Hi!
I’m Nathan and welcome to Ninja monkey.
The place for all things related to Japan.
I do the research so that you don’t have to, and put all the readily available information
into one place.
This week I’ve been continuing my post covid recovery and I can finally say that I’m
feeling more energetic and less fatigued...
Thank you to all who have joined in livestreams and supported me in that way.
Livestreams are an excellent way to get to know the community better and also have a
less formal discussion around many Japan border and travel related topics.
These weekly update videos are more to the point, and I tend to steer clear from unchecked
or unverified information.
I will be working on a livestream schedule that will become a more permanent fixture
of the channel moving forward in addition to these weekly updates and other content
that I may create so I look forward to seeing some of you in the livestream chat, (if this
is something you might be interested in, and if not then just ignore the stream notification
and continue enjoying the weekly updates, that’s absolutely fine too.
Anyway let’s get started...
So, On the topic of vaccinations, Japan has now administered a total of 201,786,647 doses,
this includes first, second and booster jabs too.
This means that for now, out of the population of around 126 million people 79.9% have now
received one dose of the vaccine and 78.6% have received both doses of the vaccine and
would therefore be considered fully vaccinated.
In terms of booster jabs, 1,119,381 third doses have been administered nationwide, that’s
366,582 additional third doses administered since my last update and equals around 0.9%
of the population.
I expect booster shots to quickly ramp up in the coming weeks, we have seen over 360,000
boosters administered this week and I wouldn’t be surprised if we hit 500,000 and eventually
move on to a bigger numbers of daily booster shots being administered.
After all, the health ministry has shortened the timeline for booster shots for those age
64 and younger, bringing the interval down by a month to seven months after a second
dose and has also reduced the timeline for those over the age of 65 to 6 months too.
Kishida has said that the government will make efforts to further speed up the rollout,
adding that the government was recently able to get their hands on 18 million more doses
of Moderna’s vaccines, which will be supplied between January and March.
“We will do as much as we can to shorten the timing to six months from seven months
for the general public,” he said late Thursday on a TBS news program.
“If the amount of secured doses increases, we would like to move the schedule forward
even further.”
And regarding Covid.
We continue to see numbers in Tokyo and nationwide escalate.
In last week’s update I mentioned that Tokyo’s cases reached 922 cases on Friday the 7th
of January.
And since then 4,051 daily cases have been reported on January the 14th, A number topping
4,000 for the first time since August.
That’s more than a four fold increase in a week.
The metropolitan government has also projected that the average could rise to around 10,000
daily cases next week.
A request to the central government to put Tokyo under a quasi state of emergency will
be made if hospital bed occupancy reaches 20%.
Currently the ratio sits at 16.6% as of Friday.
And if the bed occupancy reaches over 50% then a state of emergency will be called.
Nationwide there were 4,301 cases reported last Thursday and Japan has now reported 22,045
cases on Friday, just over a week later.
For reference, the country's daily case count peaked at 25,990 on Aug. 20 last year during
the fifth wave of infections.
So team, we can see that Japan’s cases are rising, and rising fast indeed.
Do you think they will beat last year’s record of nearly 26,000 daily cases?
I think it’s probably certain to do so but I would love to know your thoughts and predictions
too!
We knew that there would be an announcement about the border at some point this week and
we now know that Japan has decided to extend the border restriction until the end of February.
I guess the signals were there with the number of daily cases rising and the fact that Kishida
continues to go for a “better than sorry approach” perhaps in the hope of not having
the same criticism his predecessor came under.
The prime minister said the government will maintain “the framework” of the current
border restrictions until the end of next month and there was even rumours of a re-evaluation
of student entry or business and family entry, which at that point did not come.. but I will
talk about students and other entry later on in the video, so keep on watching.
It is now more than ever important to keep an eye on not only the daily number of cases
but also hospitalisations too.
Currently 1,146 people are hospitalised in Tokyo alone but it’s important to note that
there are 6,919 beds secured.
We will continue to look at this data, especially on the lead up to the end of February.
I continue to remain optimistic that Japan is in a better place to deal with this new
wave, they have built a much better infostructure and are much better equip to deal with the
situation than a year ago.
This wave does not have to have the same outcome.
In respect to isolation and quarantine requirements, things have changed since the last update.
Japan said on Friday that it will shorten the quarantine period for travelers arriving
in the country to 10 days from the current 14.
