The government plans to set up a new agency at the Cabinet Secretariat to oversee responses to outbreaks of infectious diseases, government sources said Tuesday. The government also plans to merge the National Institute of Infectious Diseases and the National Center for Global Health and Medicine to create a Japanese version of the U.S. Centers
Following an easing of border rules meaning that many people entering Japan aren’t tested for the coronavirus upon arrival, the number of positive cases found during airport screening has fallen sharply, health ministry statistics show. With the nation now open to foreign tourists on guided tours and the cap on daily arrivals having been raised
Japan’s businesses are pinning hopes on an inbound tourism recovery with the country having resumed the process of accepting foreign tourists for the first time since suspending it more than two years ago due to the coronavirus pandemic. While the economic impact of easing border measures may not be so large at first due to
Fumio Kishida’s emergence last year as Japan’s third prime minister in 13 months prompted worry that Tokyo was sinking into another period of revolving-door leadership. He now looks increasingly likely to govern the country for years. Kishida’s tough stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and cautious response to the omicron variant surge of the coronavirus
Tokyo police have arrested a group of seven, including a 24-year-old official of the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau, on fraud charges related to a government COVID-19 relief program, investigative sources said Thursday. The Metropolitan Police Department believes the group swindled the government out of as much as ¥200 million in benefits aimed at helping smaller
Japan on Wednesday doubled the cap on daily arrivals to the country as it continues to ease its COVID-19 border controls amid receding worries about the pandemic. The country also exempted people from isolation and COVID-19 testing upon entry when they come from 98 countries and regions presenting the lowest risk of infection, including the
The percentage of young people who have received a COVID-19 booster is expected to remain low in Japan, with the proportion of people in their 20s who have had it likely to hover at around 40% in August — half the rate for the second shot — according to an estimate recently released by Kyoto
If there is one thing that Japan did well to boost its lackluster economy prior to the pandemic, it would be growing inbound tourism. Up until 2019, the country saw record numbers of foreign tourists annually for seven straight years. Then the pandemic came, with Japan tightly sealing its borders for more than two years.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Thursday that foreign tourists will be allowed to enter Japan on package tours from June 10, paving the way for the full resumption of inbound tourism, which has been suspended for more than two years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. “We will resume accepting tourists on package tours
The approval rating for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s Cabinet rose to 61.5%, the highest since he took office in October last year, as the government starts easing COVID-19 restrictions and guidelines, a Kyodo News survey showed Sunday. In the two-day telephone survey from Saturday, the rating was up from 58.7% about a month ago. It
