I know why Japan is still closed! This video will talk about the real reason that Japan does not open up its borders. Everyone talks about group package tours, numbers of entries, wearing masks, Corona Virus new cases, etc., however, underlying all of these subjects is the root of the problem of why Prime Minister Kishida and the Japanese government have been hesitant and reluctant to open up Japan to independent travelers and visitors. There are two outstanding issues and at least one of them has to be successful or Japan will continue riding this endless Merry-go-round of Covid new cases and if this continues, who knows when Japan will open up to independent travelers and tourists. This video is the real deal!
Article sources:
NHK World – Japan: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/backstories/1524/
Medias Holdings: https://www.medius.co.jp/asourcenavi/numberofbed/
The Japan Times: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/02/02/national/japan-hospitals-beds-coronavirus/
Nippon.com: https://www.nippon.com/en/in-depth/d00690/
Nikkei Asia: https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Health-Care/Japan-COVID-crisis-shows-flaws-in-medical-system-Nikkei-and-JCER
Asahi Shimbun: https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14151132
Other videos of interest:
Where are the group package tours in Japan?
What happened to the Foreign Group Tourists’ entry into Japan? (started June 10, 2022)
Best Rice in the World: https://youtu.be/QFyfOB6vyMs
Japan Bath: https://youtu.be/tPyJliDAm4Q
Japanese curry: https://youtu.be/FFseCI802R4
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Mike’s website: https://www.goglobal.me/
40 Comments
Thanks for sharing. I just think it’s unfair that Japanese tourists are freely traveling around the world… anytime… with all the Covid risksssss yet not allowing entry of tourists in japanese territories🤷🏻♀️
I wonder why the Japanese gov is not learning from their past mistakes of not acting fast enough to respond. Another thing that doesn't make sense is , if the covid hospital beds are not sufficient, why are the Japanese still allowed to leave their country if it's not essential travel? I hear that people from overseas didn't get covid in their home countries, but ironically after visiting Japan for work or etc , they come back with covid from Japan. Who should be blocking whom here from entering their countries?
Hi Mike…. are transfers from Narita to Haneda still available right now? TY
Thank you Mike! Very informative and so true! Look forward to. More of your updates!
Political nonsense that’s why. It’s the government. They need to downgrade Covid to flu level. Media puts out fear. even people in Japan are tired of border closures. Being married to a Japanese person & living in and out of Japan I’ve talked to many Japanese people. Covid deaths are low. Beds is not the issue. It’s political move by the old mind set Japanese people in the government. So again This is not the reason why Japan is closed. Plus Japan is considered now one of the highest Covid infected countries in the world. So much for closing the borders they still had huge breakout. Plus deaths for Covid in Japan is low, beds in use is low. The closure of Japan has nothing to do with beds or staffing issues. You want to look deep into why this is happening? It’s about control. Political nonsense.
I married a Japanese woman from Yokohama 14 years ago. Until the pandemic we visited her family/friends every year. I love the country and enjoy our visits. However, I have not been there for three years. Until, the universal mask wearing goes away, I’ll stay home.
Good insight, this might be one of the bigger reasons for the closure. However the assumption that this is the most important factor and that the situation has not changed since the start of the pandemic is falty. Even thought the number of beds may not have changed, the disease has, as well as the immunity of the population. In general and for most people the effects of the illness are less severe than before, less people are hospitalized etc. And to think that 50,000, 100,000 or even 1 million visitors might increase the number of infections more than the current 125 million population who is living, dining, traveling, using train transport etc. like normal is absurd. Will it effect the numbers? Sure, but probably less than the limited number of tests and other manipulations that have been happening since the start.
japan may open after 2023 august.. but not sure.
I think 2023 no chance ..
next possibility is after 2024 August but still not sure.. i guess we need to wait anyways till 2025.
Time for people to shift the priority and try to find good options in other countries.
other countries need to stop japanese people to enter their countries. That's when japan will consider to open, untill then no chance.
I can assure you that the country would not still be closed all this time if people on the top were not getting paid handsomely to keep it locked down. Same thing in other countries
This is really a shame because Japan's archaic and nonsensical systems are being exposed by their failure to properly respond and adapt to this crisis. As bad as cases got in the US, the healthcare system was never truly in danger of collapsing thanks to the country's ability to rapidly expand hospital capacity and dedicate resources to producing healthcare supplies. All of this makes Japan's decision to allow their nationals to travel freely even more egregious because it shows they are willing to shift the burden of their failure on to other countries. I'm starting to get to the point where I'd like to see the G7 countries to put travel mandates on Japanese nationals until Japan allows free foreign travel.
