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the Keidanren, the very powerful and normally influential Federation of Japanese Businesses, sounded the alarm on Monday, September 6. The Japanese economy is weakening faster than it seems due to the isolation of the archipelago. Keidanren presented that day a series of proposals aimed at normalizing the country’s economic activity.
An urgent request while the vaccination campaign in the country shows encouraging results. On Monday, 59% of the Japanese population had received their first dose of vaccine and 48% were already fully vaccinated. For the record, on July 1, there were just 12% of Japanese fully vaccinated!
« Over 80% of the population will be fully immunized within the next two months. If the rate of severe cases is drastically reduced, the focus should be on necessary balance between measures against the spread of the virus and socio-economic activities“, Said Masakazu Tokura, chairman of Keidanren and also of Sumitomo Chemicals at a press conference.
A Japan open to everyone, even the unvaccinated?
One of the group’s proposals is toexempt fully vaccinated travelers from the mandatory 14-day quarantine on entry into Japan.
If this proposal is adopted, it could increase travel to and from Japan. And thus, help stimulate economic activity. The Federation would indeed like the government to review its general restrictions in response to the pandemic, including therefore the almost total ban on entry for foreign nationals.
The Keidanren even asks to make a gesture towards unvaccinated travelers by reducing their mandatory quarantine from 14 to 10 days maximum. To facilitate testing, Masakazu Tokura also asked Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to allow the sale of antigens in pharmacies. The Prime Minister is said to have been open to the idea. Just like that of generalizing the use of a health passport to access places where the public meets. This vaccine passport already exists but only for international travel.
Keidanren has already received support from the government committee of health experts in charge of pandemic surveillance. They too want the government to ease its restrictions. Especially for trips from one prefecture to another.
Strict COVID controls effectively weigh on the Japanese tourism. The latter had undergone a brilliant development over the past decade, rising from 15 million to nearly 32 million tourists in 2019. Last year, the number of visitors to Japan fell by 87 %, To 4,11 millions.
The start of the reduction in restrictive measures has just taken place. The government is therefore considering allowing restaurants to sell alcohol again. This is the “step by step” policy advocated by the Prime Minister. All hope is not lost …
FRAMES
Japanese companies double their kerosene surcharge on Europe
It will be the bad surprise of the beginning of autumn. The two international companies All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines are increasing the fuel surcharge on flights. And the bill will be salty …
While air traffic between Japan and the rest of the world remains anemic in the face of a Japan obstinate to keep its borders closed, the two Japanese giants of international aviation, All Nippon Airways (ANA) et Japan Airlines (JAL) have just made a decision that will hardly please travelers.
From October 1, the fuel surcharge per trip will increase. It thus doubles on flights departing from Europefrom 47 US $ (JAL) or 48 US $ (ANA) to 95 dollars. This time, this overload is in unison between the two companies. On flights to India, Indonesia or Hawaii, the passenger will now pay 54 US $ instead of 28, on Southeast Asia 41 US $ or 28 US $ -depending on the country- instead of respectively US $ 20 or US $ 14.
On Popular China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, the amount of the surcharge triples from US $ 7 to US $ 21 while on South Korea, it goes from US $ 2 to US $ 4 on JAL and from US $ 3 at US $ 5 on ANA.
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