Weekly Update: News on Japan & the Netherlands – Week 42, 2020

On Tuesday Tokyo counted166 new cases, up 88 from Monday. The number of infected people in Tokyo with severe symptoms is 27, up two from Monday, health officials said.

Given the anticipated burden on airport staff to handle paperwork and other inspection measures, the government plans to impose a daily limit on the number of people eligible for the exemption based on testing capacity at airports and other ports of entry. Japan has already agreed to resume business travel with both Singapore and South Korea, under which travelers are exempted from the 14-day quarantine.

Tokyo also plans to ease a travel advisory for some of the 159 countries and regions placed at Level 3 amid the coronavirus pandemic, a warning that advises against all travel, the sources said.

The Foreign Ministry is considering lowering the advisory for some countries to Level 2, meaning that non-essential travel should be avoided. No country is currently subject to Japan’s highest Level 4 advisory, which warns against travel as well as urges all Japanese nationals inside the country to evacuate.

“Japan places importance…on strengthening capabilities in response to the novel coronavirus, especially the development of vaccines and realizing fair access to them,” Motegi told an online ministerial meeting on the promotion of health services. Japan has already extended more than €1.31 billion worth of aid to fight the global pandemic over a few months since February, Motegi said.

He also said Japan will promote the supply of coronavirus treatment drugs through international agreements on patent licenses, expand coronavirus testing capacity in developing countries and support their efforts to strengthen healthcare and medical systems.

The online meeting was organized by an international platform to promote universal health coverage launched in 2018. Japan assumed co-chair at the meeting along with Thailand and Georgia.

A system developed by Panasonic warns people when an event venue is becoming too crowded by changing the color of the lighting.

The devices are designed to help children and foreigners who cannot read Japanese and to urge them to take steps to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The competition to develop such systems is intensifying as people adapt to a new normal in their daily lives.

The move came after the company started requiring employees to work from home in late March because of the coronavirus pandemic. Calbee was already well ahead of the pack in adjusting to telecommuting. The firms introduced it six years ago. But when the coronavirus hit, it decided to go one step further and promote workstyle changes.

Living away from home for work has long been a common practice in Japan. When workers get transferred, many of them move alone, without their families. Calbee spokesperson Makuuchi Rie says: “By promoting new ways of working that do not confine employees to assigned workplaces, we can free our employees from the inconvenience of living away from their families.”

Food maker Kewpie saw a new activity spring up while its employees were remote working. “Recipe Relay” sees a worker think of a recipe using the company’s products, and send it to two colleagues. The colleagues who receive the idea add their thoughts, opinions or their own ideas, then pass it on to other workers within three days.

The idea, which was developed by young employees in Tokyo, grew into a cross-departmental project involving senior managers before spreading to other offices around the country. Kewpie says some of the ideas have already led to the development of new products.

Spokesperson Murai Ayako says: “Many of our employees joined the company because they were interested in food. Since they are now working from home, they seem to have more time to turn their minds to food or cooking.”

But not all companies are happy about staff working from home. Temp-staff firm Adecco surveyed 300 people in managerial positions who have introduced teleworking since April. They found that 73% “want subordinates to continue teleworking,” but 36.3% felt “time to communicate with subordinates has been reduced due to teleworking.”

The company has set up large display panels at the store for searching merchandise as a way to compensate for reduced floor space. Goto Takanori, who heads new business development at Aoyama Trading, says the firm hopes to cash in on changing consumer demand.

Meanwhile, sports club operator NAS is using restaurant space at its clubs to offer members shared office space. The restaurants are currently closed to prevent the spread of infections. More businesses are also expected to try to meet demand for workspace outside conventional office environments.

They also had to set a limit of how many times a customer could use the discount program, even though the government placed no such restriction. Tourism minister Kazuyoshi Akaba told a press conference Tuesday the recent development has “caused confusion and worries among the people,” and pledged that the government will “continue to provide (maximum) discounts” for travelers.

The discount rates of 35% for hotel and package tour costs and the additional 15% for coupons that can be used at shops and restaurants at the travel destinations will be reinstated by Wednesday morning, Akaba added. The minister said those who booked trips without the full discount will be compensated.

