Tulips bloom at Tottori Hanakairo flower park in Nambu, Tottori Prefecture, western Japan, on April 10, 2023. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
A major annual firework festival in Tokyo will be held this summer for the first time in four years after the display was repeatedly canceled due to COVID-19 restrictions, the event's organizer said Tuesday.
Shionogi & Co. said Tuesday it has applied to Taiwanese authorities for emergency use approval for its oral coronavirus drug, Xocova.
Developing Asian economies are projected to see their gross domestic product grow by 4.8 percent in 2023 and 2024, up from 4.2 percent in 2022, the Asian Development Bank said Tuesday. According to the ADB, Developing Asia, which groups 46 economies in the Asia-Pacific region, excluding Japan, Australia and New Zealand, is set to see higher growth than last year due in part to China's removal of COVID-19 restrictions and solid domestic demand in India.
Japan will end the current border control measures on travelers from overseas on May 8 in line with its decision to categorize COVID-19 as a common disease the same day, the government said Monday, in a major shift toward normalizing social and economic activities.
A majority of foreign journalists who responded to a recent survey by a press group in China said they or their Chinese colleagues experienced harassment, obstruction or some form of intimidation when covering protests last year against the now-abandoned "zero-COVID" policy.
Spending by foreign visitors to Japan in 2022 grew sharply from the year before to 898.7 billion yen ($6.8 billion) as arrivals began increasing from October when border restrictions, initially imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic, were eased, a government survey showed Friday.
The Japanese Embassy in Beijing hosted a tourism promotion event Friday targeted at local industry officials as demand slowly recovers after China ended its strict "zero-COVID" policy and reopened its borders earlier this year.
Japan's unemployment rate in February rose 0.2 point from the previous month to 2.6 percent, worsening for the first time in five months, as more people sought better working conditions amid an economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, the government said Friday.
Japan is planning to scrap a negative coronavirus test requirement on visitors from China due to a low rate of positive results during sample testing at airports, a government source said Thursday.
Japan's audit board has requested the health ministry provide supporting documentation for contracts with U.S and British coronavirus vaccine manufacturers after finding a weak basis for ordering a total of 882 million doses in fiscal 2020 and 2021.
New Chinese ambassador to North Korea Wang Yajun arrived Monday in the country that had shut down its borders to prevent COVID-19 infections, filling the post vacated by his predecessor about 15 months ago, a source familiar with bilateral relations said.
Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - March 25~31
Useful resources for foreign residents and visitors in Japan
Health ministry call center COVID-19: 0120-565-653 (toll free)COVID-19 Vaccines: 0120-761-770 (toll free)-Interpreters available for English, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; for Thai 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; for Vietnamese 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Health ministry's COVID-19 Vaccine Navigation websitehttps://v-sys.mhlw.go.jp/en/
AMDA Medical Information Center's "Multilingual Consultation Service" - Available in Simple Japanese and English, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays. Also available in Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Tagalog, Thai, and Vietnamese on designated weekdays. Check schedule here.03-6233-9266
Tokyo Metropolitan Government's COVID-19 infohttps://stopcovid19.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/
Tokyo Metropolitan Government hotlinehttps://stopcovid19.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/contacts- Available in English, Chinese, Korean and Japanese, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. (including weekends and holidays)0570-550571- Available via fax for those with hearing impairments03-5388-1396
Japan National Tourism Organization's "Guide for when you are feeling ill" - Multilingual clinic/hospital search available in English, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanesehttps://www.jnto.go.jp/emergency/eng/mi_guide.html
JNTO's "Japan Visitor Hotline"https://www.japan.travel/en/plan/hotline/- Available in English, Chinese, Korean and Japanese 24 hours a day050-3816-2787 +81-50-3816-2787 (from overseas)
Here are the latest COVID-19 updates from Japan and beyond:READ FULL ARTICLE
