Here are the latest updates from Japan and beyond on the coronavirus outbreak:
As of 11 p.m., Tuesday, June 1
- Japanese athletes, coaches and staff taking part in the Tokyo Games began receiving their first doses Tuesday of coronavirus vaccines offered free to all Olympic participants worldwide by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc.
- Malaysia entered a two-week nationwide lockdown Tuesday as the government moved to contain a spike in COVID-19 cases.
- Yoyogi Park, one of the venues in the capital scheduled to host free live screenings and events for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics this summer, will be used as a COVID-19 vaccination site, Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said Tuesday.
- The Japanese government said Tuesday it will impose a six-day quarantine period on travelers who have recently been to Vietnam and Malaysia as part of efforts to prevent the spread of the highly-contagious Indian coronavirus variant.
- Japan's former Emperor Akihito and former Empress Michiko as well as four other senior members of the imperial family received coronavirus vaccinations Tuesday in Tokyo, sources close to the matter said, marking the first confirmed inoculations among the royals.
- Japan's international friendly against Jamaica, scheduled for Thursday at Sapporo Dome, has been canceled after 10 players in the Jamaican squad were unable to board their flight due to problems with coronavirus screenings.
- Department stores, large cinemas and amusement parks in Tokyo and Osaka Prefecture reopened Tuesday as coronavirus restrictions on some businesses were partially eased under the extended state of emergency until June 20.
- Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. have stopped producing vehicles at their plants in Malaysia, officials of the Japanese automakers said Tuesday, after the Southeast Asian country began a two-week total lockdown to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
- Japan will start COVID-19 vaccinations at workplaces and universities on June 21 to speed up the pace of the country's sluggish vaccine rollout, its top government spokesman said Tuesday.
- Members of the Australian women's softball team on Tuesday became the first group of athletes to arrive in Japan for a training camp since the Tokyo Olympics were postponed more than a year ago due to the coronavirus pandemic.
As of 11 p.m., Monday, May 31
- Japan is considering requiring Tokyo Olympic spectators to present proof of having tested negative for COVID-19 when entering a venue as part of measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, sources familiar with the matter said Monday.
- The number of visas issued by Japan in 2020 dropped around 87 percent from a year earlier, the sharpest decline since comparable records were made available in 1999, due to pandemic-induced travel restrictions, the Foreign Ministry said Monday.
- Hotel Okura Co. said Monday it will open new luxury accommodation in Kyoto in January 2022, anticipating a recovery in demand from inbound and wealthy travelers in a post-coronavirus era.
- The Japanese government on Monday approved Pfizer Inc.'s COVID-19 vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds, the first shot to be made available to children in the country.
- Members of the Australian women's softball team departed Sydney on Monday, set to become the first group of Olympic athletes to arrive in Japan for the Tokyo Games.
- The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on Monday upgraded its forecast for global economic growth this year but cut its projection for Japan, citing a resurgence of coronavirus infections and its slow vaccine rollout.
- Japanese regional airlines Airdo Co. and Solaseed Air Inc. said Monday they will set up a holding company in October 2022 to reduce costs through joint aircraft maintenance and procurement of supplies.
- Japan's so-far sluggish COVID-19 vaccination efforts got a lift Monday as two state-run mass inoculation centers in Tokyo and Osaka got up to full speed one week after their opening.
- Over 30 percent of people in Japan who live with smokers said they have been exposed to more secondhand smoke since the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic due to the rise of teleworking, the National Cancer Center Japan said Monday in releasing the results of a survey.
Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - May 22~28
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)
https://www.seikatubunka.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/chiiki_tabunka/tabunka/tabunkasuishin/0000001452.html - 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/ - Tokyo Metropolitan Government hotline
https://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 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"
https://www.japan.travel/en/plan/hotline/
- Available in English, Chinese, Korean and Japanese 24 hours a day
050-3816-2787
+81-50-3816-2787 (from overseas) - 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