Hi! I’m Nathan and welcome to Ninja monkey. The place for all things related to Japan
where I’m currently focusing on what’s going on behind Japan’s closed borders.
My aim in this video is to put all the readily available information into one place, to make
it easy for you, potential tourists, students, business people and anyone interested in Japan
to follow what’s happening.
Hopefully my updates will help you make informed decisions leading to answering the
question “When will Japan’s border open?”
In this video…
We look at the situation in Tokyo with numbers of infected steadily falling, and give you
another vaccine update, explore another extended state of emergency. And most importantly the
biggest story about the exit strategy which finally gives an indicator of when international
travel will be reviewed and therefore potentially return. That’s a big one by the way so make
sure you watch all the way for that story! and we will look into continued news for students,
as language institutions get together to pressure the government. and as always timestamps are
available for your convenience too!
Lets start of by having a look at what’s happening in Tokyo.
I continue to presented on screen some 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 since the release
of this video update.
Looking at Tokyo’s numbers we can see that there is a downward trend, this is great news.
With cases dropping for the last 18 days and Tokyo now seemingly reporting under 2000 cases
and impressively seeing for example the seven-day average of new cases in Tokyo came to 1,837,
compared to 3,140 a week ago.
This is great news,
In the last week’s update I mentioned that one of the reported metrics for the state
of emergency to be lifted would be cases drop below 500, however as we discuss later on
in the video much clearer requirements have come to light.
We will continue to keep a close eye on this front, as we cannot rule out further spikes
anyway.
Lets follow on to how things are progressing in regards of the vaccine drive:
As of the latest officially available information from the 3rd September: there have now been
a total of 140,295,783 doses administered. That’s actually 7,237,580 more than last
week’s update and includes first and second doses.
So that we can fully understand where these doses are actually going, let’s break down
this figure even further,
77,749,452 Make up people who have only had one dose and 62,546,331 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: 61.4% have now received
one dose of the vaccine and 49.4% have received both doses of the vaccine.
And for further clarity, regarding the elderly which are usually considered the most vulnerable
group and make up people 65 years of age and older 87.6% of those wishing to take the vaccine
are now inoculated with both doses too.
By the time this video is published its likely that 50% of the nation would have received
both doses of the vaccine. Remembering that the government expects to inoculate most people
by November, this is something that I believe is a realistic target at the current vaccination
rate.
So the question I asked last week has finally been answered, to no surprise the Japanese
government has decided to extend the state of emergency. Originally covering 21 of Japans
47 prefectures and plan to end on the 12th September it will now remain in place until
September 30th in 19 prefectures including Tokyo, Hokkaido, Aichi, Osaka and Fukuoka.
Numbers of infections in Japan are actually down, however there continues to be a large
number of hospitalisations and patients with severe symptoms.
"We have to prepare for new waves of infection but at the same time go forward with social
and economic activities while living with the coronavirus," Suga said in his first press
conference since announcing last week his resignation as prime minister.
Adding "Inoculation of all those who wish to be vaccinated will be completed in October
or November," ..”and from then, we will be able to ease restrictions by using proof
of vaccination or testing results."
I can’t be 100% sure, but I believe this might be the first if not one of the few times
that the government has made a comment referring to living with the virus. This in my opinion
is a great indicator, the question remains how will japan adapt to living with the virus
and what might it mean for students, tourists and other travellers alike?
What do you think team?
The last few updates have been full of signals and news that has kept everyone guessing as
to what might happen in the future. I recently reported that there have been discussions
for an exit strategy to come into force, this exit strategy seems to have been some what
finalised.
So what can we learn from the exit strategy reports?
The first thing that comes to light, is that the newly put together exit strategy will
come into effect around the November period.
Restrictions will continue but will be relaxed, with the government no longer banning restaurants
in prefectures under the state of emergency from serving alcohol and closing early, as
long as they follow steps to prevent infections.
Additionally, people will also be allowed to dine in larger groups and cross-prefectural
travel will be allowed. Large events with more than 5,000 attendees,
for example concerts and sports games will require vaccination or negative test results.
A panel of experts advising the government said that the state of emergency should only
be lifted if hospital bed occupancy rates fall below 50 percent and the number of patients
with severe to moderate symptoms is on a downward trend.
