Hi! I’m Nathan and welcome to Ninja monkey. I’m currently focusing on what’s going
on behind Japan’s closed borders.
I put all the readily available information into one place and do all the research so
that you don’t have to, so if you are a potential tourist, student, or simply interested
in visiting for business you’ve come to the right place.
Hopefully my updates will help you make informed decisions leading to answering the
question “When will Japan’s border open?”
in this video we will continue to look at the situation in Tokyo and Nationwide, I will
update you on the vaccine drive and we will look at how the government might initially
bring about domestic tourism and hope for reopening of international travel even though
there are some negative stories, I try my best to give them a positive spin! I’d love
to know if you agree with me on my thoughts throughout the video. I also dive into whats
happening in Singapore and the U.K as we might be able to learn from the experiences of others
and see if Japan will follow a similar path.
So lets have a look at the situation in Tokyo and nationwide.
As always, I continue to present on screen some important stats for you, including nationwide
cases, Tokyo’s numbers and the amount of PCR tests done nationwide. So, feel free to
pause the video if you want to. All stats are up to the latest Government officially
available data upto and including the 8th of October.
82 new cases were reported in Tokyo on Saturday, that’s 114 Less than a week ago. And great
to see that the number is now below 100.
The average for Tokyo over the past week stands at 129.1.
And Nationwide, the number of reported cases was 777.
With Osaka reporting the most Cases (124), followed by Tokyo (82), Kanagawa (81), Hyogo
(45), Aichi (43), Saitama (37), Chiba (36) and Fukuoka (31).
And the number of deaths reported nationwide was 24.
So team where do things stand? Cases are drastically going down, hospitalisations and deaths too.
24 deaths Nationwide is quite a tiny number, yet as we will discover later on in this update
the government seems to continue to walk on the side of caution, but for how much longer
is the question.
Another important aspect that I continue to look at is the vaccination drive, something
that I believe will hopefully lead to unlocking Japan, especially once we get nearer the 70
or 80% mark.
As of the latest officially available information from the 1st October: there have now been
a total of 172,127,058 doses administered and includes first and second doses. That’s
actually 7,268,044 more than in last week’s update.
Of those doses, 92,174,332 Make up people who have only had one dose and 79,952,726
make up those who have received both jabs and would therefore be considered fully vaccinated.
That means that out of the population of around 126 million people: 72.8% have now received
one dose of the vaccine and 63.1% have received both doses of the vaccine.
And, regarding the elderly which are usually considered the most vulnerable group and make
up people 65 years of age and older 89.6% of those wishing to take the vaccine are now
inoculated with both doses too.
Each week adding around 3% to the fully vaccinated tally, will mean that Japan should be reaching
around 70% vaccination rates in about two week’s time, and over 80% towards the end
of November.
I try not to speculate too much, but looking at other countries the 70% vaccination mark
is usually a significant one, that has led to restrictions being eased.
Team, How is the vaccination rate in your country? Has it already reached or passed
the 70% mark and did things change, if so how? - I’d love to know in the comment section.
As I do believe that although its evident that the Japanese government has its own ways
of doing things, I would hope that they are also looking outside to help build a plan.
Perhaps 70 or 80% vaccination rate will help things move in the direction we are all hoping
for.
Japan's new tourism minister Saito, said on Tuesday that he will consider when to resume
the government's Go To Travel program for the promotion of domestic tourism now that
the state of emergency has been fully lifted.
Although there is no mention of international tourism returning, Saito said that he has
been instructed by the new Prime minister Kishida to help the battered tourism sector
while maintaining anti-virus measures.
Last year the Go To Travel campaign would subsidize up to half of travelers' expenses,
but the program was suspended due to a wave in covid infections. The overall discount
was capped at 20,000 yen per person per night and 10,000 yen for a day trip.
Some have been critical of the program saying that it might have led to the spread of the
virus across the nation,
In regards to the Go to Travel program Saito said:
"We will consider the situation regarding novel coronavirus infections and consider
when to resume the program," said Tetsuo Saito. "It is a program crucial for the recovery
of tourist sites and local economies."
