Foreign faces can once again be spotted in the crowds at Japan’s top tourist draws, although the government’s ultra-cautious approach to reopening the nation’s borders means that most appear to be “bleisure” travellers rather than pure holidaymakers.

Japan is reopening faster to foreign nationals who wish to travel here on business, with arrivals clearly keen to use the free time between meetings to see the sights.

A weary-looking Andre Kolleth admitted that he had only arrived in the country three hours earlier but wanted to visit some of Tokyo’s top attractions before he had to put on a suit and tie for the following day’s meetings.

Japan Airlines is offering free domestic flights to tourists from the US, Canada, Mexico, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand, according to a recent announcement on its website.

It will also be available for tourists from Vietnam, the Philippines Indonesia, India, Taiwan and mainland China.

To claim the free tickets, passengers must book round-trip international flights with the same airline and the domestic flights must be booked in the same reservation as the international flights.

A stopover fee of US$100 will be charged to travellers from the US, Canada, Mexico and China who plan to stay in their first destination for more than 24 hours.

A spokesperson for Japan Airlines said that “no end date has been set” for the initiative.

The new initiative means lesser-known cities and towns will become more accessible.