l It seems the sixth wave is receding throughout Japan, and the number of patients in serious conditions or death is now very limited.
l Besides doubling the capacity of accepting foreign business visitors’ entry from 10,000 a day to 20,000 effective on June 1, the government, today, opened the border to foreign tourists. Entry permission is, however, granted only for those who belong to a package tour at this moment. The health and epidemic authority here intend to trace and monitor new infections out of foreign visitors through travel agent. Also, the government requests travel agencies who organize such package tours from abroad that they make sure their clients (visitors) follow the Japanese rules to prevent from the infection such as wearing a mask in public transportation, avoiding large group parties and contracting relevant health insurance etc.
<As of 8 pm of June 9>
The cumulative number of infected and dead in Japan are 9,011,270 and 30,860 respectively. The number of new cases and death in the nation for the day was 16,814 and 23. 81.8% of the population have finished the first dose of the vaccine, while 80.7% have done for the 2nd and 60.1% for the 3rd.
2. Kishida Continues To Receive High Approval Ratings
According to Yomiuri’s monthly survey that was conducted on June 3 through 5, 64% of the respondents approved the Kishida Cabinet, which is a 1 point increase from May, while 26% disapproved it, which is a 3 points increase from the previous month.
Other major findings are as follows:
Do you approve Kishida Administration’s response to the Chinese and Russian aggressive attitude in the region?
Yes 74% No 18% No answer 8%
Do you approve the government’s response to the novel corona virus infections up to now?
Yes 64% No 30% No answer 6%
Relating to PM Kishida’s willingness to significantly increase defense spending that was expressed when he met with U.S. President Biden last month, what do you think of “increase” of Japan’s defense spending?
Should increase to a level of 2% of GDP or more (19%)
increase to somewhere between 1% and 2% of GDP (34%)
No increase and stay intact (35%) Rather decrease to some extent (6%)
No answer (6%)
What do you think of the government decision to open the border for foreign tourists?
Approve 63% Not approve 31% No answer 6%
To which political party would you cast your vote for the Proportional Representation System under the next Upper House election scheduled in July?
LDP 45% Japan Restoration Party 9% CDPJ 7%
New Komei 4% Communist 4%
From May 20 to 25, Yomiuri and the Korea Daily jointly conducted a survey to the individual nationals about the Japan-Korea relationship. Among others, 31% of Japanese who responded this survey said the relationship will get better as opposed to 14% who answered so last year.
Likewise, 53% of Korean expect a better relationship with Japan, which is way higher than 29% of last year. Newly elected Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol is explicitly stating that his administration will proactively work on the relationship to be recovered from what the two peoples tend to describe a worst ever since the end of the World War 2. This seems to be driving the optimism of the relationship, and in fact, so many young people of the two nations are creating long lines every day at the mutual embassies or consulates to apply for a visa to visit each other now.
3. Implementation Plan Of Kishida’s “New Capitalism” Concept Announced
On June 7, the Kishida Cabinet decided on an implementation plan of PM Kishida’s campaign banner, namely a transition to “New Capitalism” based society. The plan was accompanied by a fiscal policy implementation plan.
Some of the important items of those plans are as follows:
- Investment to people
l Provide skill and capacity buildup support to around one million workers and job seekers.
l Come up with a concrete plan to double the asset that individual households own by providing incentives of stock purchases etc.
(2) Science and technology: A national strategy shall be set for the field of quantum and AI.
(3) Ventures:
l A five-year plan to nurture ventures shall be set within this year.
l Create a large campus inviting domestic and foreign universities so that a cluster of ventures can be formed
4. The Rocks Hayabusa 2 Brought Back Found Containing Amino Acid
It was revealed this week that the rocks that Hayabusa 2, an asteroid probe brought back in 2020 contain 15 kinds of amino acid. Hayabusa 2 that Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launched to explore an asteroid named “Ryugu” was able to land the small planet and pick 5.4g of rocks, and came home in December 2020. Since then, a Japan-U.S. joint research team has been analyzing the composition of the rocks, and it found that the rocks contain various kinds of amino acid. It is the very first case in the world that the existence of amino acid is found from an extraterrestrial specimen. Since amino acid constitutes some essential part of life such as protein, the discovery this time might support the view that the genesis of life on the earth came from extraterrestrial substance, Yomiuri reported.
5. Dr. Donald Keene’s Centennial Birthday
Late Dr. Donald Keene was born on June 18, 1922. This month, various organizations in Japan hold a special event featuring Dr. Keene’s history and works of literature as well as his contribution to Japanese culture by commemorating his centennial birthday.
Please take a look at some of those events below:
Kanagawa Modern Literature Museum https://www.kanabun.or.jp/event/
Donald Keene Center Kashiwazaki https://www.donaldkeenecenter.jp/
Donald Keene Memoria Foundation https://www.donaldkeene.org/
Have a wonderful weekend!
Nobuo Yoneyama
Nisshin Global Corporation
2-1-15 Hiroo, Shibuyaku, Tokyo 150-0012, Japan
Tel: 81-3-6450-6632, Fax: 81-3-6427-7729
Email: Yoneyama@nisshin-global.com