Hi!
I’m Nathan and welcome back to Ninja monkey.
The place for all things related to Japan, where I help you stay updated with current
affairs regarding entry and put together videos to help YOU plan potential future trips.
I do the research so that you don’t have to, and put all the readily available information
into one place.
So don’t miss any future updates by making sure you Subscribe and hit the like button
too.
In this week’s video I will try to explain what the wording surrounding Japan’s governments
announcement regarding lifting the entry ban for 106 countries mean.
It can be confusing but, although not the news we are all hoping for, there are some
good indicators and positive steps taken as a result of these changes!
So, watch all the wat to the end and remember to let me know what you think.
Japan’s vaccine drive is still on-going, but things have obviously by this stage shifted
to rolling out the very important booster shot.
So, let’s start off by seeing how things are doing in this area.
Out of the population of around 126 million people: 81.1% have now received one dose of
the vaccine and 79.6% have received both doses.
And in terms of booster jabs, third doses have been administered nationwide, and equals
around 44.3% of the population and an increase of only 3,633,718 compared to last week.
Once again, it’s becoming obvious that things are slower than expected when it comes to
administering the booster shots.
I was hopeful that by now 50% of the population would have received their third shot, however,
this is not the case and it’s likely we will have to wait over a week or two for that
to happen.
However, there are things planned to help speed things up.
As I will discuss later, a big chunk of new cases come from people in their 20’s, in
fact only 25.6% of those in their 20s in Tokyo had received their booster shots as of earlier
this week.
The metropolitan government, is trying to encourage vaccinations, by starting to offer
coupons and prizes to those who are fully vaccinated, including giving a higher chance
to win in a lottery to see the currently hyped twin giant pandas born last year at Ueno zoo.
And to hopefully ramp things up even further there are also plans to promote mass vaccinations
for university students, Prime Minister Kishida said on Thursday.
“Signs of a resurgence can be seen” in the current state of infections, he said,
adding every citizen should cooperate in preventing a rapid spread of the coronavirus.
The government will also investigate whether the country has strengthened their medical
systems and interestingly Kishida also had discussions with Omi, who is the head of the
government’s expert panel on the crisis.
Omi however, advised the prime minister to consider the possibility of reinstating quasi-state
of emergency measures.
Team, I do think that Japan is still quite fixated with numbers and statistics which
is why I continue to provide them.
Although it’s my personal belief that the virus is now everywhere and we are all living
in an omicron planet, I personally think that free movement won’t make too much of a different,
but then again I’m no expert.
How would you feel about coupons and prize draws been given out to those who are vaccinated?
Do you think it might encourage a further uptake of the booster Jab?
– Let me know in the comment section, I can’t wait to read your opinions, I’m
sure it will quite divided!
So regarding the Covid situation in Tokyo and Nationwide
It’s no secret that the BA.2 Omicron strain is now dominant across the world.
And in Japan, infections are surging again in 34 of Japan’s 47 prefectures.
With the nationwide tally of new infections continuing to rise for a second week.
“It is concerning that the virus is spreading again,” Takaji Wakita, the panel chair who
also serves as head of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID), said at a news
conference in Tokyo.
“We will closely monitor what unfolds.”
People in their 20s accounted for 18% of all new cases in April, compared to 14% in March.
And the number of hospitalised patients and those recuperating at home has also started
to rise nationwide.
However, it is important to note that (for now anyway) the number of patients in critical
condition across Japan and related deaths have been declining.
Tokyo’s hospitals stand at 25.2% of standard covid beds in use, that’s 1,823 patients
admitted into hospital in Tokyo.
A Small decrease for the capital compared to last week’s update.
However, in terms of severe patients there are 29, meaning, 5.7% of beds set aside for
severe patients in Tokyo are in use.
This is actually a small increase compared to last week.
Nationwide, Japan reported 51,953 new infections, up by around 2,600 from a week earlier, whilst
in the capital, 8,112 new cases were reported, up by 130 from last week.
So, Team, it’s easy to look at the numbers and start to worry, it is however most important
that we realised that hospitalisations, although rising in some respects, are doing so in quite
a steady way and in a manageable way for now.
It will be very interesting to see how the situation unfolds, especially after Golden
week which is taking place between Apr 29 - May 5th.
