Mordan comments

Admitting the system is broken but fail to even mention any kind of change is the biggest failure.

And since the data given here indicate this "punishment" has occurred 33 times, means it's obviously not working...

Also, it's sad that I've come to accept this is the norm here in Japan.

Pretty much agree with the commenters that say if the unis want to be considered a part of and/or at the same level as international institutions, they should actually try to be part of the international scene. And of course no amount of money will fix that... Only real change in the educational system.

Obviously this is an issue but I really laughed at this:

"has hoped to ease the labor shortage by attempting to increase foreign workers under a relaxed visa system."

Either that statement is a joke, or the author has no clue on the subject. Even if someone wants to comment saying it's relaxed relative to the past, there hasn't been any significant change in the past decade.

That's just disgusting! But the saddest part is that I'm not surprised anymore after just 3 years of living here... It's the "norm" and so many Japanese people have been seriously "brainwashed" by the social engineering that now think this is OK...

Funny to say the least. Following in UKs footsteps, after lifting all measures they see an "unexplainable" rise in cases... At the same time doctors and hospitals in Japan keep saying that the hospitals are at their limits. Oh boy....

Coming from a European country, lived and worked in multiple European countries for decades. Japan is the first Asian country I've lived and work in and by far have faced the most racism of my life. To the extent that there is no comparison to anything else anywhere... So this doesn't come as a surprise at all and I'm prepared for it to blow over and get covered up. They've covered up death so this should be way easier.

Main problem with those governmental decisions is that they just offer some vague advice and just drop the ball of responsibility to us. And the key word is responsibility here, because Japanese people hate it. So they just get the easy way out by telling you and me that we did something wrong or not good enough.

People are angry because of all those empty statements that they will "Support" the public without being anywhere near specific. Telling us to follow guidelines but not bother to mention how.

It's a dangerous game and they are gambling our lives and livelihoods like chips in a card game we're not even invited at.