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Some 150,000 foreign students who hold Japan visas were unable to enter the country by the end of last year due to its strict COVID-19 border controls, the top government spokesman said Tuesday.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno also disclosed at a regular press conference that the number of people newly entering Japan from Nov. 29 to Feb. 10 totaled about 6,000.
As the government steps up efforts to stem the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus, the current border controls, introduced in late November, bars new entries by foreign nationals, with few exceptions, until the end of this month.
The restrictions, the strictest among the Group of Seven industrialized nations, have been criticized as being too tough by business and academic circles at home and abroad.
Matsuno said the government knows that there are “various requests” regarding the measures, and it is considering presenting a plan to ease them “as soon as possible.”
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Japan to let in foreign workers and students starting this month
Nikkei – Feb 12
Japan will ease a near-ban on foreign arrivals this month, gradually allowing in more business travelers and students, Nikkei has learned, as frustration mounts with stringent curbs that have kept people out of the country for as much as two years.
Student charged with leaking entrance exam questions using Skype
Japan Times – Feb 11
Tokyo police filed charges against a 19-year-old female student and a system engineer in his 20s on Thursday over the leaking of questions from this year’s unified university entrance examinations — allegedly while the tests were taking place.
The story of the first Black samurai in Japan
CBC – Feb 09
Massey Lecturer Esi Edugyan shares the story of Yasuke, a man of African descent who appears in the historical record solely between 1579 and 1582, and trains as a samurai in feudal Japan.
The Matsushimaya Acting House EXPLAINED
Kabuki In-Depth – Feb 04
The Matsushimaya is a notable yagō or house of actors of the Kamigata region, which has trained some of the most remarkable actors of the XX century, such as Kataoka Nizaemon XI (1857 – 1934), Kataoka Nizaemon XII (1882 – 1946), Kataoka Nizaemon XIII (1903 – 1994) and Kataoka Nizaemon XV (1944 – present).
Japan to open border for 400 more students
NHK – Feb 02
The Japanese government is exempting hundreds of foreign students from an entry ban imposed in late November. More than 100,000 others remain locked out of the country.
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