Japanese passport is the number one in the world – visa free to 190 countries and areas is possible

Recently the NHK News on-line reported the following:

日本のパスポートが世界１位 190の国と地域ビザなし渡航可能で

2018年10月11日 7時10分

日本のパスポートが“世界で１位”になりました。ビザなしで渡航できる国と地域が190に達し、各国のパスポートを比較するイギリスの民間企業のランキングで初めて単独トップになりました。

このランキングはイギリスのコンサルティング会社が毎年、取りまとめていて、９日、ことしのランキングが発表されました。

それによりますと、調査対象の世界の199の国と地域が発行するパスポートの中で、ビザなしで渡航できる国と地域の数が最も多かったのは日本でした。その数は190に達し、２位のシンガポールの189の国と地域を１つ上回りました。

日本は去年のランキングではビザなし渡航が認められる国と地域は172と５位でしたが、その後、中央アジアのウズベキスタンや東南アジアのミャンマーなどが相次いで日本人のビザの取得の免除を認め、一気に順位を上げて初めて単独トップに立ったということです。

このほか3位はフランス、ドイツ、韓国の188、最下位はアフガニスタンとイラクの30の国と地域でした。

調査を実施した会社では「ランキングはそれぞれの国や地域がどれだけ多くの国や地域と密接な関係を築いているかを表している」と指摘していて、日本の多くの国々との友好関係が示された形となりました。

 Translation

The Japanese passport was “number one in the world". The countries and areas which one could make a trip without visa reached 190. A British private enterprise compared the passport of individual country and found that Japan for the first time was the only country that ranked at the top.

A British consulting company was compiling this ranking every year, and on the 9th the ranking of this year was announced.

According to that, the 199 countries and areas in the world that issued passports had become the investigation object, the one with the largest number of the countries and areas to which you could take a trip without a visa was Japan. The figure reached 190, and it exceeded Singapore by one which ranked second with 189 countries and places.

Last year Japan ranked fifth with 172 countries and areas where a visa free trip was allowed. But since then, Uzbekistan in Central Asia and Myanmar in South East Asia and others allowed exemption from visa requirement successively. It was said that its ranking order was raised quickly and for the first time became a single country to top the ranking.

Additionally, at the third place were France, Germany and Korea with 188 countries while the lowest in ranking were Afghanistan and Iraq that had 30 countries and areas.

The company that did the investigation pointed out that "the ranking showed to what extent the respective countries and areas were building a close relation with other countries and areas"; it was a form of showing Japan’s friendship with many countries.

          So, Japanese is welcome to most countries and areas in the world.