The “Go To Travel” campaign launched in July was designed to discount hotel charges by up to 14,000 yen (€113) per person per night no matter how many trips were booked. But since travel to and from Tokyo, which was initially excluded due to the high number of new coronavirus infections at the time, was added to the program earlier this month, major online travel agencies have seen a surge in the number of bookings, with Tokyoites comprising about 10% of Japan’s total population.

As a result, Jalan of Recruit Lifestyle Co. and Yahoo Travel set an upper limit on discounts for hotel and package tour reservations at 3,500 yen per night, while Rakuten Travel only allowed customers to use the discount service once.

The yet-to-be-announced change comes at a time when the pandemic has sharply reduced international flights as nations across the world implemented travel restrictions to contain coronavirus outbreaks, severely impacting the airline industry.

Recently, AirAsia Japan Co., the Japanese unit of the Malaysian budget airline AirAsia Group, said it will pull out of the Japanese market altogether. ANA notified its labor union of the plan to permit a wider scope of side jobs, and the policy may also apply to other group companies, the sources said.

ANA’s parent company, ANA Holdings Inc., in July reported a record net loss of 108.82 billion yen in the April-June quarter, citing reduced demand for air travel. With the business environment deteriorating badly, employees are expected to see their annual pay fall by 30% on average, as ANA plans not to pay winter bonuses after having already halved summer bonuses.

ANA is also planning further cost-cutting measures including pulling passenger jets out of service earlier than scheduled as part of structural reforms to be announced before the end of October, according to the sources.

With a rebound in air travel, particularly international services, not yet on the horizon, Japanese airlines have been facing massive financial losses. In August, Japan Airlines Co. posted a net loss of 93.71 billion yen in the April-June quarter alone.

On Thursday, a government panel on female empowerment decided to include a policy of making non-prescriptive contraception available under a proposed five-year plan for promoting gender equality. As of Friday, an initiative calling for non-proscription sales of the pill in Japan on the online petition platform Change.org had received just over 91,000 signatures.

Abortions are legal in Japan with some 160,000 reported in the fiscal year ending in March 2019, including 13,588 cases involving women under the age of 20, according to the health ministry.

Catering companies such as cafes and restaurants will close their doors again. Take-away is still possible. Hotels also remain open and are allowed to serve food to guests. Alcohol is not allowed to be bought in shops until 20:00. Retail stores close by 20:00 latest. Shopping evenings will be canceled, with the exception of supermarkets.

In indoor areas where people are seated, a maximum number of people is 30. There are no more exceptions. And you can receive a maximum of three people a day in your home. “Birthday parties in shifts with multiple groups of people are no longer allowed”, says Rutte.

Adult amateur sports in groups are no longer allowed. “A game of tennis is still possible,” says Rutte. “But no doubles, because then contact is inevitable.” Jogging with four people is also allowed. Children can therefore continue to exercise in groups.

The cabinet is preparing a face mask obligation for education, and also for public indoor areas such as stores, which applies to everyone from the age of 13. As long as this has not yet been legally arranged, urgent advice also applies.

Events are prohibited. Nothing will change for museums, and amusement parks for the time being, and food markets, trade fairs and conferences, cinemas and theaters, professional sports games, protests, gatherings and meetings as referred to in the Public Events Act are also exempt.

And the previous advice still applies: work from home, unless there is no other option. Travel as little as possible. When going on holiday, stay at your holiday address as much as possible. Limit the number of trips and avoid crowds. For abroad trips, follow the travel advice from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Until more is known, no new subjects can be enrolled in the trials, and the current participants will not receive any further doses of the vaccine. About 60 thousand people worldwide are participating in this clinical trial. The company also asked an independent safety committee to investigate.

Another Covid-19 vaccine, being developed by AstraZeneca, was also previously paused after a trial participant fell ill. This participant got a rare spinal cord infection.

“In the Climate Agreement it was greed that 30 regions must make plans for sustainable energy,” Edward Stigter, the GroenLinks deputy for North Holland responsible for climate and energy, said to AD. The whole of the Netherlands must generate 35 terrawatt hours of sustainable energy. “As NorthHolland, we think we can account for approximately 7 terrawatt hours. That is quite a lot, but our province has many inhabitant who also use a lot of energy. The same applies to companies.”

