The Japanese government is planning to — gingerly — reopen the country to foreign tourists. Successive administrations have opted for caution as they balanced the public health and safety impacts of reopening against the economic losses. Now, however, the government of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida seems ready to explore a more permissive policy to begin
Residents of Shanghai have been reporting their city government to a national fraud hotline after claims of fully stocked, open supermarkets and eateries were posted by a ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) newspaper. Shanghai officials say the city has been free from any new COVID-19 infections for four days straight, as some shops have been
While North Korea is reporting hundreds of thousands of “fever cases” a day, several international aid organizations say they’ve not heard from Pyongyang seeking help to combat COVID-19, one of the country’s worst crises in years. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has declared a state of emergency and mobilized troops to head off the
A Japanese man pleaded not guilty Tuesday over trouble stemming from his refusal to wear a face mask aboard a Peach Aviation flight as a measure to prevent COVID-19 infection, an incident that led the plane to make an unscheduled landing. In denying the charge of forcible obstruction of business in the first hearing of
BEIJING – China’s slowing economy will struggle to stage the kind of stunning recovery it achieved from the early depths of the pandemic two years ago, as its formidable export machine is teetering and options to revive investment and consumption are dwindling. Analysts and policy insiders say that means China’s leaders may have to quietly
Authorities in Shanghai on Monday announced the easing over the next six weeks of a grueling lockdown that has seen the city’s 26 million residents mostly confined to their homes, with many deprived of urgent medical care or essential supplies. Restrictions on movements around the city — which are tracked and regulated through a series of “grid
The Tokyo District Court ruled Monday that the metropolitan government’s decision to order the Global-Dining Inc. restaurant chain to reduce its business hours last year due to the coronavirus pandemic was “illegal,” in the first such ruling on COVID-19 measures imposed by the central and local governments. Presiding Judge Norihiro Matsuda said that the order
Ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) censors rushed to delete comments by the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) criticizing its zero-COVID policy as unsustainable from social media platforms in China on Wednesday. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on China to change its approach, saying CCP leader Xi Jinping’s favored policy “will not be sustainable”
Authorities in the southern province of Hainan have jailed a former journalist for “impeaching the reputation of heroes and martyrs” after he commented online about the portrayal of China’s role in the Korean War (1950-1953) in a ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda movie. Luo Changping was sentenced to seven months’ imprisonment by a court
Japan’s airlines are betting on a travel recovery this summer following pandemic doldrums as many Japanese look to head overseas for the first time in years now that fully vaccinated residents no longer face quarantine curbs on their return. After encouraging demand for flights to Hawaii during the Golden Week holiday period, Japan Airlines Co.
