Category Archives: Japan

Coronavirus live news: Israel reports record daily Covid cases; Ireland to remove all restrictions by 31 October

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Israel records nearly 11,000 new Covid infections; EU hits its target for vaccinating adults; Ireland’s cabinet to sign off on plans to remove restrictions

Mexico on Tuesday reported 11,146 new confirmed cases of Covid and 835 more deaths, Reuters reports.

It brings the total number of infections in the country to 3,352,410 and the death toll to 259,326, according to health ministry data.

The latest on the Covid situation in Australia:

Related: Morning mail: Taliban takes control, mixed vaccines ‘don’t make sense’, love in lockdown

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Covid live news: case rates rising in most areas of England; jabs from halted Moderna batch used in Japan

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Case rates rising in England except London and Yorkshire & the Humber; thousands of shots from Moderna batch given before use suspended

UK ministers have been accused of doing the “bare minimum” to curb companies charging “misleading” prices for Covid travel tests and instead have been urged to name and shame the firms.

Ahead of a review of the traffic light system of quarantine rules which government sources said was unlikely to result in many major changes, Labour urged the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, to take tougher action against businesses “exploiting” the pandemic by imposing “rip-off” prices.

Related: Ministers doing bare minimum to stop Covid travel test ‘rip-offs’, says Labour

Newquay is reeling after health officials said that almost 5,000 cases had been linked to the music and surfing festival Boardmasters, which took place in the Cornish town earlier this month, my colleague Steven Morris reports. About three-quarters of them were aged 16-21 and about 800 live in Cornwall. Many of those who attended believe the number of infections is probably much higher.

It prompted tourism bosses to urge people not to visit the region unless they had pre-booked and to test themselves for Covid-19 before, during and after their stay.

Related: ‘It’s really hit us now’: Newquay becomes England’s Covid capital

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Afghanistan: what does each nation hope to get out of the G7 meeting?

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Analysis: Tuesday’s meeting called by Boris Johnson may include postmortem on Joe Biden’s handling of crisis

The emergency meeting of G7 nations on Tuesday – called by Boris Johnson as this year’s chair of the G7 – is in essence a gathering of the vanquished but faces a threefold agenda: how to ensure as many Afghans as possible can leave Kabul, and whether the US is prepared to stay beyond the original 31 August deadline for the withdrawal of all US forces; how a resettlement programme can be coordinated for the medium term; and finally, how to encourage the Taliban to form an inclusive government, including by threatening sanctions or withholding recognition.

But each country will bring its own concerns and an ugly postmortem on Joe Biden’s handling of the crisis cannot be ruled out.

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Biden confirms plan to nominate Rahm Emanuel as ambassador to Japan

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• Obama’s former chief of staff also served as Chicago mayor

• Emanuel joins long list of ambassadors awaiting confirmation

Joe Biden plans to nominate Rahm Emanuel, a former US lawmaker who served as chief of staff to President Barack Obama and as mayor of Chicago, to be ambassador to Japan, the White House said in a statement on Friday.

White House officials lauded Emanuel’s experience and long years of public service in announcing the nomination.

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Sonny Chiba, martial arts master and Kill Bill star, dies aged 82

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Chiba made his name with the 1970s Street Fighter trilogy, before Quentin Tarantino’s admiration brought him fame in the west

Sonny Chiba, the Japanese martial arts movie star who found late-career renown in Hollywood after outspoken admiration from Quentin Tarantino, has died aged 82 from a Covid-related illness. Variety reported that it had received confirmation of the news from Chiba’s agent.

With an acting career beginning in the 1960s with a string of roles in Japanese martial arts films and TV shows, Chiba became widely known in the west after being name-checked in True Romance, the 1993 thriller written by Tarantino and directed by Tony Scott. By then, Chiba had become a star in Japan, appearing in titles such as the 1970s Street Fighter trilogy (and its spin-off, Sister Street Fighter), Bullet Train and Champion of Death.

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Coronavirus live news: Japan reports record cases ahead of Paralympics, New Zealand cluster grows

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Critical care beds are reaching capacity in Japan while New Zealand is racing to contain a cluster in Auckland that has grown to 21

An update on the British man sentenced to six weeks in prison in Singapore for refusing to wear a mask:

Benjamin Glynn, 40, was released today and will be deported, the country’s prison department said.

This is an interesting story by Edward Helmore about an Australian psychologist living in Canada who penned a book on pandemics just before Covid-19 hit.

Stephen Taylor’s book, The Psychology of Pandemics, was rejected by his publisher because “no one’s going to want to read it”.

Related: ‘No one wanted to read’ his book on pandemic psychology – then Covid hit

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Coronavirus live news: weekly deaths up by a third in England and Wales; Singapore prepares to reopen for business

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Covid mentioned in 527 deaths last week compared to 404 the week before; Singapore experts say there may be hundreds of deaths each year from endemic Covid-19

The king of Malaysia has ruled out a new general election in the country, after the resignation of the government amid mounting anger over its handling of the pandemic, because of concerns over the spread of Covid.

