THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
June 1, 2022 at 16:34 JST
The Foreign Ministry building in Tokyo (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
The number of visas issued to enter Japan in 2021 was 90,306, the lowest figure on record and a reflection of the strict anti-virus border restrictions in place, the Foreign Ministry said May 31.
That was down by a staggering 92 percent from the previous year, according to the ministry.
Vietnam accounted for the most visas issued by Japanese embassies or consulates overseas in 2021.
Around 15,000 visas, or 17 percent of the total, were issued for Vietnamese, including many who came to Japan on the technical intern trainee program.
Chinese were next on the list, at around 13,000, or 14 percent of all visas, followed by the United States at around 9,000, or 10 percent.
According to the ministry, visas issued for entry into Japan started increasing in 2014 and peaked in 2019 at around 8.277 million, thanks largely to the soaring number of foreign tourists.
However, the visa figure dropped to around 1.118 million in 2020, when the government started tightening its border control measures in the COVID-19 pandemic.
For most of 2021, the government’s general rule was to ban entry to foreign travelers, except for those with “special reasons.”
The government started publishing data on visas in 1999.
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