Category: Japan

It is a bit surprising how slow the roll out for the vaccine has been in South Korea:

South Korea’s daily coronavirus cases dropped under 1,800 on Sunday as health authorities try to stem virus infections ahead of a major holiday amid persistent infections in the greater Seoul area. 

The number of fully vaccinated people surpassed the 20 million mark, representing 39 percent of the population, with a nationwide effort to boost vaccination rates.

Yonhap

Meanwhile in Japan despite their initial slow start, they have reached a 50% vaccination rate:

Japan’s government says more than 50% of the population has been fully vaccinated.

Japan’s vaccine rollouts began in mid-February, months behind many wealthy countries due to its lengthy clinical testing requirement and approval process. Inoculations for elderly patients, which started in April, were also slowed by supply shortages of imported vaccines, but the pace picked up in late May and has since achieved 1 million doses per day.

Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who is in charge of COVID-19 measures, told NHK public television’s weekly talk show Sunday that about 60% of the population is expected to be fully vaccinated by the end of September, on par with current levels in Europe.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the links.

With the growing COVID wave in Tokyo it was only a matter of time before this happened:

Japan’s capital city, host to the Summer Olympics, reported another 3,300 new coronavirus cases Friday, as U.S. military commands began restricting their populations’ access to the inner city.

Some U.S. commanders, alarmed at the all-time high rate of new infections in Tokyo, put the city off-limits altogether, even for fully vaccinated individuals. U.S. bases in Japan reported 20 new coronavirus patients on Friday.

Tokyo is experiencing its fifth and most extreme coronavirus wave, in sheer volume of new cases. It reported its one-day pandemic high, 3,865 new patients, on Thursday.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

You don’t say something like this to any reporter much less JTBC even if you think it is off the record:

Japan’s deputy chief of mission in Korea reportedly described President Moon Jae-in’s efforts to hold a Korea-Japan summit during the Tokyo Olympics as masturbatory in a conversation with a JTBC reporter on Friday.  

According to JTBC, the reporter asked Hirohisa Soma his thoughts on the chance for a Korea-Japan summit taking place during the Tokyo Olympics, to which Soma reportedly responded in a combination of Korean and English, “President Moon is masturbating himself.”  

Soma added that Japan “does not have the time to care so muchabout the relationship between the two countries as Korea thinks.”  

“The conversation took place [in a casual meeting,] not a public press event, but we decided to run a report because we felt the remarks were not appropriate,” JTBC reported.  

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

I don’t see why the Moon administration even thought the Japanese government was ready to do them any favors considering all the animosity between them the past four years:

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has decided not to visit Japan this week, as no satisfactory accomplishment is expected in proposed summit talks, Cheong Wa Dae announced Monday.

Moon plans to send Hwang Hee, minister of culture, sports and tourism, there to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, slated for Friday, as head of his government’s delegation.

The president had considered a trip to Tokyo for the event. South Korea and Japan had consultations on the possibility of holding the first face-to-face summit between Moon and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on the occasion.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Tokyo just like Seoul has seen a recent increase in COVID infections and this has caused the Japanese government to cancel fans attending the games:

Organizers of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics on Thursday agreed to hold the Games without spectators, after Japan declared a coronavirus state of emergency for the capital that will run throughout the event.

The widely expected move was made following talks between the government, Tokyo organizers and Olympic and Paralympic representatives.

It was “regrettable” that the Games were going to be held in a limited format, Tokyo 2020 President Seiko Hashimoto told a briefing, adding her apologies to those who had bought tickets.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It will be interesting to see if local fans includes expats and military that are living in Japan:

The Tokyo Olympics will allow some local fans to attend when the games open in just over a month, organizing committee officials and the IOC said on Monday.

Organizers set a limit of 50% of capacity up to a maximum of 10,000 fans for all Olympic venues.

The decision was announced after so-called Five Party talks online with local organizers, the International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee, the Japanese government and the government of metropolitan Tokyo.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

This is pretty unusual to see a brown bear go into a major city and just start attacking people:

Chased by a car after going on a rampage that injured three people, a wild brown bear crossed a busy road, forced its way onto a military camp in northern Japan and attacked a Japanese soldier on guard duty.

Footage on local television showed the bear wandering a street in Sapporo. After a car began to speed after it, the bear crossed a busy road and forced its way into the Ground Self-Defense Force’s Camp Okadama. The bear knocked down a uniformed soldier on duty at the gate.

The soldier suffered cuts to his chest and stomach, but his injuries were not life threatening, according to the Defense Ministry.

The bear, on the the loose all night in a city in northern Japan, also disrupted flights at the airport Friday before being shot and killed by authorities.

Army Times

You can read more at the link.

Considering Japan’s pacifist Constitution, I am not sure legally how they would be allowed to respond if just Taiwan was attacked. Additionally the Chinese would more likely blockade Taiwan prior to any attack which makes Japanese involvement even more Constitutionally difficult:

Tokyo would step up militarily to defend Taiwan if Beijing moved to reunify the island with mainland China by force, former deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger said in a panel discussion on Tuesday with other top Trump administration officials.

Pottinger, considered one of the key architects of the Trump administration’s hardline China policies, said Japan first suggested a quadrilateral alliance with the US, India and Australia – now known as the “Quad” – as a defense strategy against China. He also pushed back on assertions that the former administration strained ties with Japan and other allies in the region. (…….)

“There’s a saying in the Japanese military: ‘Taiwan’s defense is Japan’s defense.’ And, and I think that Japan will act accordingly,” Pottinger added.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

According to this article Japanese citizens that worked even decades ago in the U.S. are receiving U.S. government sponsored coronavirus stimulus checks:

A 79-year-old man in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, received an official-looking piece of mail printed in English in late April. 

The addresser was the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Inside the envelope, he found a check for $1,400 (153,000 yen).

His wife also received a check for the same amount.

They are among the Japanese recipients of U.S. stimulus checks to boost the economy during the pandemic, who are at a loss of what to do with the surprise payments. 

According to a person who is related to a major bank, the bank’s call center has been inundated with inquiries about U.S. stimulus checks since May 11.

“As far as the bank is concerned, if a person wants to cash a check and the person’s identity is verified, we have to ask the U.S. side to pay,” the person said. “We don’t have a way to examine if the person is eligible to receive the check.” (…….) The man entertained the idea of pocketing the $2,800 and said to himself, “The United States has so much money to spare that it gives out (the checks) to foreigners like me who lived there about 40 years ago.”

Asahi Shimbun

You can read more at the link.