As of 9:50 p.m., Friday, Aug. 14 (Japan time)
- Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. said Friday five of its group companies will donate a total of 400 million yen ($3.75 million) to support Southeast Asian students in Japan affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
- Japan and Malaysia agreed Friday they may ease coronavirus-related travel restrictions for expatriates in early September, if they take precautionary measures such as a 14-day self-quarantine period after entering their respective countries, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.
- Tokyo reported on Friday 389 new cases of the novel coronavirus, the highest figure in about one week, with urban and tourist areas in Japan continuing to see a relatively large number of infections during the peak of the summer holiday season.
- As the chaos linked to the coronavirus pandemic causes a spike in unemployment, the bleak economic prospects of Japanese working-age people are increasing concern that the nation's already low birth rate could slip further, deepening the country's aging crisis.
- North Korea has decided to lift a lockdown imposed on the border city of Kaesong where the country's first suspected case of the novel coronavirus was detected late last month, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported Friday.
- A proxy fight between Japanese restaurant chain operators Ootoya Holdings Co. and Colowide Co. has been heating up ahead of the latter's Aug. 25 takeover deadline, even as both struggle to ride out the coronavirus pandemic.
- The planned marriage between Princess Mako, a niece of Emperor Naruhito, and her boyfriend Kei Komuro remains up in the air amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, two years after Komuro began studying at a New York law school.
- Japan's Environment Ministry will begin development of a contactless garbage collection system for household waste in an effort to reduce the risk of infection to workers amid the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic, ministry officials said Thursday.
As of 11 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 13 (Japan time)
- The J-League on Thursday postponed Sagan Tosu's next three league matches after 10 individuals with the first-division side, including manager Kim Myung Hwi tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the league said.
- Fujifilm Holdings Corp. said Thursday it expects to complete clinical tests in Japan of the antiviral drug Avigan, a potential candidate treatment drug for COVID-19, in September, already behind schedule after a delay caused by difficulty in securing enough patient data.
- Japan and Singapore agreed Thursday to ease travel restrictions implemented in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic from September.
- The Nikkei stock index ended at a nearly six-month high on Thursday, approaching its pre-pandemic levels amid growing hopes for the development of a vaccine against the novel coronavirus.
- Calls for the government to shift parliamentary sessions online and allow for remote attendance have increased as Japan endures a protracted battle against the coronavirus, but implicit restraints within the Constitution have hindered progress so far.
- About 77 percent of mothers with small children in Japan said they will have fewer plans than last year to go out together during summer break, as the coronavirus pandemic shows no signs of slowing down, according to a recent survey by a toy company.
Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - August 8~14
Useful resources for foreign residents and visitors in Japan
- Tokyo Metropolitan Government's "Tokyo Coronavirus Support Center for Foreign Residents (TOCOS)" multilingual hotline
- Available in Simple Japanese, English, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Nepali, Indonesian, Tagalog, Thai, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Khmer, and Burmese, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays except national holidays.
0120-296-004 (toll free) - AMDA Medical Information Center's "Multilingual Consultation Service Regarding COVID-19"
(April 10~May 20, 2020)
- Available in English, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekends and national holidays. Also available in Chinese, Korean, Tagalog, Thai, Spanish, Vietnamese and Portuguese on designated weekdays. Check schedule here.
03-6233-9266
- Available in English and Chinese on weekdays only, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
090-3359-8324 - Tokyo Metropolitan Government's COVID-19 info
https://stopcovid19.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/flow/ - Tokyo Metropolitan Government hotline
- Available in English, Chinese, Korean and Japanese, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
0570-550571
- Available via fax for those with hearing impairments
03-5388-1396 - Japan National Tourism Organization's "Guide for when you are feeling ill"
- Multilingual clinic/hospital search available in English, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese
https://www.jnto.go.jp/emergency/eng/mi_guide.html - JNTO's "Japan Visitor Hotline"
- Available in English, Chinese, Korean and Japanese 24 hours a day
050-3816-2787
+81-50-3816-2787 (from overseas)
http://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/content/001328767.pdf - Japan's health ministry hotline
- Available in Japanese only, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
0120-565653 - World Health Organization's "Q&A on coronaviruses"
https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-coronaviruses