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 is to put all the readily available information into one place, to make it easy
for you to follow what’s happening behind Japan’s closed border, so that you can make
informed decisions leading to hopefully answering the question “When will Japan’s border
open?”
And, as always, all links are included in the video description so that you can do your
own reading if you wish to. Time stamps are also available for your convenience too!
As I continue to keep a close eye on what’s happening behind Japan’s closed doors, I
continue to believe that keeping up to date with the latest information and news related
to what is happening as a result of the virus is perhaps one of the best things you can
do in the meantime. As sometimes these signals are good indicators of future action.
I also continue to believe that keeping informed regarding relevant statistics is important
such as my belief that Japan striking a good balance between cases nationwide and the vaccine
roll out will be a crucial part of how Japan slowly opens up its border, perhaps in staggered
entry stages, and even perhaps depending on the situation of your home country too. But
this is just me speculating and we will indeed have to wait and see what happens.
So, let’s have a look at what’s happening regarding cases in Tokyo and nationwide in
Japan since my last update.
I’ve 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.
In my mid-week update I explain that Japan is set to extend the state of emergency once
again from the end of this month until September 12th. It’s not surprising considering that
the nationwide total of cases has topped 25,000 for three days in a row as Tokyo reported
5,074 new cases on Saturday and The seven-day average of new cases in Tokyo rose to 4,718
from 4,231.1 last week.
And its not just Tokyo that is showing an increase in infections. Other large urban
areas have also reported near-record positives, for example Kanagawa Prefecture reported 2,705
cases and nine deaths and Osaka Prefecture seeing 2,556 cases and two deaths,
More alarming is the fact that experts say that there is a possibility that there are
many cases that have not been detected.
It therefore seems that either the current state of emergency measures are not working,
don’t go far enough or that state of emergency fatigue among locals that have spent months
of 2021 in what feels like a perpetual twilight zone has set in and the measures have become
normalised and therefore less effective.
However Japan’s governors have urged the central government to consider imposing a
lockdown, calling the current measures “ineffective”.
An article in the Japan times says that The governors echoed calls by some people in the
country seeking more drastic measures such as the lockdowns that have been imposed in
some other countries. But Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has expressed doubt over the effectiveness
of those steps.
Interestingly the article also mentions that Suga will not lift the state of emergency
until “the provision of medical care is secured.” - My question is how much longer
can a state of emergency go on for?
Previously, there have been five criteria looked at when extending, putting into place
or lifting a state of emergency: hospital occupancy, the number of coronavirus patients,
positive test rates, daily infections and the number of untraceable cases
Moving forward, two new factors will be looked at: the vaccination rate and the number of
severely ill patients, changing its focus away from daily cases and onto new data points,
So my first question to you is: Did your country do some sort of stricter lock down? Do you
feel it had any effect and if so should Japan follow the experiences of other countries?
Lets follow on to how things are progressing in regards of the vaccine drive:
As of the 20thth August, which is the most up to date officially available information
since the publishing of this video: there have now been a total of 115,739,998 doses
administered. That’s actually 8,658,427 more than last week’s update and includes
first and second doses meaning that the program continues to provide over a million daily
doses as originally promised a few months ago.
So let’s break down this figure, to fully understand where these doses are actually
going:
65,212,896 Make up people who have only had one dose and 50,527,102 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: 51.3% have now received
one dose of the vaccine and 39.7% have received both doses of the vaccine.
And for more clarity, regarding the elderly which are usually considered the most vulnerable
group and make up people 65 years of age and older 85.4% of those wishing to take the vaccine
are now inoculated with both doses! I receive many comments and messages regarding
working or wanting to work in Japan and many questions asking about when will business
or working visas become available, so it is evident to me that Japan is a popular destination
in this respect.
However, an interesting article in Nikkei Asia states that Concern is growing in Japan
that indispensable foreign workers will turn away from its domestic industry in the near
future.
competition for manpower with China is cited as one of these reasons among many others,
this article doesn’t really mention Covid restrictions as a major factor but I am wondering
if any of my viewers have as a result of being unable to enter the country changed their
plans or reaching a point of frustration where you might decide to change your work travel
plans?
And for those of you waiting for entry, I’d love to know the main reason for wanting to
train or work in Japan. What does Japan offer that exceeds that of other countries? I’m
really interested in your reasons for wanting to work in Japan!
Could Robots serving burgers be on the menu on your next trip to Japan?
Japan's Mos Burger (which I frequent when visiting Japan and fancy a quick western style
meal but want to avoid the obvious mcdonalds or burgerking) has introduced a robotic service.
You can now order a meal and have it brought to their table without interacting face-to-face
with an employee.
Interestingly the robot’s operator is not inside the burger restaurant but instead,this
remote service is run by a person living hundreds of kilometres away in northern Japan's Akita
Prefecture. The operator suffers from a disability.
Though the pilot program runs only until the end of August, Tokyo Mos Food Services will
evaluate the results as one possible solution to an anticipated staff shortage when the
pandemic-hit economy reopens.
The robot is not Mos Burger's first experiment with remote service. Employees working remotely
can provide direct assistance to customers through a special self-checkout system that
debuted in November 2020 at the Tokyo headquarters shop. This system itself is an upgrade of
a pilot launched in July 2020 that lets customers chat with remote staff when placing an order.
The service runs between 2 and 5 p.m. on weekdays until the end of August at the company's head
office store in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward.
I really hope that this does catch on, not only will it potentially employ a perhaps
housebound disabled person but it sounds like a novel and fun way to receive food in what
feels like a science fiction style too! I’d certainly be interested in experiencing this
in the future.
How do you feel about such a scheme? Would you visit a restaurant where robots operated
by people across the country serve you food? Or would you just prefer the normal human
service? I’m interested in knowing your thoughts on this one!
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 subscribing if you haven’t
already and press the bell notification to keep up to date with all future content. Every
week I like to answer or highlight a comment, so if you have something you’d like me to
answer or just my opinion on then start sending in the questions and I might select yours
to feature!
Viewer Aaron J says:
So why do you still want to go to Japan? Me – Loved ones and long history to lean on.
First time visitors – What still draws you into this country?
Firstly, thank you for reaching out and spending the time in the comments section! I really
do think this is a question directed to all viewers and one that I’d also like to know.
Although I’m not a first time visitor, I’ll answer why I’m still drawn to Japan.
Personally, Japan is one of the few countries who’s culture I feel continues to remain
true and relatively not majorly westernised. I love exploring places where people might
not know how to speak English, not have an English Menu etc. Other than that I do have
friends that I look forward to catching up with and a long list of experiences and places
I yet have to visit! Aslo as a terrible Japanese language learner, I feel that its when I’m
in Japan and forced to speak that I have the most interesting experiences.
So .. For all of you viewers out there.. What draws you to Japan? What continues to draw
you to Japan even after all this time? I’d love to know! So lets get a conversation started
in the comment section! I do try to respond to as many as I can! I’d love to know your
thoughts and if you have any interesting links or interesting insights youd like to share
with us, please get in contact with me and I might include it in a future video too!
So, if you are still watching, then hopefully it means that you liked the video! So please
support me by pressing the like button as it tells YouTube that you are interested in
this type of content. And if you want to take your support one step further, how about sharing
the video on some other social platform too
So that’s the end of the video, that’s so much for watching.
Till next time . Arigatou, gracias thanks bye!