Former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s resignation yesterday after less than 18 months in office comes as Malaysia has one of the world’s highest infection and death rates per capita, with daily cases breaching 20,000 this month despite a seven-month state of emergency and a lockdown since June.

India has administered more than 8.8m doses of Covid-19 vaccines in the past 24 hours, government data showed, close to its all-time record and speeding up a campaign to inoculate all eligible adults by December.

India has undertaken one of the world’s largest Covid-19 vaccination drives and has so far administered 554m doses, giving at least one dose to about 46% of its estimated 944m adults. Only about 13% of the population have had the required two doses.

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Undersea volcanic eruption creates new Japanese island

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Crescent-shaped landmass 50km south of Minami Ioto could disappear due to erosion

The 6,000-plus islands that make up the Japanese archipelago have a new addition, after scientists said an undersea volcanic eruption 1,200km (745 miles) south of Tokyo had created a new landmass.

The island was formed in the Pacific Ocean about 50km south of Minami Ioto, the southernmost island of the Ogasawara group.

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Maki Kaji, ‘godfather of sudoku’, dies aged 69 in Japan

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Puzzle enthusiast and publisher credited with turning grid-based numbers problem into global phenomenon

Maki Kaji, a Japanese publisher who popularised the numbers puzzle sudoku played daily by millions around the world, has died from cancer aged 69.

A university dropout who worked in a printing company before founding Japan’s first puzzle magazine, Kaji took hints from an existing number puzzle to create what he later named “sudoku” – a contraction of the Japanese for “every number must be single” – sometime in the mid-80s.

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Japan’s economy bounces back as Covid restrictions ease

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Economic output defies expectations to expand in Q2 – but analysts warn of contraction risk

Japan’s economy recovered strongly in the second quarter to join the turnaround seen across G7 countries as the easing of lockdown restrictions sent consumers rushing to the shops.

Beating the expectations of City analysts, the world’s third largest economy also capitalised on global trade’s return to health with a surge in exports.

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Coronavirus live news: Japan set to extend state of emergency as Sydney records deadliest pandemic day

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Japan is reportedly set to extend it state of emergency in Tokyo and other regions while Sydney has reported seven deaths over the past 24 hours, its deadliest day of the pandemic so far

It’s Robyn Vinter here in the UK, taking over from Helen.

If you’re in lockdown and finding yourself increasingly grumpy and/or sluggish, Guardian Australia’s Alyx Gorman has investigated how you can best avoid “lockdown brain”:

Related: Forgetful, confused and a bit cranky? Here are some scientifically proven ways to lift your lockdown mood

That’s it from me, Helen Livingstone, I’m handing over to my UK colleague Robyn Vinter.

Here’s a brief rundown of what’s been happening so far:

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Heavy rain triggers floods and landslides in Japan – video

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More than a million people have been urged to seek shelter as torrential rain triggered floods and landslides in western Japan, leaving at least one dead and two missing. Scientists say the climate crisis is intensifying the risk of heavy rain in Japan and elsewhere, because a warmer atmosphere holds more water

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‘I’m angry about a lot of things’: Japanese actor Minami on her new eco-drama with Johnny Depp

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The actor and painter explains why the world needs to see Minimata, the new film about the mercury poisoning scandal that W Eugene Smith helped expose

Like Cher or Madonna, Minami is a one-name wonder. “I have my French and Japanese family names,” the 34-year-old actor says over video call from a pink hotel room in Tokyo. “But ‘Minami’ is simpler.” She gives a single, decisive nod. “Just write ‘Minami.’” She chose the mononym at 13 when she featured in her first film, Battle Royale, a gory cult thriller about schoolchildren fighting to the death on an uninhabited island. “When I went back to school, everyone said: ‘Your arms are all bruised, you have scratches, what’s going on?’ They thought my parents were beating me.”

Even when telling a story like this with dark undertones, her manner is insistently perky, as though she doesn’t want the listener to misread her as dour. When I ask about her Battle Royale audition, for instance, she blithely recalls “walking into the room and there were 10 men, and they asked me if I could do a handstand, and two of the men held my legs against the wall to help me …” I must be grimacing because she breaks off from the anecdote to reprimand me lightheartedly: “Don’t make that face! It was all fine.”

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Josee, the Tiger and the Fish review – beautiful-looking anime takes a trip to the zoo

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This romantic animation about a paraplegic woman’s relationship with a marine biology student suffers for its sweetness

This gorgeous-looking, swooningly romantic anime feels like it could win over YA audiences: it’s heartfelt, unthreatening and rather lovely. Its representation of disability does feel a bit iffy in places, though: presenting a 24-year-old paraplegic woman, Josee, as fundamentally in need of fixing or rescue. Near the start she meets Tsuneo, a dreamily gorgeous diver and marine biology student, who saves her hurtling out of control down a hill in her wheelchair. She is a helpless victim – and not for the last time in the movie.

