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Japanese Passport Now World's Most Powerful (cnn.com)

Posted by msmash on from the how-about-that dept.

According to the Henley Passport Index, compiled by global citizenship and residence advisory firm Henley & PartnersCitizens, Japan now has the most powerful passport on the planet. From a report: Having gained visa-free access to Myanmar earlier this month, Japanese citizens can now enjoy visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to a whopping 190 destinations around the world -- knocking Singapore, with 189 destinations, into second place. Germany, which began 2018 in the top spot, is now in third place with 188 destinations, tied with France and South Korea. Uzbekistan lifted visa requirements for French nationals on October 5, having already granted visa-free access to Japanese and Singaporean citizens in early February.

16 of 175 comments (clear)

  1. getting out, not in by harvey+the+nerd · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Whether the passport does more to get you favors or "Out", is more important than "In".

    1. Re:getting out, not in by jittles · · Score: 3, Informative

      Passports are a scam and a TRAP. The world never used to have passports. There was and is NO need for them.

      That is entirely wrong. All you have to do is read a book like the Count of Monte Cristo, written almost 200 years ago, to see that there was a period in time where you couldn't even leave the town you grew up in without a passport. If you did, you'd be considered a criminal when you tried to get into any town. The lay person did not need a passport because the lay person never had the opportunity to go anywhere.

  2. In related news ... by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Japanese citizens can now enjoy visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to a whopping 190 destinations around the world ...

    MasterCard ecstatic.

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  3. Meanwhile... by GerryGilmore · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...as an American citizen, I can be arrested for visiting Cuba, 90 miles away. Why? Something, something Communism.....

    1. Re:Meanwhile... by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Informative

      ...as an American citizen, I can be arrested for visiting Cuba, 90 miles away.

      It is legal to visit. You just can't spend money there. But enforcement is lax, and nobody really cares.

    2. Re:Meanwhile... by GerryGilmore · · Score: 5, Informative

      Bzzt! Wrong. The embargo was in place before the nukes were placed there. Also, this was in response to American nukes in Turkey, right on the Russian border. Stir in a few assassination plots by America and attempted overthrows of the Cuban government, I'd welcome some nukes too.

    3. Re:Meanwhile... by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Informative

      Russia doesn't have a border with Turkey.

      It did in 1961.

    4. Re:Meanwhile... by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Informative

      Heh? Singapore has mostly the same thing going on - but we're friends with them.

      Indeed. We are also friends with Saudi Arabia, which has no elections, and where gays are executed.

      Meanwhile, in Cuba, gays are not persecuted, and starting in January next year, gay marriage will be legal.

      GPP's assertion that America's foreign policy is based on "protecting gays" is absurd.

    5. Re: Meanwhile... by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 4, Informative

      Except it was a Democrat who normalised relations with Cuba and made it possible for US citizens to visit there again, and the Republican who succeeded him who has already rolled part of that back.

      But do go on...

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
  4. Re:34th here! by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Informative

    This raises an interesting question: What is the worst passport to have?

    I figured it would be North Korea, but nope, it is Afghanistan.

    North Korea isn't even in the bottom 10. Eleven countries allow visa free travel to North Koreas, and 35 more issue visas on arrival.

    Here's the bottom ten:
    Iran
    Ethiopia
    Lebanon
    Sudan
    Yemen
    Somalia
    Syria
    Pakistan
    Iraq
    Afghanistan

    So if you want to be at the bottom, you need to be an exporter of terrorists.

    So who allows visa free access to Afghans? According to Wikipedia, they are Dominica, Haiti, Micronesia, Saint Vincent, North Cyprus, Cook Islands, and Pitcairn Island.

  5. Please weigh, not just count by redelm · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It is a start to recognize visa-free is a good thing. But their list ought not to simply count countries, but weigh them by something -- population, GDP, area, /. postings, ... ). Simple binary dot-product.

    After all, visa-free to Russia or China is more useful than visa-free to Uzbekistan or Mongolia for most people.

  6. EU passport by dremon · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This rating is only for visa-free travel. Passport of the EU country doesn't only give you visa-free access to the majority of countries but also a right to live and work in any of the 28 member states. That should be really top rated but it isn't. (and yeah, good bye UK, you got what you deserve for your ultimate stupidity)

  7. Re:British come April 2019 by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Britain will have no agreements with any nations so the British passport will be by far the worst passport to have.

    Britain has never been part of Schengen, so Brexit will have no effect on visa agreements.

  8. Disappointed by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 3, Funny

    When I read the headline, I wondered if Japanese passports now transformed into some sort of giant mecha creature.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
  9. Re:Fortress Australia by Harlequin80 · · Score: 3, Informative

    You know that Australia is 7th on the list right?

  10. Re:34th here! by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I wonder what sort of Bribes are involved in getting a Transnistrian Passport?

    For $100k you can buy a St Kitts passport that will give you visa free access to the UK.

    25% of St Kitts' GDP comes from selling citizenship.