As of 11 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 22 (Japan time)
- International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said athletes would not be barred from next year's Tokyo Olympics regardless of the situation of novel coronavirus infections in their homeland, German news agency DPA reported Thursday.
- Halloween in Japan is expected to be celebrated in new ways this year, at socially distanced events or online with revelers upping their facial decorations, as attempts are being made to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.
- A coronavirus testing center will open next month at Narita airport near Tokyo, enabling departing travelers to obtain a certificate for a negative test result within two hours, the operators said Thursday.
- Fujifilm Holdings Corp. said Thursday it has partnered with Shanghai-based Carelink Pharmaceutical Co. to exclusively market its anti-viral drug Avigan for COVID-19 treatment in China.
- Japan is considering exempting businesspeople entering Japan on a 72-hour or less short stay from the country's quarantine period requirement provided they follow certain COVID-19 precautions, government sources said Thursday.
- Japan plans to use facial recognition technology, originally intended for security purposes, to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus when it hosts the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics next year, government sources said Wednesday.
As of 11 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 21 (Japan time)
- The Tokyo Games organizing committee showed off a trial run Wednesday of the process that may be used for admission into venues at next year's games, including several ways of detecting fever in an effort to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
- The Tokyo metropolitan government said Wednesday that its survey has found 79 percent of volunteers for next summer's Olympics and Paralympics are concerned about the spread of the novel coronavirus.
- ANA Holdings Inc. is expecting to book a record group net loss of around 530 billion yen ($5 billion) for the business year through next March as the coronavirus pandemic hits demand for air travel, company sources said Wednesday.
- Japan expects to see the number of newborns drop sharply next year, as the number of pregnancies reported across the country fell 11.4 percent in the three months from May compared to a year earlier due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, health ministry officials said Tuesday.
Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - October 10~16
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"
- 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 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