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Latest coronavirus news Japan
Last updated 26 February 2021, 09:00 GMT
February summary
February continues to see positive cases at higher levels than previous in Japan, though numbers are gradually decreasing with the recent state of emergency said to be playing a role.
The Japanese government has annoucned the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to be the first approved for use in Japan.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has declared a state of emergency for the following prefectures: Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama, Aichi, Gifu, Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, and Fukuoka.
The state of emergency will end at the end of February (earlier than expected) for Aichi, Gifu, Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, and Fukuoka prefectures.
The Japanese government has placed a temporary suspension on all foreign travellers from entering Japan during the state of emergency.
The first plans to open the country to tourists, potentially with limited small group tours in April 2021, continue to evolve, as do plans for visitor-friendly health centres.
We have the latest news, statistics, travel updates and reports from our team on the ground in Japan.
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How does Japan compare to other countries?
It is important to first point out that comparisons between countries is extremely difficult to do so accurately, as different countries have different amounts of testing, define COVID-19 positive cases and deaths differently and release data at different times. To make things more comparable, we've included some graphs from ourworldindata.org using cases per million to help get a better idea of how Japan is faring compared to other parts of the world.
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Country comparison: Daily new cases per million
This first graph really puts into perspective the spike in the above daily cases in Japan graph (on this graph, it is currently the third 'spike' in purple). We can see that when compared to other countries that daily confirmed cases per million in Japan are significantly lower than the US and UK, though now slightly higher than Australia. We need to bear in mind here that these are confirmed cases only, and actual cases are likely to be higher – this is due to limited testing. As we discuss in the commentary section, Japan has differed from other countries by focussing testing on clusters rather than making it more widely available.
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Country comparison: Daily new deaths per million
Daily confirmed deaths in Japan from COVID-19 are also significantly lower than the US and the UK when measuring per million people. Again, we need to remember that due to limited testing and decisions on attribution of cause of death, the actual death toll is likely much higher. Countries may also record deaths differently and at different times.
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To try and mitigate some of the issues with counting confirmed COVID19 deaths, analysts have been trying to compare what is termed 'excess mortality'. This refers to the number of deaths above what we would have expected to see under 'normal' conditions. Analysts like using it because it should give us a greater indication of the total death toll rather than the confirmed deaths due to COVID-19. It should also avoid discrepancies such as not counting deaths in homes rather than hospitals, untested individuals, inaccurate death reporting systems and increased (or fewer) deaths from other causes due to the pandemic.
Unfortunately, the data here is less easy to come by - few countries have statistical agencies that can or will accurately report the number of people that have died in a given month, week or even day-to-day. However, the data shows that remarkably, excess mortality in Japan was down on previous years in the first 3 months of 2020 - a 0.7% fall from the average of the same period in the last five years (Japan Times).
By contrast, between 7th March - 5th June, the UK saw a 43% rise in deaths compared to 'normal' levels (BBC News), and the government recently announced it has passed 100,000 deaths related to COVID-19 (Financial Times). In the US, the number of deaths was 16% higher than average between 16th February - 2nd May (BBC News). (Note that the BBC article reports Japan's deaths as being 0.3% higher than average). An ABC News study found that there was no significant rise in deaths in Australia when taking into account population increases.
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What's happened so far in Japan?
What approach has the Japanese government taken regarding COVID-19? Was there a lockdown? Are things open now? We go into more detail below.
Commentary
What is most striking from these above statistics are the all-round low numbers. Confirmed cases, deaths, active cases and numbers tested are still all very low in Japan compared with hotspots such as Europe, the United States and Brazil. So why is this?
Numerous theories have been provided so far, from the more reasonable - residents' access to universal healthcare (Forbes), early and effective communication for the public to avoid closed, crowded spaces with close-contact (the three C's), and cultural norms of mask-wearing (Japan Times) - to the more far-fetched, for example that Japanese is spoken more delicately than other languages and therefore speakers emit fewer spit particles! (Japan Times)
The most comprehensive articles we have seen on this are to be found on BBC News and much earlier during the pandemic in the Nikkei Asian Review. In a piece titled "Japan's coronavirus response is flawed - but it works", Kitasato University visiting professor Andy Crump details how Japan's intense focus on clusters has helped the country defy the grim forecasts. Interestingly, Prof Crump highlights that this approach has resulted from lessons learned during the quarantine of the Diamond Princess back in February. Other news outlets have also since pointed to Japan's contact-tracing system as a key reason to it's low numbers (Straits Times).
A recent report from Nissei Research (Japanese only) that analysed countries' ability to control infections while maintaining economic activity ranked Japan 9th among 49 countries. The report, whose analysis included number of infected people, spread of infection, fatality rate, as well as reduction in GDP, ranked the UK 43rd, the US 41st, and Australia 7th.
However, the recent increase in confirmed cases have put the healthcare system close to its breaking point, prompting the government to issue a state of emergency in several prefectures until early February.
