Japan at a Covid Crossroads

Japan was praised in the global media for its success at handling the pandemic relative to the majority of countries. However, recently it has been facing mounting international criticism over current strict border controls, and Japan’s reputation as a leading economic power is on the line. Louise George Kittaka, a Kiwi in Japan, pens her thoughts. 

Unlike most developed nations, Japan has never gone into a full lockdown, and has instead met each successive wave of the coronavirus with a series of “state of emergencies” so far.

“I think that the Japanese authorities have handled the pandemic like they handled the Tokyo Olympics; they’ve found a middle ground in a way that has not been too extreme and that has enabled the ‘show’—the Olympics, the economy—to  go on,” says Jon Walsh, an Aucklander who now resides in Tokyo with his family.

Shops and restaurants were asked to reduce their hours, and companies were urged to let employees work from home if possible. In a business culture that has relied heavily on daily meetings and putting in long hours at the office, there was some initial confusion about how to implement telecommuting. However, many people have embraced working from home, enjoying the freedom from a long commute on crowded trains and relishing more time for family or hobbies. It is fair to say that the pandemic has placed telecommuting firmly in the mainstream for corporate Japan.

It should be noted that Japan has had three Prime Ministers over the course of the pandemic: Shinzo Abe, Yoshihide Suga (who presided over the Olympics) and now Fumio Kishida. Unlike New Zealand, the country’s leadership has lacked a clear vision over the past two years. It is my view that national traits, such as an affinity for wearing face masks and a preference for maintaining a physical distance from others in public, have had as much to do with Japan’s pandemic success as government directives.

Covid Cases on the Rise

During the first state of emergency in April 2020, the population were diligent about staying home as much as possible, but this compliance has gradually diminished with each new wave. Stations, shopping centres and restaurants here in Tokyo are bustling, and many people are going out and about. The Japanese government seems to have realised that Covid fatigue has set in. Fueled by Omicron, the numbers of daily cases have soared to a new high of over 100,000 in February, but the majority of the country are currently in a less restrictive “quasi state of emergency”.

Covid-19 is no longer something that happens to “other people”. Until this year, I could count on one hand the number of Covid patients among my friends and acquaintances, but that has changed as numbers here rise rapidly. Most infections are relatively light, and the government recently eased rules for quarantine, allowing younger patients with no underlying health risks and their family members to quarantine at home.

Around 80 percent of the eligible population are fully vaccinated, but the rollout for boosters has been slow. My family here in Japan got our first and second shots slightly ahead of relatives in New Zealand, but the reverse is true for boosters. Most citizens can expect to get their booster seven to eight months from the time of their last vaccination.

“I think Japan could have prepared better for this current Omicron variant. They talked about it in advance, they could have had the resources, and they didn't pull through,” remarks Katy Tanaka, a New Zealander living in Kyushu.

Youngsters Bear the Brunt

One key group that has been left behind in the vaccination shuffle are children. Although the government has approved vaccines for those aged five to 11, it seems that the rollout will not take place before March, even though infections among young children are soaring. Entire classes at primary schools and daycare centers are being forced to close with rising cases, which has a knock-on effect for working parents when their children have to stay home.

Another concern for young children is the long-term effect of constant mask-wearing, since everyone age six and up is essentially masked outside the home. While it has helped curtail the spread of Covid-19, some educational experts caution about a negative impact on children’s development because they can’t see the faces of peer or teachers.

Covid has been hard on older children, too. Chris Satou, a Kiwi mother of two teenagers living in Yamanashi prefecture, believes school have been doing their best, but says those attending private schools have had a major advantage with more online support. “My children, who attend public schools, were left with little guidance as to what they should be doing from home and had next to no support. We had to make it up as we went along. Two years on and we are pretty much still in the same boat, with the only difference being that the whole family is now vaccinated.”

I have been hearing similar stories from the university where I teach. Many tertiary students have had little opportunity to form connections with classmates and experience campus life. Here in Tokyo, the past two years have been spent pivoting back and forth between in-person and online classes, based upon whatever the authorities recommended at the time. “I can’t say I’ve really made any close friends among my classmates, because we hardly get to meet,” one of my second-year students told me wistfully.

To Open or Not? That is the Question

Universities have also seen a huge decline in international students during the pandemic, as most have been kept out of Japan, along with business people, researchers and tourists. At the start of the pandemic, Japan went as far as issuing a blanket ban on entry from any non-Japanese irrespective of visa status, including those with permanent residence. An international outcry eventually saw the ban lifted for people with long-term residential status. 

Tentative steps late last year to opening up to new entries from international students, business people and families of foreign nationals were suddenly halted with the advent of Omicron, and Japan closed the borders yet again. Some leaders, including the head of the Japanese Business Federation, Masakazu Tokura, have criticised the measure as shortsighted, noting that Omicron is well and truly entrenched here and so banning non-Japanese makes little sense. It has also shone an international spotlight on the many lives put on hold, and in some cases, on families split apart for months or even years because some members cannot legally enter Japan.

The government has talked of easing restrictions, and has recently shortened the number of days entrants from overseas must spend isolating (currently one week for Japanese and foreign nationals with residential status alike). However, two recent polls indicated that well over 80 percent of Japanese people back the government’s current stance on suspending new entries by non-Japanese, giving the impression that many citizens somehow still consider Covid-19 a “foreign” problem.

It remains to be seen whether Japan will comply with calls to open its borders, or choose its own path for managing Covid-19—and how this will affect its international standing moving forward.

- Asia Media Centre