Team, it was always known that domestic tourism needed to return to Japan before any other
form of international tourism. However the Japanese government continues to aim for attracting
60 million annual foreign visitors to Japan by 2030, tourism is an important aspect which
cannot be ignored and I do believe that these early steps dealing with domestic tourism
is crucial, crucial for it to go well and create confidence for when foreigners can
finally enter the country.
However what is of concern is that according to Kozuki, who is Japan’s ambassador to
Russia, in an interview with TASS one of Russias largest news agency he said that it is difficult
to say when Japan will lift restrictions for foreigners and that although infection rates
are decreasing in Japan the strict border control will remain in place.
According to the Japanese diplomat, tourism has big potential, despite the impact of the
pandemic.
"The number of coronavirus cases in Japan is gradually going down and the emergencies
situation regime was lifted in our country on September 30," he noted. "But we must continue
to be cautious, so, strict border measures are still in place in Japan."
According to Kozuki, it is difficult to say when Japan will lift restrictions for foreigners.
"But I hope that the day when people of both countries can freely visit each other will
come soon,"
Team, as you know I try to be as clear and report all stories, sometimes even things
that we might not want to hear. What is not clear here is weather he is referring to travel
between Russia and Japan or travel for all countries.
Anyway, We must keep positive remembering that cases are dropping, vaccination rates
are on the up and there have been constant hints as to the importance of reopening the
border.
As I have mentioned many times I do think that we are soon to reach a point where case
numbers and vaccination rates reach a sweet point. The fact that domestic tourism might
be pushed should not be seen as a negative but rather a good first step towards reopening.
As mentioned earlier on, I do think that its also important to see how the rest of the
world is dealing with things.
In Singapore the Prime Minister wants to push on with the strategy of living with the virus
and not living in fear.
Prime minister Lee said in a televised address that
Singapore can’t stay “locked down and closed off indefinitely,” but at the same
time there will be “quite many COVID-19 cases for some time to come.”
Adding:
“We need to update our mindsets. We should respect COVID-19, but we must not be paralyzed
by fear,” he said Saturday. “Let us go about our daily activities as normally as
possible, taking necessary precautions.”
Although Singapore has been a poster child for the way they have delt with the situation,
they now face the harsh reality that is going from a zero mindset to ‘living with the
virus’ something that might prove harder than expected.
However it is also important to note that Singapore announced that it will continue
its plans to reopen the borders despite a record outbreak, saying it will allow vaccinated
travelers various countries including the U.S., U.K. Canada, Denmark, France, Italy,
Spain and the Netherlands to travel to Singapore to start from Oct. 19 and South Korea from
Nov. 15, Additionally the number of COVID-19 tests will be cut from four to two, helping
to reduce cost and inconvenience, according to authorities.
Also looking at the UK which seems to have decided to live with the virus, just recently
reporting 36,060 infections and 127 deaths in a day and pretty much opening up its border
for travel to the whole world apart from only seven countries which will remain on a so
called red list: Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Panama, Peru and Venezuela.
Initially only accepting U.K approved vaccines administered in the U,K and a only a few other
countries, this list has now been extend to accept vaccine certification for 68 countries
world wide and will mean that vaccinated visitors to England will not need to quarantine on
arrival and will only need to be tested on day two and fill out a passenger locator form
48 hours before arrival.
What do you think team? Has England gone too far or are they doing the right thing? Pretty
much deciding to open up to normality if you are vaccinated anyway and making travel into
the country quite straight forward compared to traveling elsewhere?
Although there are currently just over 100 deaths a day on average linked to Covid in
the UK. Which may sound scary, this is actually similar to what happens in a bad flu season.
The gap between hospitalisations, deaths and cases has widened thanks to the vaccine and
therefore the U.K decided to unlock months before other countries.
I’d love to know your thoughts on all this, there isn’t a correct answer and I certainly
am not an expert but its always good to discuss in the comment section! And if you don’t
have much to say , just say hello and where you are from as I’d love to get to know
you too!
So, As always, Thanks so much for watching this far and staying tuned.. it must mean
that you are liking the content so far, so please consider liking, subscribing if you
haven’t already, and hitting the bell notification to keep up to date with all future updates.
Till next time, stay positive team! Arigatou, gracias thanks bye!