Frans comments

@Yaburu

You are correct. I live in Singapore but visit Japan a lot for family reasons.

Everyone, including Singaporeans, has to follow the 14 days quarantine rule and so far they caught all the infected travelers before they could enter the country.

This is the main reason why Singapore is, at the moment, all but COVID free.

I appreciate that controlling 6 million people in SP is a lot easier than 125 million in Japan, but the Japan Government can learn a thing or two from the way Singapore has been handling the pandemic

@ Tamanegi

Totally agree

This QR code system has been implemented in Singapore and every shop, mall, restaurant etc has one.

this is one of the reasons why Singapore is all but Covid free. The current cases are all imported who had been quarantined for 2 weeks upon arrival

@ Vinke

Yes, exactly this. I'm in the same boat too. Have a long term visa, Japanese spouse and a job here. I also have a flight ticket back home in summer, for a couple of weeks to see my family (which I haven't seen for a year) and organise some important things there. My flight company refuses to change the date on the ticket as it was bought nearly a year ago. Can't get my money back either. But as there's no way of knowing will I be able to come back, it's a pickle.

a) stay in Japan: miss seeing the family, loose the flight (= loose money), but keep your job (and your spouse!)

b) temporarily leave Japan: see the family, keep the flight, buy a new ticket to fly back to Japan - to possibly just be turned back at the border, resulting in loosing more money and loosing the job (but hopefully not the spouse).

I feel you and the situation and decisions in this country are getting more ridiculous by the day.

I'm currently in Japan but need to go back home to sort out some important issues. Whilst I can leave Japan, as it stands now I'm not allowed back in, in spite of having a long term visa. My wife, who is 30+ years PR here, is undergoing chemo treatment and needs care and as a result I'm in an impossible situation. I know foreigners could be allowed to re-enter Japan based on "humanitarian grounds" and the advise is to check with the Immigration Office if you qualify for humanitarian grounds. But even if it's confirmed by the Immigration Office that you do, the final decision lays with the Immigration Officer at your port of entry and he could put you on the first flight back.

Absolutely absurd. What about permanent residents, long term visa holders etc. who have been living in Japan for many many years, paid their taxes, own houses, have (Japanese) spouses/kids? They should have priority in being allowed to come back not business people from some selected countries, coming in for just a couple of days!

And JGov is even considering to include China and US at a later stage?? What are they thinking? Apparently not!

@marcelito

Totally agree. J-Gov dragging their feet to avoid making payments. Once the state of emergency is lifted and businesses reopen, the government will no doubt say there won't be a need for any payment/loan.

Of course I haven't received my masks, of course I haven't received 10k payment not even an application form, of course I have received my car tax statement payable within a couple of weeks

J-Gov should be utterly ashamed of themselves and hope that this will be reflected in any upcoming election and these useless tools will be voted out

@ Yubaru

Spot on! They continue this pussyfooting: nobody in the Japanese government including PM Abe and (of course) the bureaucrats have the balls to take responsibility for any action. They ask and when things go wrong, they'll say 'but we asked". They haven't got a clue and their only motivation is to try and save "their Olympics". Tough luck mate, it will be cancelled/postponed

Abe should impose event cancellations not request

What are Japanese people doing wrong that is putting so many in hospital and killing so many in normal summer temperatures?

Overdressing. As soon as temperatures rise, people start covering up from head to toe including gloves, especially elderly women. Wrapping towels around their necks is imo the major culprit since the back of your neck is the hottest spot of the body e.g. marathon runners always put wet sponges first to their necks to cool down.

I'm living in Singapore where temperatues are 30C+ all year around and you never hear of fatalities or hospitalization as a result of the hot weather.