When Tsuneo walks Josee back to her apartment, her grandmother hires him as a part-time carer. The job involves spending a couple of hours with Josee every day. The one rule is that he can’t take her outside. At first, Tsuneo can’t stand his petulant and demanding client, who calls him “my servant” and orders him around. But slowly he’s smitten and develops something worryingly like a saviour complex. It turns out that Josee’s overprotective grandmother has kept her confined at home to make sure she is safe. As a result, she is childish and emotionally immature, but a fiercely talented artist.

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Smashed pumpkin: tropical storm batters famous Japan sculpture

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Experts consider possibility of rebuilding Yayoi Kusama work, which was swept into sea off Naoshima

Experts are determining whether it is possible to reconstruct one of Japan’s most recognisable works of modern art after it was badly damaged during a recent tropical storm.

The sculpture, a giant black and yellow polka-dotted pumpkin by the celebrated artist Yayoi Kusama, has stood at the end of a pier on the “art island” of Naoshima in the Seto inland sea since 1994.

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Hansle Parchment thanks woman who paid for taxi to race where he won Olympic gold

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  • 110m champion struggled to make final after taking wrong bus
  • Local volunteer stepped in to pay for taxi to Olympic Stadium

Jamaican hurdler Hansle Parchment has tracked down and thanked a Tokyo 2020 volunteer who paid for his taxi to the Olympic Stadium, where he subsequently won a gold medal.

Parchment told the story in a video posted to social media last weekend, which ended with him meeting the volunteer, whom he called Tiana. He thanked her, showed her the gold medal, gave her a Jamaican Olympic shirt and paid her back the money she had lent.

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Support for Japan’s PM reaches all-time low over Covid-19, despite Olympics success

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Public support for Yoshihide Suga’s cabinet dipped below 30%, despite widespread support for going ahead with the Games

Public support for the government of Japan’s prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, has slumped to an all-time low, despite evidence that most people support the decision to go ahead with the Tokyo Olympics during the coronavirus pandemic.

Suga had been hoping to bask in the afterglow of the Games, which ended on Sunday, but support for his cabinet has dipped below 30% for the first time since he became prime minister last September, largely over its response to a recent surge in infections.

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Rice, rice baby: Japanese parents send relatives rice to hug in lieu of newborns

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Each bag matches birth weight and features baby’s face, so new arrival can be hugged in pandemic

Parents in Japan are sending bags of rice that weigh the same as their newborn babies to relatives who are unable to visit them due to the pandemic.

The bags come in a wide range of designs, with some shaped like a baby wrapped in a blanket so that relatives can feel as though they are hugging the new arrival while looking at a picture of their face, which is attached to the front.

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Coronavirus live news: curfew and music ban on two Greek islands; Japan experts urge nationwide state of emergency

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Zakynthos island and Chania on Crete hit by measures aimed at cutting Covid spread; advisers to government in Tokyo say surge requires harsher measures

With 16 million Australians again plunged into lockdown as authorities struggle to contain Delta variant outbreaks, the national cabinet is set to examine how allowing vaccinated residents to be freed from restrictions could provide a “powerful incentive” to be immunised.

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, will meet with state and territory leaders on Friday amid fresh tensions between New South Wales and the commonwealth over the state’s prolonged and expanding lockdown and as Victoria enters its sixth lockdown following fresh Covid cases.

I have been vocal publicly about our need and want for more vaccines.

We know the vaccines stop the spread. They protect life and keep people out of hospital. That’s why it is so critical and every jurisdiction around the world is finding Delta challenging.

Related: National leaders to discuss easing restrictions for vaccinated Australians as half the country is locked down

Greece imposed a night-time curfew and banned music on two popular tourist islands on Thursday to contain the spread of Covid-19, its civil protection deputy minister said.

The Mediterranean country, which is trying to rebuild a tourist sector hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic, is also battling a wave of wildfires during a protracted heatwave, Reuters reports.

We call on the residents and visitors in these areas to fully comply with the measures to limit the spread of the virus.

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$5,800 whisky bottle given to Pompeo as gift missing, state department says

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  • Japan gave bottle to former secretary of state two years ago
  • ‘Ongoing inquiry’ underway into what happened to the booze

The state department has said it is looking into the apparent disappearance of a nearly $6,000 bottle of whisky given more than two years ago to then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo by the government of Japan.

In a notice filed in the federal register, the department said it could find no trace of the bottle’s whereabouts and that there is an “ongoing inquiry” into what happened to the booze. The department reported the investigation in its annual accounting of gifts given to senior US officials by foreign governments and leaders.

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