Nevertheless, it seems at this stage, we can be cautiously optimistic that despite the recent upturn in cases in Tokyo the country has managed the initial outbreak successfully. Professor Crump concludes that "It is impossible to predict what will happen now. But an objective, rational analysis of the data indicates that the Japan model for tackling COVID-19 appears to be sound and practical."
This bodes well for tourism and the Japanese economy at large. With countries around the world feeling huge economic ramifications from the spread of coronavirus, the Nikkei Asian Review has reported that Japan has seen a significant rebound in the stock market, along with Taiwan in 'leading the way in Asia'.The Olympics
You may have heard rumours that the Japanese government has been secretly considering cancelling the Olympics all together, though this was quickly debunked by the government and the IOC. Instead, a playbook of rules for spectators has been released with a list of rules, some of which are as follows:
- Clapping is encouraged over singing and/or chanting
- Spectators will be required to submit a 14-day plan which includes all planned activities, including travel and accommodation
- A vaccination will not be compulsory. However, a negative COVID-19 test will be required within 4 weeks of attending
It is clear that this a first edition, with further rules being added or tweaked in the run up to the games, including producing playbooks for athletes and organisers. This is an ongoing development and we will keep this page updated as we find out more. To learn more about the current playbook, head to the article on BBC Sport.
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Did Japan have a lockdown?
Japan is an anomaly in how they handled the initial outbreak. Instead of enforcing a country-wide or city-wide lockdowns, the government declared a state of emergency in stages across the country. After a worrying rise in cases at the end of March and beginning of April, the government initially announced the state of emergency for seven prefectures (including Tokyo and Osaka) on 7th April, and later expanded this to the entire country on 16th April.
The Japanese government also declared a state of emergency in eleven prefectures (Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama, Tochigi, Aichi, Gifu, Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, and Fukuoka) in early 2021 in response to another surge in confirmed infections and the reduced capacity to treat people in hospitals.
The state of emergency encouraged "non-essential" businesses to shutter their doors, companies to promote more "tele-working", and sports and other live entertainment events to be cancelled. Restaurants and bars were asked to reduce working hours and nightlife venues have received a lot of attention after a number of outbreaks in places such as karaoke bars.
The InsideJapan Tours' Nagoya office team has been working remotely since mid-April and our team reported that during the first state of emergency when they used public transport, passenger volumes were down considerably. Recent statistics seem to back this up, with 34% of respondents to a government survey stating they had experienced telework, with this rising to over 55% in the Tokyo region (Japan Times).
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Japan saw strong encouragment to follow guidelines rather than any punitive laws
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Is Japan out of lockdown?
With Boris Johnson's controversial "Stay Alert" slogan in the UK and a decentralized state by state approach in the US, how countries move beyond the first phase of the fight against COVID-19 has certainly been a hot topic and Japan is no exception to that.
The Japanese government has been taking a decentralised approach and leaving much of the decision-making up to regional governors. This has not best pleased many Japanese citizens many of whom feel the government has not been taking responsibility for the fight against coronavirus.
However, with different prefectures having experienced very different levels of the virus, it is understandable that the easing of many restrictions should be handled at a local level.Japan launched its coronavirus contact-tracing app on 19th June, designed to notify people who have come into close contact with individuals infected with the coronavirus (NHK World).
Though the current state of emergency is scheduled to end on February 7th, it is possible that it may be extended to the end of February, with an announcement proposed days before the current end date (Japan Times).
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Everyday Life
How has all this affected people's lives in Japan? And what's the general attitude towards coronavirus and the government's handling of it? While blanket news coverage of coronavirus and Japan from Western media often points out numbers and statistics, there is very little information on what life is like on the ground and how people have been affected. Many of our staff, suppliers and friends call Japan home and have been living through the initial outbreak, emergency declaration and return to a more normal life. Below we detail some of the ways that people living in Japan have been affected by coronavirus, and how this changes drastically depending on where in Japan you are.
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Regional Variation
So how has all this affected people in Japan? While this is obviously a very individual question, there are some obvious differences determined by region and how close residents are to large city centres.
Tokyo has seen by far the highest numbers, (over 95,000 confirmed cases on January 29th), and has experienced some of the strictest rules under the longest emergency declaration. As such, the percentage of teleworkers has been higher than the national average (Japan Times), and it has taken longer for many businesses to be allowed to re-open.
In other parts of the country it has been a completely different story. Iwate prefecture in the north-east of Japan had zero confirmed cases until 29th July (The Mainichi) and as of 1st August only had only 3 confirmed cases (Iwate prefectural government). Most of the 47 prefectures in Japan have confirmed a fraction of the cases in Tokyo. The measures implemented by many of these prefectures, aside from the closures of schools and promoting telework, has often been focussed on trying to deter visitors from areas of higher infection rates, including the many Tokyoites looking to move to more rural areas during the pandemic (The Mainichi).
As cross-prefectural travel is now again permitted, many areas are trying to find a balance between reigniting their local tourism industries and maintaining their low infection rates.
