Category: Japan

Unless you already live in Japan don’t expect to be visiting the country at least in the near term:

The government of Japan will ban nonresident foreigners from entering the country starting Monday through January, to reduce the risk of a new, potentially more transmissible form of the coronavirus from expanding its presence, according to media reports.

Reuters news service reported Saturday that Japanese citizens and foreign residents starting Monday may enter the country, but must show proof of a negative coronavirus test within 72 hours of departing for Japan and must quarantine for two weeks after arrival. Reuters cited a government statement issued Saturday.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

According to the article President Moon is only doing this to try and promote his North Korea engagement policies during the Summer Olympics like he did during the last Winter Olympics:

President Moon Jae-in’s rush to resolute serious issues with Japan before the Tokyo Olympic Games is not going as well as Cheong Wa Dae had hoped. 

Moon named former four-term ruling party lawmaker Kang Chang-il as the next ambassador to Japan last month. It was the first time he had named a politician to the post, after first appointing Lee Su-hoon, an international relations professor, and then Nam Kwan-pyo, a career diplomat and one of the foremost experts on Japan at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

Nam has served as the Korean ambassador to Japan since May 2019. It is considered rare for the envoy to Japan to be replaced less than two years after being appointed. Cheong Wa Dae said that sending a politician to the post has a particular meaning amid the deadlock in bilateral relations. 
“With the launch of the new Cabinet in Japan, it reflects the President’s determination to find a resolution to the problems in bilateral relations,” a senior presidential aide said. “Kang served as head of the Korea-Japan Parliamentarians’ Union and has built an extensive network in Japan. Based on this, we determined it would be more suitable to send a politician rather than a career diplomat.”  (……..)

“One major factor in the Moon administration’s renewed push to improve relations with Japan is the possibility that doing so will allow the Tokyo Olympics to serve as a potential showplace for a breakthrough with North Korea,” Mason Richey, associate professor of international politics at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, told The Korea Times. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but I don’t see the Japanese wanting to do the Moon administration any favors considering all the anti-Japanese policies and rhetoric they have pushed the past few years.

Nike is causing controversy again, this time not in the U.S., but in Japan:

A video ad from Nike Japan against bullying and racism that features biracial athletes and other minorities, such as those of Korean descent, has prompted a sharp online response including calls to boycott the company.

Japan has traditionally prided itself on being racially homogeneous, although successful mixed-race athletes such as tennis star Naomi Osaka are challenging that image.

The commercial, “Keep Moving: Yourself, the Future,” released Monday, shows several teen girls bullied in school over their race or other differences, but who ultimately find confidence through soccer prowess.

One scene features a girl whose father is Black surrounded by fellow students, squealing and pulling her hair.

The video, viewed 14.1 million times on Nike Japan’s Twitter feed by noon Wednesday, had racked up 63,000 likes but also a cascade of critical comments from many who vowed never to buy Nike products again.

“Nowadays, you often see one or two people of different nationalities going to school perfectly peacefully. The one that’s prejudiced is Nike,” wrote one user named “hira1216.”

Another asked, “Is it so much fun to blame Japan?”

Japan Times

You can read more at the link.

This study is giving hope that a vaccine may give similar results:

A Japanese research team has detected antibodies that neutralized the virus that causes COVID-19 in 98% of people who had been sick with the disease in tests performed six months after they became infected.

The team, led by Yokohama City University professor Takeharu Yamanaka, said Wednesday it plans to conduct a follow-up survey to see whether the people will still have such antibodies a year after their infections.

In the latest survey, which was the largest of its type conducted in the country, the team checked blood samples from 376 people who had already recovered from COVID-19. The samples were collected six months after they were infected.

“In general, people with neutralizing antibodies are believed to carry a low risk of reinfection,” Yamanaka told a news conference.

“This gives some hope” in relation to the vaccines set to be released, with the study showing that immunity obtained through natural infection can last at least six months, according to Yamanaka.

Japan Times

You can read more at the link.

Much like in neighboring South Korea, coronavirus infections in Japan continue to rise new record levels with people in their 20’s and 30’s leading the surge:

Tokyo confirmed a single-day record 584 new cases of the coronavirus Saturday, a significant rise from Friday’s 449 new infections.

Osaka Prefecture, meanwhile, registered 399 new infections, it’s fifth straight day reporting at least 300, while Aichi Prefecture recorded 219.

Other large case loads were reported in the prefectures of Kanagawa, with 192, Hokkaido, 183, Saitama, 168, Hyogo, 151, and Chiba, 74.

The number of severe COVID-19 infections in the capital rose by two from the previous day to 55. The daily figure was based on 7,624 tests, the metropolitan government said in a statement.

Among the new cases, those in their 20s had the highest number at 137, followed by those in their 30s at 110 and people in their 40s at 95. Infections among those 65 or older totaled 88.