I've pretty much given up hope travelling to Japan anytime soon (although I'd like to think maybe something could happen this year). I know many tourists feel this way and are likely to spend their money elsewhere.
It's a kinda illogical disconnect to think that foreigners are bringing in the Covid cases when Japan has one of the highest rates of infection in all countries.
ill be honest, if Japan was really worried about covid the borders would be closed for their citizens to come abroad. However it is not, nothing Japan does makes sense at this point in time. Everyone wears masks yet they have "the highest covid rate" of any country, which also could be a lie. Idk but let the yen keep going down and we will see how fast they open up they are stalling at the moment.
You have the most in-depth and clear to the point explanation of this over anyone else who has discussed tourism in Japan. I am a retired registered nurse and everything you said makes perfect sense to me, and actually is the very reason why they are not opening their borders. Thank you for your in-depth investigative techniques and giving the facts on this issue!
It makes sense now you have explained.
Congratulations Mike for the very well explained video. I am a doctor here in Brazil and we went through difficult times in relation to Covic-19. Today we have open borders and few cases and the population without restrictions on movement and use of masks.
I have a trip scheduled to Japan, for 05.10.2022, but from what I understand, I can postpone it to April 2023.
My questions:
1. If tourists entering Japan are properly vaccinated and tested negative for Covid and wearing masks, why can't they enter Japan?
2. Why doesn't the Japanese government lower Covid to a flu situation, since the cases are many, but not very serious?
Thank you very much.
So they had 3 years of a pandemic yet still don't have enough trained staff..
Also, if the number of beds isn't 13, what is the covid number of beds? Surely there are other countries in the world with similar numbers.
In Narita Airport, can you walk from Terminal 2 to Terminal 3 without going through immigration?
Good review 👍
Another case of their government shooting themselves in the foot again. And, it seems they're still at at standstill at getting anything done. A continual case of of indecision or ignoring the problem.
We really don't care what Kung-Flu-brain Kishida thinks about being cautious.
It waaaaay past time for Kishida to face the consequences of his inaction.
Japanese tourists should be banned everywhere in the world until Kishida allows unrestricted 2019-style individual tourists.
You forget that this is just going to get worse for Japan as foreign executives who want to bring their family along for the business trip get denied entry, and out of anger they decide to scrap business deals, in addition to the businesses that refuse to do deals because of this *meaningless* ban on individual tourists!
You still purport that LIE that "foreigners bring the Kung-Flu," but Japan has been closed to foreign tourists for 3 years now, and magically Japan has its highest infection wave. How can foreigners bring a virus when they're banned from entering?
The case counts are MEANINGLESS! Only serious hospitalizations that are actually from the Kung-Flu matter— you don't get to count that you went to the hospital for a broken leg, get Kung-Flu, and then get to be counted in serious hospitalizations counts for Kung-Flu! To hurt Trump, anti-Trump hospitals were counting people who died from gunshot wounds in the head as "Kung-Flu deaths" if they happened to have Kung-Flu when they died!
Japan can dither all it wants, but it will face politically and commercial retaliation and HYPOCRITICAL-PARIAH status for reneging on its reciprocity violations of its agreements and treaties.
As I have said, General Douglas MacArthur spins in his grave that Japan has the unmitigated GALL to deny individual tourists from The USA into Japan. It is TRULY SHAMEFUL to repay the nation that rebuilt Japan from Nothing at the end of World War 2, when it could have just wiped it out, annexed it, left it without rebuilding it Marshall-Plan-style, this way.
Japan must accept the unavoidably large OBLIGATION that it has to The USA. Allies don't treat each other's citizens like subhuman vectors of disease, do they?
But keep going on about fears, dithering, and hospital beds for an ENDEMIC virus. 🙄
Japan is such an embarrassing clown show now that as soon as the world "news" media turns on Kishida, Japan and Kishida will get excoriated for this so badly that Kishida may and should resign.
Even Japanese tourists traveling abroad say they are ashamed….ashamed! that individual tourists can't enter Japan, while they can jetset all over the world freely and can freely return to Japan, while happily and correctly not wearing USELESS masks.
