Japan's government will begin permitting small group tours from four countries later this month.
日本政府将于本月晚些时候开始放开来自4个国家的小型团队旅游。
Japan is slowly opening up to foreign tourism after putting in place strong border restrictions because of COVID-19.
在由于新冠肺炎而实施的严格边境管制之后，日本正在缓慢地向外国旅游业开放。
Transport Minister Tetsuo Saito said Tuesday that tours will be permitted from Australia, Singapore, Thailand and the United States as an experiment.
日本国土交通大臣齐藤铁夫周二表示，作为试验，将允许澳大利亚、新加坡、泰国和美国的旅游团入境。
Those taking part must have three vaccine shots. The tours must also have guides and fixed plans. Each tour can have at most four people. A total of 50 people are expected to join the experiment, the Japan Tourism Agency said.
这项旅游试验的参与者必须接种三针疫苗。这些旅游团还必须有导游和固定旅行计划。每个旅游团最多可以有4人。日本观光厅表示，预计共有50人参与这项试验。
Participants will enter Japan on a special visa, not a tourist visa, the agency said. The results will be used to create coronavirus guidelines for tour operators, hotels and other related businesses, it said.
该机构表示，参与者将持特殊签证进入日本，而不是旅游签证。它说，实验结果将用于为旅行社、酒店和其它相关企业制定新冠病毒指南。
The experiment is expected to start next week and continue until the end of May. Additional details, including the length of the tours and where they will go, have yet to be decided.
该试验将于下周启动，一直持续到5月底。包括旅行距离以及目的地在内的其它细节尚有待确定。
Japan's tourism industry is hopeful travelers will return soon. The industry has been hit hard by the border controls. But COVID-19 infections have slowed in Japan since earlier this year and the government is slowly expanding social and economic activity.
日本旅游业寄希望于游客能尽快回归。该行业受到了边境管制的沉重打击。但自今年年初以来，日本的新冠肺炎感染已经放缓，政府正在缓慢扩大社会和经济活动。
After facing criticism that its border controls were xenophobic, Japan began easing restrictions earlier this year. The country currently permits entry of up to 10,000 people from foreign countries each day. That includes Japanese citizens, foreign students and some business travelers. The government is reportedly considering increasing the daily total to 20,000 in the coming weeks. Currently, foreign tourists are not permitted to enter.
在边境管制面临排外的批评后，日本今年早些时候开始放宽限制。该国目前每天允许多达1万人入境。这其中包括日本公民、外国学生和一些商务游客。据报道，日本政府考虑未来几周将每日允许入境人数增加到2万人。目前日本不允许外国游客入境。
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in a speech during a visit to London earlier in May that he plans to ease the border controls as early as June. That would be in line with the policies of other Group of Seven industrialized countries. He gave no additional details.
日本首相岸田文雄5月初访问伦敦期间发表讲话时表示，他计划最早于6月初放松边境管制。这将跟七国集团其它成员国的政策相一致。他没有提供更多细节。
Foreign tourist arrivals fell more than 90 percent in 2020 from a record 31.9 million the year before. Before the pandemic, the tourism market brought the country more than $31 billion a year.
2020年外国游客抵达人数比前一年创纪录的3190万人下降了90%以上。在大流行之前，旅游市场每年为日本带来超过310亿美元的收入。
I'm Dan Novak.
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