I went back to Japan in June 2021 with my wife and daughter. I want to share what I have experienced.
Get the negative testing result
You have to get testing designated by Japanese government and the result written in the Japanese format within 72 hours prior to the boarding time. You can check the admitted testing methods and format on their website.
You can also find the list of places to get testing on the website of Consulate-General of Japan in Los Angeles. According to the list, you can get testing at NSIGHT in San Diego at the price of $175 per person.
I had not known this list at that point. So I did testing at Medical Care San Diego that I found on Google search. It costed $399 for the first person. The second person can get discount and get testing at $350. They said that they make sure to give us the result within 24 hours and they had a lot of experiences regarding Japanese format. Although it was super expensive, their service quality was quite well.
Do your kids also need the testing result? According to the website of Consulate-General of Japan in Los Angeles, you don’t have to get a result for children under pre-school (about 6 years old).
My daughter was 1 year old, so was not supposed to get testing. But a friend of mine who who also had 1 year old son and went back to Japan told me that he was not allowed to board the flight without the result for his son. He advised me to get testing for my daughter just in case. So did I. But again, pre-school children are not supposed to get testing.
Procedure at airport
You are required to show your testing result at the check-in counter. If you don’t have it, you are not allowed to get on the airplane.
Once your result has gotten checked out, you will go through the usual procedure and get aboard.
I will note that later, but some things you should do before departure are the following.
- Fill out online coronavirus questionnaire from MHLW (Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare) of Japan. (Every single family member)
- Install locational information tracking app (OEL), video call app (mySOS), and coronavirus exposure app (COCOA).
For detailed information, please find MHLW’s website.
Paperwork during flight
Your flight attendant will give you a document. You will be required to fill it out per person. If your wife and kid are with you, you need to fill out three.
After arrival (Narita International Airport)
Overall process and estimated time
It’s lengthy process.
- Wait after getting off (20 minutes)
- Wait for testing (1 hour and 40 minutes)
- Document check and testing (10 minutes)
- App installation and setting check (20 minutes)
- Scanning QR code of online coronavirus questionnaire (Few minutes)
- Final check (Few minutes)
- Wait for and receive the testing result (40 minutes)
These estimated times were what I actually experienced. It seems to depend on how busy the airport. I arrived at the airport around 4:20pm on Monday when relatively more flights arrive. After arriving, it took about 3 hours until we get to the arrival lobby.
After arrival at the gate
You will have to wait at the arrival gate when you get off the plane.
Wait for testing
You will walk a couple of minutes and see the places where a number of chairs are arranged. You will wait for getting a covid test. This is insanely long and you don’t know how long you have to wait. There are signs that says you are not allowed to drink or eat anything 30 minutes before testing, so you will be hesitant to do that. But, it’s going to wait longer than 30 minutes, so you’ll be fine even if you do.
Document check and testing
Staff will come to take us to the different places. I anticipated that we are finally get testing, but it was not. First you have to show your documents that you filled out on the flights. Then eventually you will get testing. The method is saliva testing. If your kid is too small to put enough saliva in a sample, it is going to be nasal swab testing which is painful for your kid.
App installation and setting check
This is also very lengthy and redundant process. You are required to install three apps COCOA, MySOS, and OEL. First, you will walk into a large room where there are a lot of staffs wearing virus protecting cloths. One of them will approach to you and check if you install these three apps. If not, the staff will tell you how to do that. When you are with your family, each family member except for kids will be required to install the apps. Once you have installed apps, you will go to the next step. You will see two staffs sitting perimeter of the room behind a long table. They will explain you about COCOA and check some settings such as bluetooth setting. Then you will go to the next room and another staff will then check MySOS which is a video phone call app. Then another staff will check OEL.
Scanning QR code of online coronavirus questionnaire
You can find a QR code when you complete online coronavirus questionnaire. A staff will scan your QR code. If you have not completed, you will do there.
Final check
When you finished all the process mentioned above, another staff will check completion. It will take only a minute.
Wait for and receive the testing result
You’ll have already been exhausted at this point, but you will reach the point where you will wait for the testing result. It seems to take about 1 hour after you submit your test sample to get the result. You will receive a pink paper which means the result is negative and that’s all!
Lastly
One last advice is to have some snacks and drink, or something to do during waiting. You’ll have to be very patient and tolerant with all the long and meticulous process. I hope you will enter into Japan without any troubles.
Please click like button below if you find this article useful.