Haarlemmermeer is an obvious choice for solar panel location, because the municipality is extensive and has a lot of rural area that is not protected. “We simply have a lot of space,” VVD alderman Jurgen Nobel of Haarlemmermeer said to AD. The municipality is willing to cooperate with the province, as long as it is done “in consultation with our residents and the municipal council,” Nobel said. “There must be sufficient support.”

Schiphol is also “open to the large-scale installation of solar panels”, a spokesperson said to the newspaper. “We have already provided a number of points for attention, including safety.”

The app asks questions about obstacles to work, education and housing, but also about the opportunities the corona period brings and what young people need to continue to use these opportunities after the crisis.

More than half of the young people who submitted an idea are between 19 and 25 years old. 70% have a higher vocational or university education. Young people with an MBO background are less present in the app. That is why secondary vocational education schools and teachers are invited to participate and make themselves heard.

The young people can work out their ideas together from Friday. They will receive an invitation via the app. In January, Rutte receives an advice from the JDC that includes the suggestions of the young people. Think Tank-Y and the youth platform of the Social Economic Council work together in the JDC.

“We just cannot see how many people are actively using the app,” explains Ivo Jansch. He was one of the people brought in by the Ministry of Health to build CoronaMelder.

In the settings of the phone, people must also give permission to share data with CoronaMelder. For example, people can install the app, but not grant permission or (temporarily) withdraw it, so that CoronaMelder is not active. “But if people deactivate something, we can’t see it,” says Brenno de Winter, who was also involved in the development of the corona app.

Since the nationwide introduction of the app – last Saturday – the ministry has seen an “idiotic increase” in the amount of traffic with the servers, says De Winter. However, these figures cannot be used to find out exactly how many active users CoronaMelder has.

“That’s because we separate the IP address (a unique number that is associated with the phone, ed.) from the rest of the information. We are blinded by privacy,” says Jansch, referring to the choice to use the app as little as possible. possibly to collect data.

Privacy was an important condition for the ministry to introduce the app. Because the use of CoronaMelder must be voluntary, any traceability to a person could put this principle under pressure. The team behind CoronaMelder wants to use questionnaires to find out how many people actually use the app.

In 2018, the supermarkets concluded the National Prevention Agreement with the government. The aim was to improve the health of all Dutch people. It was agreed that supermarkets would encourage their customers to eat more according to the Schijf van Vijf.

Various things were researched, such as the shop design, offers in the brochures and the offer at the checkouts. “82% of the offer in the brochures is for unhealthy food,” says spokesman Caroline Martens on behalf of the health funds in the NOS Radio 1 Journaal. “Seven of the eight supermarkets have unhealthy impulse purchases at the checkouts. All supermarkets are doing something right, but improvements are possible in all supermarkets.”

They therefore do not want to speak of a winner. Ekoplaza still lives up to its promise that it wants to stimulate the sale of healthy food, but the researchers prefer to speak of a “forerunner” than a winner. Others that are among the forerunners are Lidl, Dirk and Coop. In the ranking, Jumbo is the only one listed as “average”. In the category “laggers” are Plus, Aldi and last but not least Albert Heijn.

The health organizations want to know from State Secretary Blokhuis how he will keep supermarkets to the agreements in the National Prevention Agreement. Blokhuis says he shares the concerns. “More needs to be done to make healthy choice in supermarkets easier.” He wants all parties who have signed the agreement to stick to the agreements.

In order to get a “clear picture” of what he can do extra against obesity, he asked RIVM which additional agreements can be made, in addition to the agreements in the prevention agreement.

The Central Food Trade Office (CBL), the sector organization for supermarkets, says that the study ignores the progress made over the past fifteen years. “They opt for the half-full glass with a layer of vinegar on top,” says CBL director Marc Jansen.

In November Blokhuis will meet with supermarkets and health foundations. He then wants to discuss the outcome of the investigation with them and hear how the parties will honor their agreements.