DHAKA: Japan said Tuesday it would relax visa rules for tourists from Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam in a bid to double the number of foreign visitors ahead of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Tourists with Indonesian e-passports embedded with a microchip can be exempt from getting a visa, the foreign ministry said, while rules for those from the Philippines and Vietnam will also be ‘substantially relaxed’.

‘The objectives of these measures are to promote Japan as a tourism-oriented country with the... goal of attracting 20 million foreign visitors’ annually, the ministry said in a statement, reports The Straits Times.

The new rules would come into effect ‘as quickly as possible’, it added.

BDST: 1756 HRS, JUNE 17, 2014