Then came covid
and to summerize, turned my life upside down. All my plans were ruined and I
lost my part time job later. When I was at my lowest in October I heard that the
Japanese embassy in Germany had opened the application for Working Holiday Visas,
if you had a company which could sign a Residence track (a paper stating that
they take responsibility for you during the first 2 weeks when you ought to be in
quarantine). To my surprise the Japanese embassy in Sweden also accepted
applications, so I immediately began working on my application. Fortunatley I had
contact with a small company who agreed to sign my residence track so I submitted
my application during the second week in November. On December 8 they finally
called and told me the visa was ready. *YAY*
At first I was so
nervous being denied the visa that I didn’t really consider all the other extra
stuff which had to be taken care of because of covid.
The restrictions
change all the time so keep in mind that this is my experience of entering
Japan on the 20 of December 2020.
PCR test?
The most important
thing that I had to prepare was the PCR test. Japan has their own form which is
recomended to use but as long as all the information is stated in the document
issued at the clinic of your choice it’s ok. However, paranoid as I am I thought
it would be best to try and find a clinic which agreed to use the Japanese one.
Another issue I had was to find a time, many of the clinics were fully booked
for weeks! I worried a lot about the PCR test as many clinics stated it could
take between 24-48h, I don’t have a printer at home so I need to be able to print
at my local library, meaning I need an extra day. Therefore I began looking at
the form and realized that there were 3 test methods stated and one of them is
the antigen test which gives an instant result. I tried to research this but to
be honest, in the forest of PCR tests not even the clinics themselves wanted to
give me a straight answer. I sent the Japanese form in an e-mail asking if they
could sign it and also if their test methods was equal to the ones stated in
that very form and I don’t think one single clinic said yes. All emphasized
that I need check this out myself so that I know that I’m ordering the right
test, which I find weird. Shouldn’t the doctors know this? Since no one gave me
an approval of the antigen test I finally decided to go for the PCR at a clinic
which claimed to give a result within 24h and fortunately I also found a
timeslot which matched a flight on Saturday the 19th.
Finding a flight
I never would’ve
thought finding a flight would be this difficult. Quite a lot of flights go to
Tokyo, but other cities- not so much. I began looking into this by going to KIX
webpage to see which flights were arriving there and realised only KLM/Air
France did from Europe. So I didn’t have that much of an option. I then spent
hours looking at restrictions in the Netherlands and France, even though I
would just be passing through I did not want to take any chances of being
denied entry. I checked the embassies webpages and also contacted KLM’s
customer support which was not very helpful. Again, they could not give me an
answer which I found weird. I finally managed to get a coherent trip where I
would get the PCR test on time, a plane ticket which was not too expensive and
get a pick up from the airport when arriving. That last point is crucial as you
are not allowed to use public transport during the first 2 weeks. The options
are to be picked up by someone you know who will drive you to your quarantine
location or to use a covid taxi (I don’t think that’s the official name but
whatever, there are taxi’s just for driving people from the airport to the place
they are staying).
Starting my
journey
My trip began in
Stockholm and from Arlanda Airport I took a flight to Paris. I always check in
online at home but this time I decided not to because they required me to leave
information about my visa and I rather have someone more experienced do that so
I thought I could wait until I got to the airport. Air France also had a link
to this very convenient webpage called travel doc where you can input the
country you are traveling to and which documents you have and it will say if
you need anything extra or if you are not able to enter at all. Anyway, at that
webpage I was informed that Japan requires everyone entering to fill out a form
and then by the end you will get a QR code which you should bring to the immigration
control.
With me to the Airport
(besides my passport and visa) I had the QR code, a printed ticket, my negative
covid test both the Japanese version and the standard version offered by the
clinic I went to, a copy of my Residence track and also a questionnaire from
Air France (it was not necessary to bring but I did just in case).
At the airport I
realised that they’ve gone back to manualy handle all check in’s to destinations
which requires a PCR test, so I didn’t have to worry about not having checked
in at home. The sad part about this was that people seemed to have forgotten
about all the rules in regards to coid. No social distance and many did not
have their masks on. They checked my PCR test and also asked if I had the QR
code. I have to admit that I was so nervous there would be something from and
that they would deny me entry, but everything went fine (until I was about to
pay cash for a bottle of water and was told off by the staff because he now
touched my money…).
I had never been
to Charles de Gaulle Airport before so I was kind of anxious about my transfer
which was only 2h. I did manage on time but I was stressed and sweating when I finally
had found my gate. Before entering the flight to Osaka they checked my
temperature and my PCR test as well as my visa. I had read others experiences on
going to Japan and everyone mentioned almost empty planes, so I was quite
surprised to realize that my flight was half full, mostly Japanese people.
Makes me wonder, are they traveling now?... Besides the regular paperwork they
also handed out a form regarding your health.
The flight went
well (have to say Air France had the best food ever offered by an airline company)
and once we arrived in Japan someone from the airport would board and check our
documents. I was amazed that people immediately went up and wanted to get their
luggage the minute the plane was parked, no thought of social distancing… Once
off the Airport there was a lot of waiting but they had prepared chaires and those
who had not already filled out the questionnaire to get the QR code had to do
so now. The first 90 minutes was basically just a lot of waiting, but then everything
went pretty smooth. The testing went fine (at least besides the fact that I had
some issues to produce saliva and massaged the s** out of my neck as explained
at the Airport until my throat hurt) and while waiting for the result they had
reserved a gate so that we could sit down comfortably.
I have to admit I
normally think the staff working at the passport control are, well not so
service minded but this time I met the nicest man ever, he was so kind and
funny to talk to!
I got my residence
card and left the building, and to be honest I could not believe how smooth everything
went! Weird thing was that no one checked my PCR test in Japan, even though
they put emphasis on using their form…
So far I have been
outside once, to buy some things to eat. I’m looking forward to getting back to normal though, my jet lag is getting
worse by being bored.