TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesians who want to visit Japan will no longer need visa to enter Japan as of December 1, as announced by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio in Tokyo on Tuesday.

Visa-free visit applies to 15-day travel and this visa does not apply to travelling to Japan for work. The Japanese government also issues five-year multiple entry visa to Japan, which is longer than the previous three-year period.

The multiple entry policy particularly applies to departure to Japan for other purposes besides visiting such as business and so on.

“With the announcement, the long-awaited visa-free visit to Japan has been confirmed,” said Indonesian Ambassador for Japan, Yusron Ihza Mahendra, as written on Indonesian Embassy in Tokyo’s press release on Tuesday.

Yusron further said the visa-free entry would provide opportunities for Indonesians to know more about Japan and widen their knowledge.

For convenient immigration system at Japan international airports, Japan has decided that in order to obtain be visa-free, Indonesian passport that will be used is the one that has identity card, so that the passport can be scanned by the computer in immigration at Japan’s airports.

Furthermore, for the first visa-free travel to Japan, the aforementioned passport must be registered at the Japanese Embassy in Jakarta or Japanese consulate general in Indonesia.

NATALIA SANTI