Rob comments

They'll really try anything except letting international visitors return to help with the economic rebuild.

Sorry if I missed it, but where in the article does it confirm what the headline states?

I see the good old "request" line trotted out from event organisers, but where's the requirement that the headline mentions?

@Sanjinosebleed

At least Japan still gives people a choice! Viva choice! Viva Japan!

if they are young and healthy why take the risk with these unproven technology vaccines??

Every country has the choice, name me a country that is forcing the vaccine into people's arms?

The unproven technology you refer to has been around for decades.

The majority of the First World has awakened from its pandemic hibernation and is interacting again. Japan is once again lagging under the guise of "safety".

@Wobot

No idea why they want to push the vaccine when covid essentially doesn't exist there. For some reason their hospitals are filling up now as for other things, quite possibly because of a backlog from the ludicrously unnecessary lockdowns

Spoken like someone who truly has no idea of the Australian situation. There are no lockdowns in WA. Public hospital backlogs have been an issue Australia-wide even before the pandemic.

@TrevorPeace

Note to all potential business travellers to Japan: Stay home and use the phone or Zoom a meeting.

Why? If you're fully-vaccinated and tested negative on arrival, why would you have to behave any different to Japanese residents?

Now for a timeline on letting vaccinated travellers return.

If Japan cares at all about its international standing, it really should consider opening its borders for fully vaccinated and tested travellers in the weeks after the election.

I actually like it. It could be though that compared to all the ugly crap that the Melbourne skyline has dished up in the past decade anything slightly creative stands out.

That and I do have a thing for stepped designs.

Throwing the borders open for a tourist free-for-all at this stage wouldn't be wise, I don't think anyone would disagree. But for similarly vaccinated countries (say around the 80% mark) the option of opening travel routes with Japan should at least be being talked about. If this method was adopted, along with current requirement of still requiring proof of vaccination and a negative test result to enter, the risk of a foreign traveller catching/transmitting Covid would be less than a local.

@klausdorth Referencing "my area" constantly without specifying where exactly that is, is honestly pretty useless commentary in a public forum.

@Seth M

*And with how terrible the outside world at containing the virus, it's only logical to shut the border until they get it together. Or until an actual effective drug is developed, not these halfa* vaccines

Those "half-assed*" vaccines are the very reason Japan is in the position they're in.

Also, there are many other countries in the region that are containing the virus in a comparable way to Japan.

The November/December period will hopefully see Japan follow the lead of countries with similarly vaccinated populations by announcing the reopening of international borders.

Fully-vaccinated travellers who test negative before, and after, arrival are no more a threat than someone living in Japan an at this point.

If this trend in numbers holds, there really should be no excuse for Japan not to begin opening international borders again soon. Many other countries in the region will be approaching normal international travel around November/December, I can only hope Japanese officials are working on reciprocating (with any and all safety measures in place, of course).

If anyone thinks these fluctuating daily numbers are to give you a complete picture of the direction this wave is heading, you're kidding yourself.

I'll ask the question I've been asking since last year, why is Tokyo not testing, at the very least, TRIPLE what they are currently on a daily basis?

Be thankful that things are slow. You will find out in the near future.

Oh wow, a time traveller! Can you give me next week's lottery numbers.

@shogun36

I’m pretty sure I read this news ... about 69 times since 2021 started.

Nice

Huh, didn't know the pandemic had ended. Gotta love the alternate reality the LDP lives in.

Let me guess, from around 260 tests? lel

Ah yes, more foreigner-blaming while the locals are continue to spread the virus at will.

Well done, LDP.

I am curious what the betting odds are that the Olympics will be held. I say 75% likely they will be held. We shall know soon enough then Suga-san can face the voters in September.

Then watch him and the LDP get re-elected because the Japanese public: A: Turn out in terribly low numbers to vote, and B: have no spines when it comes to making mass public statements.

Oh, and C: Shouganai ne.

Extending the SoE is pointless if you're just going to have the same lax recommendations that have failed with the last few iterations, i.e. asking people and businesses nicely not to go out/operate, and have companies continue to get away with not offering telework as an option, leading to people filing into packed train's every day.

And it certainly wont be worthwhile if testing as many people as possible isn't prioritised! Don't the government see that that what they've done in the past and even now isn't working? It's literally insane to keep trying EXACTLY the same methods and thinking they'll achieve a different outcome.

Joke of a country. If they haven't already, surely now the international community will realise how much of a laughing stock Japan is on how it's handled the pandemic.

I don't know why so many people want to know the number of tests each day. I gave up being interested in that a long time ago. Whether it is 1,000, 10,000 or 100,000 tested each day makes no difference to me.

I hear what you're saying, but I would be absolutely thrilled to see Tokyo test 100,000 people in a day!

At the virus's peak here in Melbourne, when there were similar case numbers to what Tokyo is supposedly reporting now, the city was doing 40,000-50,000 tests a day! And that's with a population about 1/4 the size.

I was surprised in the beginning about how Japan bungled the coronavirus situation, now I'm just angry.

How about ramping up testing numbers to those being reached in third-world countries? That might be a good place to start for 'stronger anti-virus steps'.

This country's leaders at all levels are beyond an embarrassment.

Sadly, I'm beyond making sarcastic statements about how pathetic the daily numbers are (both the testing numbers and the supposed case numbers).

It's clear the government has either given up or never really cared from the start about controlling the spread. It's almost certain at this point that there are multiple variants of the virus in the community (including the Japan strain, which of course has been swept under the rug).

I'm certain the Olympics will go ahead, but it will be the most sterile games in history, and once over Tokyo and Japan will have nothing to show for it. Maybe then and only then will the powers that be think "huh, this really wasn't worth it, was it?"

I'm also sure they'll get back to the Go-To Travel & Eat campaigns to revive the economy once the pandemic's in the rear-view mirror, only to realise that "hey, why did we introduce these economy-boosting measures DURING the pandemic instead of AFTER like anyone with a brain would have done?" Short term pain with an eye for longer term recovery and all that.

When is the government, at national or prefectural level, going to realise that their 'urging' and 'cautioning' (basically HOPING) against people gathering in large numbers ANYWHERE is simply not working? I mean, I know it's Japan, but does anyone in power here have a spine? (Sadly I already know the answer).

How on Earth do you go from 340 cases from 1,551 tests, to 335 cases from 9,369 tests?! A DROP of 5 from over 8000 more tests? Has the Japanese public just been conditioned to believe that the virus behaves this way? Because everywhere else on the planet in areas where no strict lockdowns are in place (i.e. Tokyo), everything tells you that when you increase tests by 8000 with a base of 340, those case numbers are, without a doubt, rising.