South Korea is likely to become the second country after Singapore to establish a business travel bubble with Japan, which applies to both short- and long-term trips. Nikkei reports that the agreement could be finalised as early as this week, where travellers on a short-term business trip would be able to forego a two-week quarantine period.
Long-term business travellers, however, will still be required to observe two weeks in isolation as a precautionary measure. If the agreement is finalised within the week, it's likely that business travellers will be able to fly between Japan and Korea by the end of October.
Though Japan now permits re-entry for all foreign residents, other aspects of international travel including leisure tourism are still under consideration. As of now, Japan has formed mutual travel agreements with nine Asian countries and regions: Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Taiwan, Singapore and Brunei.
In the meantime, Japanese citizens are also waiting for restrictions to ease for outbound travel. This would mean the Level 3 advisory warning against any form of travel to most countries could be lowered to Level 2, in which the government only advises against non-essential travel.
Follow live updates on the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic in Tokyo and Japan here.
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