Japan to reopen tourism with Hawaii, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Malaysia, Myanmar, Korea, Singapore

Hawaii without Japanese tourists is an unreal feeling for almost everyone living in the Aloha State. Japanese Prime Minister Abe and Foreign Minister Motegi understands Hawaii is a different case compared to the rest of the United States and reached out to Hawaii Governor David Ige and House Speaker Scott Saiki today to discuss a “tourism bubble” between Japan and Hawaii.

Opening Hawaii to US mainland travelers may be a challenge. In New York, there had been 13,394 infected with COVID-19 and 455 deaths per million. Japan, however, only had 237 COVID-19 cases per 1 million residents with 8 deaths. Hawaii had 1,208 cases with 18 deaths based on one million people.

Japan is also considering tourism reopenings with Brunei, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Macao, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Singapore, and Taiwan.

In comparison, here are the numbers for these destinations:
Country  | Cases per million |Death per million population
Brunei         322                                  7
Cambodia    14                                   0
China            58                                   3
Hong Kong  370                                 3
Laos                  3                                  0
Macao             71                                  0
Malaysia       275                                 4
Mongolia       88                                  0
Myanmar       724                                3
South Korea   277                                6
Singapore    8685                                 5
Taiwan              19                                 0.3
New York   13394                             455
USA average: 13388                         454
Hawaii             1208                       18
Japan                237                           8

Hawaii is the only destination in the United States mentioned for consideration for Japan’s resumption of international travel.

Governor Ige stated: “On behalf of the State of Hawaii, we are honored that Prime Minister Abe and Japan’s policymakers are considering Hawaii for resuming safe and responsible international travel. Japan and Hawaii enjoy longstanding cultural ties and a deep-rooted friendship that has enriched the lives of many generations. It’s important that we restore travel between Japan and Hawaii and we see this program as a way to make this possible, while also preventing the further spread of infections from COVID-19.”

Governor Ige noted that details for the Japan-Hawaii safe travel program are still being resolved and no timetable has been set for when it would take effect. The governor stressed that public health will be the overriding factor in determining how the program is carried out to support the state’s economic recovery and the tens of thousands of residents who depend on the travel industry for their livelihoods.