It comes after chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno announced from 1 June Japan would require no quarantine or airport testing for arrivals from countries in the "low-rate group", which includes the UK.

Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida told The Japan Times: "We will resume accepting tourists on package tours with guides from the 10th of next month. Step by step we will aim to accept [tourists] as we did in normal times, taking into consideration the status of infections."

Simon King, co-founder of tour operator InsideJapan, welcomed "yet another step in the right direction" for tourism to the destination.

"We hope that this will be another small but quick step towards opening the country for all our customers that are booked to travel on one of our self-guided cultural adventures, and we expect more clarity in the coming weeks," he added.

"Our tour leaders, private guides and partners cannot wait to welcome actual people again to help them discover this special place. We look forward to the further repealing for Covid restrictions soon."