 cases recently, since a state of emergency was lifted in March. Its vaccine rollout has also been slow compared with other places in Asia. Only about 2% of Japanese citizens have gotten at least one shot of the vaccine, mainly health care workers and people ages 65 and up. That’s a sharp contrast to US where at least 25 states now have at least 50% of its adult population fully vaccinated.

You can see more details about traveling to Japan here.