SYDNEY: Australia has eased its travel warning for Tokyo, more than a month after a magnitude 9.0 quake and tsunami hit Japan's north, damaging nuclear power facilities and triggering fears of a meltdown.
Australia lowered the warning for Tokyo after the UN World Tourism Organisation Friday said there was no reason to avoid Japan as radiation levels at the nation's airports and ports were well within safe limits.
"The level of advice for Tokyo and surrounding areas has been lowered to high degree of caution," the advisory said in the advice released late Friday.
Australia's overall advice for Japan urges travellers to exercise a "high degree of caution" the third of five levels of warning which range from the lowest of 'be alert to your own security' to the highest of 'do not travel'.
Citizens are still advised to avoid the Ibaraki, Tochigi, Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, including an exclusion zone around the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
Australian airline Qantas has also announced it will resume direct services to Tokyo on April 19 rather than operating its Narita services via Hong Kong.
In the days after the March 11 disaster, Qantas said it was maintaining its scheduled flights to Japan but its crews were overnighting in Hong Kong rather than the Japanese capital because of aftershocks and damage to infrastructure.
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