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Many areas of Japan with smaller populations have had few coronavirus cases so far
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Shrines have remained open throughout the pandemic
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What's open in Japan now?
Reflecting this regional variance in case numbers, prefectures with low numbers and are not currently under a state of emergency have largely continued life as normal.
Prefectures experiencing the current state of emergency have the following restrictions in place:
Schools are not requested to close by the government, though local prefectural governors may request for them to close at their discretion.
University entrance exams have been allowed to continue.
Other educational facilities such as driving schools, sport facilities and gyms, facilities where people gather such cinemas and museums, clubs, bars, restaurants, and karaoke parlours are asked to comply with restrictions on opening hours with trading to cease by 8pm.
The controversial Go To Travel Campaign which aimed to reboot domestic tourism has also been blamed for the recent increase in confirmed infections and have been temporarily suspended.
Even during the state of emergency, there were no restrictions on visiting shrines and temples and these places remained open for people to enjoy.
While many wedding venues closed, an interesting cultural point is that there has been no need to delay getting married as all official marriages in Japan are just a formal signing of papers at City Hall. Very different to the west!
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What safety measures are in place?
Business during the day by and large continue as normal, though the majority of places have taken extra safety measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Some of the measures include:
- Hand sanitisers at the entrance of buildings where members of public enter (e.g. shops).- Some restaurants and shops are checking temperatures of all patrons before entering, not allowing those with a temperature of over 37.5°C to enter.
- Some restaurants, bars, and cafes aim to socially distance customers by spreading them out and installing plastic sheets or boards to separate people.
- Most places where members of public go are also requiring (or at least heavily encouraging) the use of face masks, including on public transport.
For a more in-depth look at what it's like to eat out, travel around and visit museums and attractions, see our page on What is travelling to Japan like now?
The government continues to advise people to:
- Wash hands regularly
- Socially distance 2m from other people
- Wear facemasks in public
- Avoid the 3 C's (mitsu no mitsu in Japanese) of closed spaces, crowded places, and close-contact settings wherever possible.Get more of an idea of what it's like to be in Tokyo right now by watching this short video taken by our Tokyo Department Manager, Tyler, on a recent local trip to Shibuya and the recently-opened Pokémon Store!
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Establishments are coming up with innovative ways to keep customers safe
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What's the general attitude among Japanese people?
With over 1500 earthquakes a year, along with the threats of tsunamis, flooding, mudslides and typhoons, Japanese people are no strangers to adverse challenges. Their collective experience of natural disasters has built up a strong resilience and stoicism among the population, as well as thinking up practical solutions to seemingly overwhelming challenges.
People have generally been very diligent with regards to personal hygiene - Japanese culture places a great emphasis on cleanliness anyway - and adhering to the government's requests.
However there has been large concern when case numbers have risen, particularly back in April just before the government's emergency declaration, and more recently where numbers have significantly risen in several prefectures. There has also been criticism of the government regarding low testing numbers, a shortage of available hospital beds, and the timing and effectiveness of the declaration of the state of emergency.
Japanese advertising and PR company Dentetsu released the results from a series of surveys which measured how respondents' lives changed at different points between April and May (during which the nationwide state of emergency was introduced). They found that the psychological impact of the coronavirus increased with time, but also that by the end of the state of emergency respondents were starting to see positive aspects of their 'new normal'. They also found that in general younger people reported greater feelings of uneasiness due to the pandemic, and that the thing people most wanted to do after the pandemic was over was to travel around Japan - and we wholeheartedly agree with them!
As presenteeism is highly valued in Japanese culture, many office workers have still gone into work if their company has not supported teleworking, and the prevalence of hanko seals used to sign official documents and fax machines has also been criticised as 'old-fashioned' (NHK).
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While mask-wearing has become a controversial and almost political issue in some parts of the world, it is already culturally-engrained in Japan. During flu-season, but also year-round, people often wear masks to try to prevent one's own germs or sickness from spreading in public places. This is seen as particularly important in Japan's densely-populated cities. Aside from health reasons, people also regularly wear masks as a defence against dust and pollen, to cover up blemishes or the fact they are not wearing make-up, and even to make the wearer's face appear smaller! Therefore, while mask-wearing has become a hot topic in other parts of the world, they have undoubtedly become the societal norm since the spread of coronavirus, and many commentators have argued this has helped keep Japan's infection rate low. From our own observations on the ground, it seems at least 90% of people are wearing masks whenever they are outside. They are required for entering most private shops and businesses, and taxi drivers can now refuse customers not wearing masks.
We loved reading this article by Nikkei Style (Japanese only) that describes the widespread use of masks from as early as the Meiji period (1868-1912), and as a fashion accessory in later years. The spread of coronavirus has given masks an even greater role in Japanese society and there have been all kinds of iterations, from breathable summer masks by popular fashion brand Uniqlo, to masks designed by kimono makers and famous artists such as Takashi Murakami. Even shinkansen (bullet train) masks have been created!
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A shop sign reads "we are smiling under our masks"
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