(Editor's note: This is an old article posted on April 16, 2014. It has been superseded by other developments on visa restrictions for Filipinos going to Japan. Click here for these restrictions)

MANILA – The Philippine Ambassador to Japan on Wednesday said that Filipinos may travel to the land of the rising sun without any need for a visa by June.



"We are just awaiting the official advice, but from reliable sources and from the newspaper accounts that have come out already, it seems that its likely going to happen sometime in June of this year," said Ambassador Manolo Lopez.



Lopez said the ease in visa requirement is part of Japan's plan to boost its economy.



"Since the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe came into power in December 2012, the economy of japan have started to inch up and they would like to sustain this momentum by inviting more tourism coming in to Japan and they realized that in Southeast Asia that there is a lot of wealth in these countries," he said in an interview with ANC.



The ambassador added that Japan is targeting 20 million tourists in six years. It will also host the 2020 Olympic Games.



"Japan is targeting 20 million tourists by 2020 and they only breached the 10 million mark recently and so they will liberalize more and more the entry to Japan from other countries," he said.