Nishimura, the minister in charge of Japan's coronavirus response, said the same day the
government will also review its border controls for international travelers.
BOOM
The same day the government will also review its border controls for international travellers.
We now have, perhaps for the first time an indicator of when a review into border controls
for international travellers will occur! .. Firstly we need the state of emergency to be lifted
(this is something I’ve been saying for quite a while now) so lets keep a close eye
and hope that hospital beds fall below 50%, the number of patients with severe to moderate
symptoms start showing a downward trend too. and Additionally The number of patients recovering
at home or waiting to be hospitalized should also be lower than 60 people per 100,000 residents
in major cities.
Bear in mind that guidelines have been treated as flexible benchmarks rather than a strict
set of criteria in the past.
Team, although this is great news as we can now keep an eye on specific signals, we must
continue to remember that all going well it will lead to a review, and a review could
mean reopening in part, in full or not opening at all. Also remember that as the vaccine
drive continues to progress in theory less and less will need hospitalisation so things
are starting to look up.
On the back of my mid-week short about Japan's largest business lobby Keidanren
urging the government to take action to restart economic and social activity as the vaccine
drive continues to accelerate, specifically asking the government to reduce quarantine
times.
There seems to be some sort of good news for future travellers and those who can currently
enter due to special circumstances. And although not officially announced, it is being reported
in various news outlets including Nikkei, nhk and the Japan times that The government
is expected to shorten the period of quarantine upon arrival for vaccinated people from 14
days to 10 days.
And to answer the question that many of my viewers ask, the reduced quarantine will apparently
only apply to people who have received two doses of vaccine approved in Japan, these
are currently: Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca and for the time being will also have to carry
vaccine certificates issued by Japan, the United States, or the European Union.
With reports saying that the government plans to start these amended quarantine measures
from the end of this month at the earliest.
My thoughts is that a reduced quarantine when entering Japan is good news! However I still
think that there is a long way to go and that realistically for tourism to return we will
be needing shorter quarantine times or no quarantine whatsoever.
And for all my viewers who are not from Japan, the United States, or the European Union.
Do not stress, as this is actually a very good first step.
We must remember that even though the quarantine time has or will be reduced, the majority
of people are unable to enter Japan including me and probably you if you are watching this
video. Therefore, by the time that we are able to enter, hopefully there will be more
developments in this area including more nations vaccinations accepted and perhaps even shorted
quarantine times or none at all.
The fact that discussions are being held and some sort of decisions are being made makes
me fairly confident that we will start seeing a shift around November but I wouldn’t be
surprised if there are smaller changes in the coming weeks,
And for today’s final story, which and one that will certainly interest students. It
seems that pressure continues to grow, and I am someone that believes that pressure can
be a good thing as long as it comes at the right time. And this certainly comes at a
good time when the government seem to be discussing and listening it seems anyway.
Six organizations of Japanese language education are preparing to submit a petition to Prime
Minister Suga for the early relaxation of restrictions for international students.
The petition notes that since the borders have closed, the number of students enrolled
in Japanese language education has decreased significantly, and according to a survey conducted
earlier by the six organizations, if immigration restrictions continue without change, this
will pose big problems for institutions in the near future,
The petition, which is scheduled to be submitted , mentions the current situation in which
G7 countries and South Korea have already resumed accepting international students even
though they might have their own border enforcement in place. Also pointing out that many students
are changing their destination of study to another country as a result of the current
restrictions in Japan.
The main arguments and issues seem to be, that the recruitment relationships that Japanese
language institutions have built in foreign countries, and the Japanese language education
infrastructure will collapse, and asks for "Implementation of early relaxation of immigration
restrictions for international students",
The six organizations are currently seeking Japanese language education institutions to
support this petition with the deadline being on the 13th of this month.
So. What do you think team? I’d love to get your feedback on any of today’s stories!
As always, Thanks so much for watching this far and staying tuned.. it must mean that
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I look forward to interacting with you in the comment section, and if you don’t have
much to say then just say hello and where you’re from! I love getting to know you
too!
So that’s the end of the video, thank you so much for watching.
Till next time . Arigatou, gracias thanks bye!