Update from Japan Tourism saying that Government may offer subsidy plan for tourists.
As i know the plan may start around July....

https://www.travelpulse.com/news/destinatio...bsidy-plan.html

situation at shinjuku station yesterday

Less Crowded Shinjuku station
https://streamable.com/qpk6e2

https://streamable.com/zrs1nx


Train is getting busier
https://streamable.com/rtykmn

Latest update : State of emergency lifted
https://streamable.com/55dv2o

This post has been edited by MR_alien: May 26 2020, 06:43 AM

How true is this plan? What's the duration? Say got plan but never mention anything in detail, also quite hard to gauge.

Can't wait to go back Japan again! Hokkaido this time!

Miss Hokkaido so badly! The king crab and nature simply amazing.

Not forgetting the real hot spring experience. Gonna visit there again~

Omg King Crab, my fav!
Now I'm hungry at this time! Haha

You can refer here for more detail Kyodo News Link basically is just some discount coupon when one booked directly with Hotel/Ryokan (no agoda/bkg.com/expedia) and with Japanese Travel Agent. I dont think it was implemented yet considering how long for everyone to reach agreement before making final decision. But at least you get rough idea what the heck is that scheme all about.

Not sure if the coupon discounting method will be effective or not with many strings attached for sure. For me instead of using the coupon (which is given by hotel even before the virus) i sometime just go to random cheapo shop in that area just for the sake of filling my stomach

Also, travel to Japan itself will not be covered by this scheme No mention of domestic travel though I know Jal have free ticket for domestic travel that are meant to be used during Olympic season but was now stopped due to the virus.

This post has been edited by minizian: May 28 2020, 10:38 AM

Airline don't give discount is fine since they need time to recover also, just hoping to have discount rate on expenses whilst in Japan. maybe additional tax rebate for tourist?

Now most flight seating capacity are cut into half as they implement blank seat sosial distancing in between (300 seat end up as only 150 Seat Flight). Afterall Airlines are not charity organisation and they need to feed its staff too

More likely discount on expenses for stay in Japan me thinks. I doubt they will do any extra tax rebates for tourist since they just jack up the GST few month prior, imagine the amount of paperwork needed that will inconvenient the staff

Actually, my issues with those typical shop is they sell generally in full retail (discount is rare) but only minus off the tax rebate as discount. Sometime I tend to find certain shop had much better price even without rebating the tax, of course it would be better if they can combine Tax refund and shop discount but usually these guy are not qualified as tax refund shop and they usually only catered to locals and doesnt speak english

For example Like certain stuff in Amazon JP is substantially cheaper than what you can get say in Yodabashi Camera with Tax Refund. The catch is you need to ship it to your member who currently residing in Japan

This post has been edited by minizian: May 28 2020, 11:15 AM

Would be nice if they could reduce the GST rebate threshold for tourists and allows rebate on combined expenses for point to point travelling in Japan (ie by train, bus, taxi, boat, etc). Also would be nice if allows rebates on combined expenses for ticket entries to sightseeing attractions and amusements(ie Disneyworld, USJ) - is this doable before this???

You all still dare to travel oversea during this COVID-19 period if the vaccine is not out on market?

1. you need to think of the possibility that the vaccine won't come
2. vaccine vs medicine..1 has to come...what if the medicine came but not the vaccine...are you gonna isolate yourself from the rest of the world forever?
3. covid-19 is just another cycle of the many cycle the world has faced, i give u an example, SARS, MERS, EBOLA, H1N1, avian flu...etc etc etc
between 2003 until now..the world has been hit by many flu...just that it didn't reach malaysia...that's all or the disease reached malaysia when there is a cure
covid-19 is another "cycle"....after covid-19, there will be many more "cycle to come"...the only question is will it hit malaysia or not only

4. if this pandemic did not teach all of us that life is short and you won't know what's gonna happen tomorrow...thn u seriously didn't learn anything
firstly if u don't travel and keep waiting, u might die before u got a chance to travel
secondly if u keep waiting, the world when u travel might not be what it used to be already
so in this case...those who went YOLO are actually the winner here as they're able to enjoy the actual world
those who keep waiting are going to return to a world that is slightly different...those restaurant that are previously recommended might not be there anymore

5. that's why almost all recovering countries are promoting domestic tourism...to keep everything alive...else there would be nothing for to return to(for international tourist)

This post has been edited by MR_alien: May 29 2020, 02:34 PM

I won't travel oversea during this period of time. To be a responsible Malaysia citizen, I won't want to fly oversea and facing the possibility of infected with COVID-19 and back to Malaysia, it will basically start another wave of local transmission. Life is short doesn't mean you need to take risk over this. If got infected when you return from oversea, it will risk the life of your family, relative, friends and colleagues.

I believe as long as there is no vaccine, any oversea travel will have to be apply with 14 days of quarantine upon return to Malaysia.

I also supporting domestic travel as long as not huge outbreak within Malaysia.

The issue is domestic tourism alone cannot sustain the travel industry and make up for the lost in foreign tourist revenue. At the end of the day, regardless of what one choose whether to travel or not is an individual decision but bare in mind there might not be a vaccine or cure so does life stand still?

Fortunately, we are living in a democratic country.
Those who want to travel will be given the opportunity.

Those who want to stay safe can continue to do so.

Totally agree.... can't wait for Japanese Govt "rebate"

people who say that weirdly never say ehh, SARS and MERS has no cure...i don't think we should travel in risk of contracting such disease back malaysia
yet the people who say that never hesitated of travelling anywhere for the past 17 years at all
but suddenly in 2020, they change 180 degree and say that

and some people will think that after covid-19, after vaccine..everything will be all over...NOPE
a new one will come and another new one will come and another new one will come...the cycle continues
we live in a very dangerous world ever since we're born which is why we're forced to take multiple vaccine after we're born

Well with all due respect, there are big differences between CD19 and those others. They didn't cause whole countries to be at standstill, they didn't cause a worldwide pandemic. Right now, we're looking at a highly contagious disease which has no cure nor vaccine yet, something similarly of concern by medical community about super-resistant bacterias in hospitals getting out but now its a virus which is even worse. So concerns are valid.

Still on the other side of a coin, the world can't continue to standstill. We'd die of hunger before we get CD19. Meantime preventions like social distancing are the only solutions we have and unfortunately leisure travelling puts us at risk of not keeping safe. Hence IMO any unnecessary travelling should be put off unless there are guarantees of staying safe.

I believe Japan shares that same sentiments too which is why they haven't lifted foreign travelling ban as yet. I read Okinawa recorded ZERO foreign tourist 1st time in their history. That is the sacrifice Japan is willing to make and that tells us how seriously bad is CD19.

This post has been edited by babylon52281: May 30 2020, 09:33 AM

Oversea travel can and should only resumed when some kind of SOP are in place and it is reasonably safe enough .

Obviously "right now" hardly anyone will dare travel, but end of the year, early next year, if the infection numbers go down, or if it's proven by more widespread testing that actually there's huge numbers of asymptomatic cases, and countries start to open up and stop quarantine for visitors ... why not?