Category Archives: Japan

Tokyo pays clubs and hostess bars to close after spike in coronavirus cases

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City authorities, which cannot legally force closures, offer incentives after Japan capital reports a record 224 new cases

Nightclubs and hostess bars in Tokyo are to be paid to close after the Japanese capital recorded 224 coronavirus cases on Thursday, the highest daily tally since the pandemic began.

Authorities had previously refused to give nightlife businesses economic support during the pandemic, but have changed tack after 80% of Thursday’s infections were among people in their 20s and 30s. Many of them were identified after more than 3,000 tests were carried out in Tokyo entertainment districts, including Shinjuku and Ikebukuro.

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Flooding and landslides in Japan leaves scores dead on Kyushu – video

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Torrential rain and floods in the southern island have left at least 50 people dead or missing. Rescue workers are still combing through the wreckage of houses hit by flooding and landslides in after extreme weather hit the region. The death toll on Kyushu is expected to climb further

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Rescuers search for survivors of Japan floods as more heavy rain expected

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At least 50 people have been killed after the river Kuma in Kyushu burst its banks, triggering floods and mudslides

Rescue workers were combing through the wreckage of houses hit by flooding and landslides in Japan after extreme weather left more than 50 people dead or missing on the southern island of Kyushu.

The Kyodo news agency said 40 people had died in the floods and at least 11 were missing. Among the dead were 14 residents of an elderly care home in Kuma village, Kumamoto, where the nearby Kuma river flooded. More torrential rain is forecast for coming days.

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Japan floods leave dozens dead, including nursing home residents

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Record rainfall triggers landslides in western Kumamoto region, stranding hundreds

Deep floodwaters and the risk of further mudslides have hampered search and rescue operations after heavy rain in southern Japan, including at elderly home facilities where more than a dozen residents died and scores were left stranded.

Helicopters and boats rescued more people from their homes in the Kumamoto region. More than 40,000 troops, the coastguard and fire brigades took part in the operation.

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Record rainfall triggers floods and landslides in Japan – video

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Record heavy rain in western Japan has caused widespread flooding and landslides, forcing authorities to issue evacuation orders for more than 76,000 residents. Television footage shows homes and vehicles in Kumamoto prefecture partly submerged, and several bridges have been washed away

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Japan: hundreds with dementia who went missing in 2019 yet to be found

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Ageing population in the spotlight as of the more than 17,000 people with the illness who went missing last year, the whereabouts of 245 remains unknown

Hundreds of people with dementia who went missing in Japan last year are yet to be found, the National Police Agency has announced, highlighting the growing problems associated with the country’s rapidly ageing population.

A record 17,479 people with dementia went missing in 2019, with 245 still unaccounted for.

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Scat feels better: digestive health of Japan deer improves as tourist snacks dwindle

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Absence of tourists during coronavirus pandemic has led Nara’s revered deer back to traditional diets and better health

While the absence of tourists during the coronavirus pandemic may have deprived Nara’s famous deer of their favourite snack, it has worked wonders for their digestive health.

Before the outbreak, millions of tourists descended on the western Japanese city – once the country’s capital – to view its shrines and temples, and feed the estimated 1,300 free-roaming deer in the its main park

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‘Comfort women’ crisis: campaign over wartime sexual slavery hit by financial scandal

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South Korean survivor claims support group failed to spend donations on welfare

It began with a call by a South Korean former “comfort woman” to end protests outside Japan’s embassy in Seoul – a rare attempt at reconciliation that has quickly spiralled into the biggest crisis the campaign for justice for survivors of wartime sexual slavery has faced in its three-decade history.

Lee Yong-soo, a 92-year-old veteran campaigner, told reporters last month that she would no longer attend weekly rallies outside the embassy, claiming that they had only engendered hatred between young South Koreans and their Japanese counterparts.

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‘I raised hell’: how people worldwide answered the call of World Oceans Day

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From protecting fishing communities to regrowing coral reefs, Guardian readers and environmentalists share how they’re working to defend the ocean

World Oceans Day, which took place on Monday, is marked by hundreds of beach cleans and events globally. Despite Covid-19 restrictions, environmentalists and readers from around the world shared how they are continuing to work to protect the ocean, and told us about the local marine issues that matter to them.

