Happened to me as well, I got a visa and an offer to work in Japan. I resigned from my current company, send the leave notice for my apartment, started packing and was supposed to fly there a month later. Omicron appeared a few weeks later, Japan sealed their borders, canceled all pending visa. No exception. But Japanese nationals were still allowed to travel freely anywhere and get working visa for Europe (of course).

Luckily my previous job accepted to cancel the resignation and I managed to keep my apartment since I had a very good relation with my landlord. But I still hold a nasty grunge to the Japanese government for that dick move.

When I finally made it 18 months later, I got randomly interviewed at the airport and talked about this covid management shit show, the lack of reciprocity between JP and EU, their government's inability to take any sensible action in a whole year... Even the interviewer was embarrassed. Needless to say, the interview was never broadcasted.

Don't get me wrong, the Japanese are wonderful people and there is a lot to love about them, their culture and their language. But they're governed by (very) old and incompetent politicians that rules the country like we're in 1980 and never cease to amaze me by their inaction and lack of innovation.