“The length of period when they are required to self-quarantine in places such as their
own residence or accommodations after their entry into Japan, to follow-up checks conducted
by the Health Monitoring Center for Overseas Entrants and to refrain from using public
transportation is changed from 14 days to 10 days,” the Foreign Ministry said.
This move came after the government also shortened the isolation period of close contacts from
14 days to 10.
It seems that as a result of the incubation period of omicron being around three days,
which is shorter than those of other variants, and 99% of symptomatic patients developed
symptoms within 10 days after infection, according to the National Institute of Infectious Diseases.
Other countries such as England have continued to tweak and change their isolation rules
too.
England originally shortened their isolation period after testing positive to 7 days and
have now decided to reduce it even further to 5 days (that is if the positive person
is no longer showing symptoms and tests negative on day 5 and day 6, if either day shows a
positive result, the patient must continue to isolate).
This comes as a result of Data from the UK Health Security Agency suggesting that two-thirds
of people are no longer infectious after five days of isolation.
Team, this in my opinion is a sort of win, Japan shortening their isolation and quarantine
days to 10 is certainly an improvement for all that can currently enter if they have
special circumstances.
I’ll link a document regarding those who would be considered as having special circumstances
and therefore able to apply for an entry visa along with the video sources as there have
been a few slight changes including the possibility of spouse or the child of those “Long term
resident” being able to apply, relatives who support or takes care of a resident in
Japan who is sick or pregnant or needs to visit Japan because a relative has died or
is in critical condition can now also apply under the special circumstance rules.
In regards to isolation and quarantine, I am hopeful that Japan might see a reason to
reduce this even further just like other parts of the world are doing.
Perhaps things need to get a little worse before they get better though.
What are your thoughts?
And how long would you comfortably be happy to quarantine for?
I personally would obviously prefer no quarantine and perhaps a daily swab for the first week,
but if having to quarantine, perhaps a 3–5-day quarantine would be what I could personally
cope with.
In respect to students, I’m aware that many of my viewers are students wanting to enter
the country, some students waiting for many months.
The extension of the border restrictions until the end of February states that it will keep
the current ‘framework’ but this is actually not true, some things have changed such as
the relaxation of entry for those with visas under special circumstances from certain countries
that had been black listed and even in the coming days tweaks and mentions of ongoing
discussions about student entry have been reported.
According to a mainichi report, The Japanese government is starting preparations to hopefully
ease entry restrictions on new arrivals of foreign students.
This will apparently happen in phases, with government sponsored students getting priority
as a result of them being unable to advance to the next year of classes or graduate in
their home countries unless they earn credits in Japan.
"We'll consider the matter based on the fact that there are students who are close to graduating
or advancing to the next class."
Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno said in a Jan. 14 news conference.
Crucially the report also mentions that the entry of self-supported international students,
who account for over 90% of foreign students in Japan, will be allowed later.
These reports are also found in other news outlets such as Nikkei stating that:
“Japan is considering allowing in international students on a limited basis”
So team, its incredibly promising to know that the government is discussing and looking
at allowing entry of students.
And even as I’m recording this update further information is starting to come to light and
it seems that a small number of students will be able to enter as from next month.
But More clarity will be needed, and as information becomes available, I will keep you updated
on my social media.
So it’s worth following me on Instagram and twitter if you haven’t already.
So team, what are your thoughts on all of this?
It’s promising that things seem to be slowly changing and its clear that discussions are
always ongoing behind closed doors.
I am of the thought that hopefully things will ramp up towards the end of February.
The fact that foreigners are not being allowed entry and yet there is wave occurring means
that hopefully the link between transmission and foreign entry can be dismissed by not
only the government but also Japanese residents.
Before this border closure, the government seemed to be opting towards phased entry of
students & business or essential works, and it wouldn’t surprise me if the same happens
in March with a gradual reopening.
In respect to tourism, I still believe that the priority will be given to students, workers
and those apart from their loved ones and that if the go-to government domestic travel
scheme is put in action, then only sometime in the future after that, international tourism
could follow.
Obviously, these are just my thoughts, and thoughts that I am very much constantly changing
depending on the information available.
-- Anyway team, if you haven’t got much to
say Just say Hi and where you are from!
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you to send in any information that you might think is helpful or relevant, either via one
of my social platforms or simply sharing with the community in a comment.
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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!