Great points for consideration. A lot of J vlogers are reporting on the frustrations of getting solid information on why Japan is still not opening up, but if you can't take care of the visitors if they get sick why would you bring them in? It's not easy for any hospital to take just anyone.
Problem with private health system: it works well when nobody is sick or in a need of a doctor. It closes doors to you when you need help from them.
Go to Korea instead.
REASONS why I hate the Japanese Government for been so slow over Covid-19 numbers and not acting quickly like Australia but also Closing their borders even though japan had millions of Pfizer's and AstraZeneca doses available in 2020 before they gave it to Taiwan gov, the other reason I was suppose to work in japan before Australian government closed the boarders March 2020 I not only missed my chance to reach my dream but also I couldn't see my aunty that teaches in Japan. I couldn't go to the job available for me and the Agency that provided services for travel bankrupt because of Closed boarders I reapplied for my WHV and still couldn't leave Australia and Japan closes Feb 2021 now they have some categories for Australians to travel to Japan on a Tourist visa even though Australians don't need a tourist visa to stay in Japan more then 90 days now I'm 33 I couldn't even get a Refund for my Visa set up its Discriminations and Corrupt. I spent 3 years trying to get into japan and can't reach my goal. not cancelling the Tokyo Olympics was also another sign of corruption why force people to work during a pandemic and have the games closed. 90% Japanese wanted it canceled!
Australia with the longest lockdowns in the world, totalitarianism government lying about choice not to be vaccinated, jailed in our own homes for 2 years, damaging our Sanity , forcing us to take 3 shots, laws to protect the government from been sued from side effects its all Unjustifly wrong and to keep my own job I had to go along with it. it all seams unfair even for a country with free Medicare its still not a free country now japan.
If all tourists have private medical insurance for covid and that’s a requirement, surely the private hospitals can charge the required amounts to make it sustainable.
the last time japan closed itself off it lasted 200 years! Are we really surprised by this modern sakoku?
I didn't know Japan was still closed
good perspective haven't heard that angle before. that actually makes sense.
The closed border is utterly useless in regards to COVID. It's downright ridiculous at this point. Other countries are basically back to normal. If you're sick, stay home. Simple as that.
Oh yeah, can't blame the skyrocketing numbers on tourists.
No medicine? Ever heard of Ivermectin?
Mike, thank you for the nice explanation. I’m both an infectious diseases clinical specialist (PharmD) and two-time tourist of Japan (hopefully a 3rd time in 2023).
Ask your doctor-friend – isn't Japan using the oral antivirals Paxlovid or Lagevrio? Google Search tells me both Paxlovid and Lagevrio are approved for use in Japan. In the US, even President Biden was recently treated with Paxlovid and did well on it. Here in the US, both are being widely used to treat adults and children with mild-moderate CoVID. Though neither is perfect, some data show they help to keep people out of the hospital, including those with the BA5 variant.
Is the problem that although these two drugs are approved in Japan, but there isn't enough supply in Japan? Or is your doctor-friend suggesting that Japan is waiting for newer antivirals that are better than Paxlovid or Lagevrio? That could be a very long wait since doing a clinical trial to show another drug is better could take years to complete.
The Japanese people like the current policy. No one in Japan wants the border open. If it was put to a vote it would lose.
Ironically, I heard from a Tokyo resident that a Japanese citizen brought monkey pox to Japan after visiting Italy.
Kishda is losing support. He is dwon 13 points in NHK polls. He is going to close the border, or he is gone.
You’re probably right about Japan opening for free & easy travelers in November 2022! JTB Singapore (partner with JAL) begins to advertise 1-for-1, 2-to-go free & easy packages for Tokyo, Osaka and Sapporo, starting from November 19 2022.
Hi Mike……this is Mike 😀 I think ultra high potency vitamin D taken daily for 60-90 days will greatly help any population group.
I’m going on the 26th, spousal visa 😮💨
Did you hear Kishida's press conference on Aug 10? He said he wants to move forward with the steps to put border entry in line with G7 countries, but (as usual) no plan, no timeline.
My guess is: if we get to Sept 1 (two weeks after Obon) and wave is clearly falling, he'll reclassify it to be like the flu, then announce whatever next "phase" of reopening from October. Ya know, after literally anyone who wanted to go Japan is back at work and school for autumn, so he won't even have to worry about a flood of foreign tourists.
Im actually planning on going on a guided tour on August 22. Your videos have been really helpful