Tag - covid-19

 
 

COVID 19

Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2024
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Travelers spent ¥5.86 trillion in Japan through September of this year, preliminary figures show, eclipsing the ¥5.3 trillion they spent in all of 2023.
A view inside Beijing Daxing International Airport. Japanese nationals could soon visit China without a visa for up to 15 days, according to reports.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 19, 2024
China may soon resume visa exemptions for Japanese nationals, reports say
The news comes as the two countries work toward mending fences after a period of tension and in the face of rising protectionist threats.
Shannon Turner, who is often in and out of the hospital due to waterfall effects related to the interplay between long COVID, psoriatic arthritis, antiphospholipid antibody syndrome and autoimmune diseases, sits up on a hospital bed in Philadelphia, in May 2023.
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 15, 2024
Many long COVID patients adjust to slim recovery odds as world moves on
Recent scientific studies suggest the longer someone is sick, the lower their chances of making a full recovery.
Senior IMF official Vitor Gaspar speaks during an interview in Washington last Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 24, 2024
IMF official warns Japan of debt deterioration in event of future shock
The IMF predicts that Japan's debt will exceed 250% of its gross domestic product this year before gradually decreasing.
A man who works for a restaurant consults a social welfare council official in Tokyo about COVID-19 relief loans in June 2020.
JAPAN
Oct 23, 2024
Welfare councils loaned ¥1.4 billion in COVID relief to ineligible borrowers
Individuals who were receiving welfare support were ineligible for the loans because they are already guaranteed a minimum standard of living.
The emotional impact of constant news about wars and disasters is weighing heavily on many in the younger generations, causing them to seek ways to cope with their distress and anxiety.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 21, 2024
Is the apocalypse making you too anxious to work?
A poll reveals that a significant portion of the Gen Z and millennial generations feel unable to function at work due to distress over current events.
Adapting to new information when faced with public health crises like COVID-19 is crucial, as oversimplified public health messaging can erode trust in science. 
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 10, 2024
The best answer science may have right now is ‘I don't know’
Acknowledging uncertainty and adapting to new information is crucial, as oversimplified public health messaging can erode trust in science.
Then-President Donald Trump (right) meets with President Vladimir Putin of Russia at the G20 Summit in Osaka on June 28, 2019. Trump and Putin have secretly spoken several times since Trump left office, according to a new book by journalist Bob Woodward.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 9, 2024
Trump sent COVID-19 tests to Putin, Bob Woodward says in his new book
Donald Trump also retains a personal relationship with Vladimir Putin, Woodward writes.
A man receives a COVID-19 vaccine in Tokyo on Oct. 1. Experts say fears over the newly approved replicon vaccine are unwarranted.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 7, 2024
Experts move to allay replicon COVID shot fears in Japan amid backlash
The health ministry and experts say concerns around "shedding" are unwarranted.
A woman receives a COVID-19 vaccine shot in Tokyo on Tuesday as this year's routine vaccination program for people age 65 or older began.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 1, 2024
Routine COVID-19 vaccinations begin for elderly in Japan
The program mainly targets people age 65 or older. It began on Tuesday and will run until March 31 next year.
Takanori Takebe (behind the lectern) speaks after his team of researchers and he were awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in physiology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Thursday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 13, 2024
Scientists win Ig Nobel for discovering anal breathing in mammals
The research team of Japanese and American scientists hope the discovery will help treat people with COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases.
A survey showed the use of terminal care and attended deaths at home kept increasing after surging in April 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 11, 2024
Terminal care at home surged in Japan during COVID-19 pandemic
Cases of terminal care at home grew for clinics certified to meet standards for supporting home care, such as having doctors available to make house visits.
Elisabeth Furaha applies medication on the skin of her child, Sagesse Hakizimana, who is undergoing treatment for mpox, near Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Aug. 19.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 25, 2024
Why mpox vaccines are only just arriving in Africa after two years
The slow arrival of the shots — available in many places outside Africa — showed that lessons from COVID-19 about global health care inequity must still be learned.
In an image provided by federal agencies, a colorized electron microscope image shows avian influenza grown in cultured cells. The virus is poised to become a permanent presence in cattle, raising the odds of an eventual outbreak among people.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 22, 2024
How U.S. farms could start a bird flu pandemic
The longer the virus circulates in cattle, the more chances it has to acquire the mutations necessary to set off an influenza pandemic.
Health minister Keizo Takemi fields questions from reporters in March after a Cabinet meeting to deal with health problems caused by Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's beni kōji red yeast rice supplements.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 14, 2024
Health Minister Keizo Takemi on how to improve Japan's health care system
Digitalization, hiring high-skilled foreign workers and increasing wages are among the steps that Japan could take.
In the past 11 months, health minister Keizo Takemi has been charting his own path, seeking to make Japan's health care policies more global and digitalized.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 14, 2024
Global mindset crucial for reform of Japan's health care, minister says
International strategies and domestic health care reform are inextricably linked, says health minister Keizo Takemi.
American Noah Lyles after taking bronze in the men's 200-meter final on Thursday. It was later revealed that he tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this week.
OLYMPICS / Athletics
Aug 9, 2024
U.S. sprinter Noah Lyles says his Paris run is over after getting COVID-19
Lyles tested positive on Tuesday, officials said, two days after he won the 100-meter final.
A doctor consults with a COVID-19 patient at St. Vincent's Hospital in Sydney in 2021.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 29, 2024
Excess deaths in Australia reveal COVID-19's long, lethal tail
Excess mortality — the increase above the expected toll had the pandemic not occurred — was 5% for Australia in 2023.
A decline in COVID-19-caused deaths likely helped boost the average life expectancy for Japanese men and women to rise for the first time in three years in 2023.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 26, 2024
Japan's average life expectancy rises for first time in three years
The rise in life expectancy may possibly be a reflection of a drop in fatality rates for COVID-19 patients.
The health ministry is calling for people to take infection control measures thoroughly as cases of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases are rising in Japan.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 24, 2024
Japan battling 11th COVID wave, data shows, as KP.3 variant evades immunity
New infections have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks amid the rise of the highly transmissible new coronavirus variant.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?