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Workers in Tokyo’s red-light district to be tested for coronavirus after new spike

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Dozens of new infections reported in Kabukicho, a district of more than 4,000 bars, restaurants and commercial sex establishments

Health authorities in Tokyo are to ask employees of host clubs and similar establishments to be regularly tested for Covid-19 after evidence that the virus is spreading among people who work in the capital’s night-time economy.

The city reported 14 new infections on Sunday, six of which involved people working in clubs where employees pour drinks and talk to customers in close proximity.

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Kyoto Animation arson suspect arrested after 10 months of burns treatment

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Thirty-six people died in atrocity that is Japan’s deadliest blaze since 2001

Police in Japan have arrested the man suspected of carrying out an arson attack last year that killed 36 people, after officers waited 10 months for him to be treated for serious burns.

Shinji Aoba was arrested on murder and arson charges over the attack on the Kyoto Animation studio in western Japan, which sparked an outpouring of grief from anime fans around the world.

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Global report: US unemployment could hit 25%, warns Fed chairman, as Japan enters recession

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India extends Covid-19 lockdown but eases many restrictions; South Africa reports highest daily new cases; World Health Assembly to begin

Unemployment in the United States could peak at 25% as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the chair of the Federal Reserve, amid warnings the June quarter economic figures will be “very, very bad”. The bleak prediction came as Japan slid into its first recession in five years, with forecasts that worse was to come.

In a sober assessment of the economic impact of coronavirus in the US, the Fed chair, Jerome Powell, estimated GDP contraction in the June quarter could be “easily be in the twenties or thirties”, as fallout from the global outbreak worsened.

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Global report: leaders urge free vaccines as France allows staycations

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French drugmaker criticised for giving US priority; Gordon Brown says Covid-19 solution is global

More than 140 world leaders and experts have called for future Covid-19 vaccines to be made available to everyone free of charge, amid growing tensions between drug companies and governments and a boycott of vaccine summits by the US.

Vaccines and treatments for the virus should not be patented, say the signatories to an open letter published in the run-up to next week’s meeting of the World Health Assembly, the policy-setting body of the UN’s World Health Organization. Instead, scientific breakthroughs must be shared across borders, they urge.

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Professional sumo wrestler Shobushi dies at 28 after contracting Covid-19

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  • Wrestler one of youngest to die from virus in Japan
  • Shobushi had been in intensive care for three weeks

A 28-year-old sumo wrestler died on Wednesday from the coronavirus.

The Japan Sumo Association (JSA) confirmed the death and identified the wrestler as Shobushi, whose real name was Kiyotaka Suetake. The association said he died of multiple-organ failure. He is reported to have been the first sumo wrestler to die from the virus, and the first person in his 20s to die in Japan from Covid-19.

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Sazae-san, the world’s longest-running cartoon, put on hold by coronavirus

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Re-runs of famous Japanese cartoon bring broadcast until further notice, in first interruption in 45 years

Production of the world’s longest-running cartoon has been interrupted by the coronavirus, forcing the broadcast of re-runs for the first time in decades.

Sazae-san, a mainstay of the Japanese weekend that first aired in 1969, revolves around a typical Tokyo family consisting of Mrs Sazae, who lives with her parents, husband, son, brother and sister.

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Holding Tokyo Olympics in 2021 ‘difficult’, Japan medical association chief warns

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Yoshitake Yokokura is the latest expert to cast doubt on plans to hold the Games in Tokyo next year

The head of the Japan Medical Association (JMA) has added his voice to speculation that the Tokyo Olympics, now due to be held next summer, could again be delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.

“Unless an effective vaccine is developed I think it will be difficult to hold the Olympics next year,” JMA president Yoshitake Yokokura told reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday. “I’m not saying at this point that they shouldn’t be held. The outbreak is not only confined to Japan ... it’s a worldwide issue.”

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Coronavirus: global death toll passes 200,000 as more countries prepare to reopen

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As WHO warns no evidence exists to suggest people can’t catch Covid-19 twice, India, Belgium and Greece among latest countries to ease lockdowns

The global toll from Covid-19 passed 200,000 on Saturday, with over 2.8 million people infected, as the WHO warned against issuing “immunity passports” because there is no evidence people who recovered from the disease are protected against a second infection.

It took more than three months after the coronavirus first emerged for deaths from the disease to pass 100,000, a grim milestone that was reached on 10 April. It took just over two weeks for that toll to double, and worldwide the number of confirmed infections is creeping towards 3 million.

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