Japan Times

You can read more at the link.

This news is an indication of how much the coronavirus has spread throughout the U.S.:

The U.S. Marine Corps announced 72 new cases of the coronavirus Monday on Okinawa, more than the service has reported there in over a month.

All those cases, divided between two bases, were discovered among personnel recently arrived from the United States and still in the 14-day isolation period, Marine Corps Installations Pacific said in a Facebook post.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but with such high numbers I wonder if the Japanese government will eventually ask USFJ to suspend the arrival of new personnel?

Just like South Korea Japan is seeing a surge in coronavirus cases with Yokota Airbase being the hotspot for the US military in Japan:

Japan is experiencing a coronavirus spike that began Nov. 3 with 468 new cases and rose to 1,694 on Sunday, just shy of the pandemic peak of 1,998 on Aug. 3, according to data from the World Health Organization. Japan recorded 1,190 new patients on Tuesday for a pandemic total of 119,326 cases and 1,903 deaths.

The capital, Tokyo, on Wednesday reported 493 people newly infected, its highest daily total thus far, according to public broadcaster NHK. The previous peak, 472, occurred Aug. 1, according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government website.

Tokyo exceeded 300 new daily cases for four days last week ending Saturday. A panel of experts is expected to recommend the city raise its public health alert level to the highest of four stages, NHK reported Wednesday.

Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo recorded its highest one-day total, 14 new cases, including one at the base high school, on Wednesday, according to a base Facebook post and a letter from the school principal to staff and families.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest command to do away with the stars and bars:

The Confederate battle flag is no longer welcome anywhere on U.S. military installations in Japan, according to an order released Monday by the commander of U.S. Forces Japan.

“The Confederate Battle Flag does not represent the values of U.S. Forces assigned to serve in Japan,” says the order signed by Air Force Lt. Gen. Kevin Schneider on July 2. “While I acknowledge some might view it as a symbol of regional pride, many others in our force see it as a painful reminder of the history of hate, bigotry, treason, and devaluation of humanity that it represents.”

The order was posted Monday on the official Yokota Air Base Facebook page. The installation in western Tokyo serves as USFJ’s headquarters. Individual commanders in Japan were given the order prior to it becoming public, said Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Richard Winegardner, the USFJ senior enlisted leader, on Monday.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

For the Japanese military it is back to the drawing board to find a persistent means to protect the country from a North Korean missile attack:

The Japanese government has ordered officials to quickly come up with an alternative to the rejected U.S.-made Aegis Ashore missile-defense system, possibly one that can float on a platform at sea.

The U.S. ally scrapped plans to deploy the U.S. system in Yamaguchi and Akita prefectures in June due to the cost and a projected 10-year delay to ensure that interceptor missile boosters fell safely on unpopulated areas.

The system was intended to provide all of Japan with seamless, 24/7 protection against North Korean ballistic missiles.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has instructed Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi to come up with an alternative plan by the end of the year, according to Japan’s Defense Ministry.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but you would think a booster dropping from an interceptor would be the least of anyone’s worries if North Korea was firing ballistic missiles that could be equipped with WMD at Japan. Additionally the residents around each site are worried they will be attacked if the system is built near them. Unfortunately the Japanese government takes NIMBY concerns very seriously and scrapped the Aegis Ashore plan.

Until Japan comes up with an alternative, they will have to rely on their maritime Aegis ships which are difficult to sustain over prolonged periods of time for a persistent missile defense against North Korea’s most advanced threats. Some alternatives the Japanese are reportedly looking at is putting the Aegis system on a barge or oil platform that would keep it at sea away from neighborhoods, but vulnerable to sabotage and submarine attacks. I guess we will see in the coming years what Japan’s defense industry is able to come up with.

There are a lot of parks in Berlin, but it is pretty clear that the statue was put in this particular park to create diplomatic tensions with Japan:

South Korea voiced criticism Thursday over Japan’s call for the removal of a statue erected in Germany of a girl symbolizing Korean victims of wartime sexual slavery, calling it an act that goes against the spirit of its own apology. 

Last week, Tokyo expressed regret over the recent installation of the statue on a public site near the Japanese Embassy in Berlin. The statue was erected by Korea Verband, a Berlin-based civic group with South Korean ties. 

The issue drew attention as Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi requested it be removed when he held bilateral talks with his German counterpart, Heiko Maas, in Berlin last week. 

“The installation of the statue is a voluntary move by the private sector. It is not desirable for the government to get diplomatically involved,” ministry spokesperson Kim In-chul said in a press briefing when asked about the statue. (…………..)

Korea Verband in Berlin said it received an order from the office of Berlin’s Mitte district on Wednesday to remove the statue by Oct. 14. According to the civic group, the office claimed that an inscribed epitaph as part of the installation has caused diplomatic tension between Germany and Japan.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.