I expect that in the days following this holiday, numbers will rise, but as I continue to state,
it is hospitalisation where we must focus.
And if there are no states of emergencies announced before the end of the month and
people can travel freely, this might actually be quite the experiment.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the government is waiting to see how things unfold during
and after this very popular and usually crowded time of the year before they make any tourism-based
decisions or announcements.
You can imagine my reaction when my phone’s notifications exploded over the headline “Japan
to lift COVID entry ban for 106 countries including U.S” and Taro Kono tweeted “Japan
is now opening to 106 countries” a tweet that certainly caused a lot of excitement
and speculation.
However very little was known at first.
And since the announcement a few days ago a lot more has come to light.
It’s not the announcement that we all had hoped for but there are certainly a few positive
things we can take from it.
Firstly, not much has actually changed in regard to who can enter the country.
Tourists are still currently forbidden from entering.
“In reality, there will be no change to who can enter Japan,” said a Justice Ministry
official when asked to clarify the statement…
... “There won’t be anyone new who will be able to enter Japan as a result of this
change.”
So what does the so called “lifting of the entry ban” on those 106 countries actually
mean?
Firstly, before the pandemic there were a number of countries that were part of a visa
exemption program which allowed visa-free travel to Japan, this has been and continues
to be suspended for the time being.
The Justice Ministry bans the entry of people arriving from countries where the Foreign
Ministry has issued travel alerts, except for in “special circumstances,” and special
visa weavers that are needed in order to enter Japan if your country is in the list.
The alerts range from a (low) level 1 to a (high) level 4 and if a country is listed
as level 3 or higher, the Justice Ministry automatically bans arrivals from those countries.
Therefore, what has actually happened is that as the Foreign Ministry lowered the alert
level of 106 countries on the 1st of April, the rules were therefore finally revised.
Meaning that visa applications can in theory resume without needing to be ‘special circumstances’
However, getting a visa remains a hurdle that you need to overcome if you are wanting to
enter Japan.
And as tourist, visas are not currently being issued, tourists will therefore be unable
to enter.
In essence what has happened is that the automatic entry denial from those 106 countries has
been removed for the types of visas that are accepted, therefore removing an extra step
that was an additional barrier to what was already a difficult procedure.
This change means that it is unlikely that the number of foreigners visiting Japan will
increase, the number of people that are able to enter the country will for now remain capped
at 10,000 daily entrees as from April 10th.
Team, although this is not the news that we had hoped for, and to be honest I was not
expecting to receive any tourist-based news this early on.
It is however promising to know that the framework that is needed to eventually reopen to tourists
is already in place as a result of this change.
The government will in theory only need to open tourist visas and those 106 countries
will simply be able to apply when this happens.
And hopefully Visa Exemption Arrangements that are currently suspended will be put back
in place too.
Currently very few countries need to quarantine if vaccinated when entering Japan, therefore
I suspect that the same conditions will apply when tourists are finally able to return.
We must remain realistic about the situation.
Although things are slowly loosening, its nearly at this moment in time impossible to
predict when Japan will open its borders.
I continue to present to you all the stories and indicators so that YOU can make informed
decisions.
I collect the clues and put them together for you, there are times where I feel that
the clues are pointing in a specific direction, however in today’s video I really wanted
to explain what is the very confusing wording regarding Japan reopening to 106 countries,
and I do hope I’ve been able to.
If you are a prospective tourist, I recommend that you make sure any plans made can be cancelled
last minute.
Set yourself a cut off date where you will make a decision whether or not your trip will
continue, and make sure that all hotels and flights can either be cancelled or moved to
another date.
I continue to be optimistic, the framework needed to finally reopen is slowly being put
in place.
More people can enter daily, and I expect this number to rise again soon.
Neighbouring countries are opening to tourists and most countries now do not need to isolate.
I am extremely keen to see what happens around or after golden week.
As always I will keep you updated with all things Japan!
So don’t forget to say hi in the comment section, and like the video too.
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So.. that’s all for now,
Stay positive team!
(but covid negative) Till next time, I’ll continue researching and keeping an eye on
all updates until the next video!
So.. till then, Arigatou, gracias, thanks bye!
In the meantime have you watched one of these?