So the doors have (almost) opened again. To arrive in the country you still need something akin to infinite patience as the on-line pre-registration is a little less than unreliable, the vaccine certificate wasn't accepted and the App has been discontinued and changed, re-installed and discontinued again. Still, the several hundred staff laid-on to assist were super polite (though I cannot imagine how) and helped me through as I arrived back on Terra Yamato after a fourteen plus hour flight from the UK.
This is all due to change though in the coming weeks as quarantine restrictions become (um) restricted. Finally! Since spring of 2020 I'd been a COVID Refugee. If I'd left Japan it was unclear whether I could return until late last year (October 13 I believe) and the portcullis was raised a little and daylight shone through the bars of the gate. And then the UK went on strike. Don't get me wrong, this time I'm kind of siding with the strikers. I think they have a solid case to make unlike in my younger days. But it couldn't travel the UK.
Anyway, the tourists are here and enjoying Japan (a fine pass-time). I met a couple in their late twenties who were essentially touring their was from Australia to the UK, I met another three coming to see a cinema bar they'd heard about and a further older couple who want to know where to find souvenirs to take home (and they loved my dog). It's interesting that, at the moment, the tourists seem to be people who genuinely want to be here. And it's nice to meet them. Been quite a while but I'm happy to see them. But it has to be said, after three years to figure it out, Haneda remains a complete dog's breakfast...