On Wednesday, the cruise liner Amadea operated by Phoenix Reisen, arrived at the port of Shizuoka, marking the first arrival of a foreign cruise ship in Japan in the past three years due to the government's suspension of cruises. The Amadea, operated by German company Phoenix Reisen, carried approximately 500 passengers and 300 crew members and was the first of 212 vessels scheduled to arrive in Japan in 2023, with some ships expected to make multiple port calls.

The ship docked at the port of Shimizu at 8 a.m. and was welcomed with a drumming performance by local musicians, with the stunning Mount Fuji in the background. After completing health checks on board, passengers began disembarking around 9 a.m.

The 29,000-ton ship departed from Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands on Feb. 25 and is scheduled to leave Shizuoka for Tokyo on the same day. Before the pandemic, Japan had 1,932 port calls from cruise ships in 2019, bringing around 2.15 million tourists. However, the government suspended the acceptance of foreign cruise ships in March 2020 due to the Diamond Princess outbreak.

In November 2022, the Japanese government decided to reopen ports to cruise ships after concerns that the country could lose its share of the lucrative cruise market to other countries that had reopened their ports. Industry associations crafted guidelines, with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism also contributing to the measures. These include confirming travelers' vaccination statuses, quarantining any infected passengers, and allowing ship doctors to decide whether journeys can continue.