Hi! I’m Nathan and welcome to Ninja monkey. The place for all things related to Japan.
I do all the research so that you don’t have to, and put all the readily available
information into one place, so if you are a potential tourist, student, or simply interested
in visiting for business you’ve come to the right place.
I might not have all the answers but hopefully my updates will help you make informed decisions
leading to answering the question “When will Japan’s border open?” and if not
leave you with a better understanding of what’s happening.
In the last 48 hours there seems to be a lot positive news, but Id like to remind you that
although positive, we do not have the full picture and it is still unofficial and therefore
until there is an official announcement which should come after the general elections we
should remain calm.
So in this video .. we will be looking at some reports that might finally be pointing
towards an opening date or at least the start of the relaxation of Japan’s strict border
controls. Finally I’ll also be able to report some
relevant potentially positive information for students and as always I continue to bring
you an update regarding cases in Tokyo and nationwide as well as the vaccine situation
in the country.
There’s a lot to unpack, and this might be one of the biggest updates so far, so as
always all links are available in the video description and I hope we can interact in
the comment section too!
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.
Tokyo reported 26 new cases on Friday, This is actually down by 31 from a week ago and
is actually the lowest reported number of the year! This means that it has been below
the 50 case mark for the sixth day in a row.
And Nationwide, Japan reported 345 new positive cases and 16 deaths on Thursday.
Team, Its so positive to continue seeing numbers steadily declining week on week, not just
in Tokyo but also across the nation too. In fact no new infections were confirmed in 14
of the country’s 47 prefectures! Which is an amazing statistic to report!
However with a general election round the corner it seems that although political parties
in Japan agree on the need for ending the coronavirus pandemic as soon as possible,
their policy pledges for the Oct. 31 general election appear to vary and could mean very
different outcomes depending on which party wins.
The ruling party aims to speed up vaccinations and the development of antiviral drugs with
the aim of bringing under control and promote the reopening of the economy, whilst the leading
opposition puts a greater focus on increasing the number of PCR tests and boosting border
control measures.
The LDP calls for relaxing movement restrictions for events, travel and dining out through
the utilization of vaccination certificates whilst the CDP calls for creating a system
allowing anyone to take a PCR test immediately and a plan to require all people entering
Japan from abroad to self-isolate at hotels or other facilities for at least 10 days.
This would actually be a stricter border entry control than currently in place.
Team, Do you think more enthesis should be placed on vaccinations, boosters and antiviral
drug development or do you think more PCR testing is the way forward? Obviously I will
not even ask your opinion on the 10 day hotel quarantine
I continue to believe that the vaccine is one of the important factors that we need
to keep an eye on, I’ve mentioned before that other countries have opened up or loosened
their restrictions at around the 70 to 80% vaccination rate. And I continue to be hopeful
that Japan might follow suit and do the same?
Anyway, here is this weeks vaccination update.
As of the latest officially available information from the 15th October: there have now been
a total of 183,344,047 doses administered and includes first and second doses. That’s
actually 5,088,538, more than in last week’s update. It also seems to be the second week
in a row where we are seeing a slight vaccination slow down with the daily average below one
million shots administered. Bear in mind that this is something that can be expected as
more of the population is fully inoculated.
Lets break things down further: Of those doses, 96,406,686 Make up people
who have only had one dose and 86,937,361 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: 76.1% have now received
one dose of the vaccine and 68.6% have received both doses of the vaccine. Im actually a little
disappointed because I thought Japan would hit the 70% mark in time for this update something
that will surely happen in the next few days.
And, regarding the elderly which are usually considered the most vulnerable group and make
up people 65 years of age and older 90.3% of those wishing to take the vaccine are now
inoculated with both doses too.
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are watching my videos .
Reputable news outlet Nikkei Asia reported that there are more than 370,000 foreign nationals,
who although having the correct entry requirements as of 1st Oct, have still been unable to enter
due to Japans strict border controls, which restricts entry to only returning foreign
residents and others with special circumstances, such as spouses of Japanese nationals.
Interestingly 70% of those unable to enter are either international students or technical
intern trainees and probably a lot of you watching this video.
There have been reports of the health ministry considering easing the restrictions but concers
continue about how allowing more foreign nationals into Japan might lead to an increase in cases
and new variants of the virus.
Unfortunately, some members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party believe that previous
surges in infections were due to insufficient border controls and are against relaxing the
rules which might be one of the reasons for the border to continue closed. However, things
might be changing soon.
Interestingly the article also states that :
The government is planning to gradually relax border controls after the parliamentary election
on Oct. 31st , giving priority to short-term business travelers. Digging deeper has helped
me learn that the main reason being that short-term business travelers can limit their range of
activities and that the gradual re-opening of the border would also be accompanied by
requirements such as proof of vaccination and a negative PCR test.
The article also states that there has been a labour shortage where originally 194,000
technical trainees were supposed to enter Japan after 2020, out of which 111,000 have
not entered the country yet. Meaning that "There could be competition to secure foreign
workers when the economy recovers."
And on the subject of students 120,000 students would come to Japan every year before the
pandemic but out of 199,000 approved students since 2020, a staggering 147,000 have not
been able to enter the country and would therefore still be waiting to enter.
"If the entry restrictions continue, it will be impossible to continue our business within
a year," a representative of a Japanese language school said.
Team, I know that you students watching this video are already very frustrated and have
put your life on hold or have been studying online even through the very tough time difference.
And I’m on your side, there’s nothing more that I want to do than report good news..
and hopefully this next part will be positive for you.
Point 809 of the recently published LDP’s policy collection document states the following:
“Since international students are indispensable for revitalising Japan’s society and economy,
we will promptly resume entry of international students while taking appropriate epidemic
prevention measures at the water’s edge.”,”In addition, in order for Japan to become the
country of choice for study abroad, we will establish an acceptance system that is compatible
with preventing the spread of infection even in coronavirus, and will disseminate it both
inside and outside the country.” (Google Translate)
So, taking into account that this inforamtion was translated by google translate, my main
take are the words ‘we will promptly resume entry of international students’. Promptly
meaning with little or no delay. And this is something that I hope will occur shortly
after the elections on the 31st of October.
Not only is this a great sign and hopefully a commitment that they will keep to, but there
has also been added pressure by Japanese and US university professors requesting the Japanese
government to "restart visa issuance for international students"
The request was signed by around 650 people including professors and students from Japanese
and American universities and was submitted on the 21st, at the Consulate-General of Japan
in New York City.
Team, I’m so happy to be able to report some student related news.
I’d like you to understand that I try my best to report the most accurate information
and hope to not mislead anyone, I understand that many of you are here for different reasons.
Sometimes there’s is no, or very little news related to some topics for example, very
few updates for students and I’d like to thank you for your patience and continued
support.
Always remember that although reported here, things have changed in the past and I always
recommend you do your own reading.
So, Team, I did promise that there was a lot to unpack in this update. It all seems very
positive, and we seem to finally have some good information for students and other travellers.
Although this will all hinge on who wins the genereal elections next week! As a non-Japanese
person I will not give any of my personal opinions regarding who should succeed but
I am certain that the outcome will certainly mean the difference between the relaxation
of borders sooner or later.
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.
Also team, I encourage you to send in any information that you might think is helpful
or useful either via one of my social platforms or simply sharing with the community on a
comment.
I’m working on a few non-news related videos which should still be of interest to those
hoping to travel or enter Japan so keep an eye out for those in the future!
Till next time, stay positive team! Arigatou, gracias, thanks bye!