Japan To Allow Visa-Free Travel After 2 1/2 Years of Mostly Closed Borders

Japan will allow visa-free, independent tourism and abolish a daily arrival cap as of Oct. 11, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Thursday, marking a major policy shift after nearly 2 1/2 years of strict COVID-19 restrictions. The government will also launch a nationwide travel discount program, which had been shelved due to the spread of COVID-19 infections. The Japan Times reports: Kishida made the long-awaited announcement during his visit to New York for the U.N. General Assembly. “I hope many people will utilize it,” Kishida said at a news conference. “I want to support the travel, entertainment and other industries that have been struggling during the coronavirus pandemic.” Japan has been allowing tourists since June, starting with people on guided tours. On Sept. 7, the government allowed those on nonguided tours who had booked their flights and hotels through registered travel agencies. But those measures have been unpopular with many foreign tourists who want greater freedom during their trips.

Tourists will need to be vaccinated three times or submit a negative COVID-19 test result ahead of their trip, Kyodo News reported, citing government sources. A nationwide domestic travel program offering discounts for travel, entry to theme parks, and for sporting events and concerts is also set to start on Oct. 11. People who have been vaccinated three times or submit a negative test result will be eligible for the discounts, according to the report. The program offers financial assistance of up to $77 per person for a one-night stay. The moves will be welcomed by the nation’s tourism sector, which has been hit hard by the pandemic. “In 2019, a record 31.88 million foreign travelers visited Japan, but the figure plummeted to about 250,000 in 2021 due to the closed borders,” notes the report. “The daily arrival cap has been raised gradually over the past six months, first to 5,000 on March 1 and eventually to the current 50,000.”

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Japan To Foster Startups By Sending 1,000 People To Silicon Valley

Industry minister Koichi Hagiuda said in the United States Wednesday that Japan plans to encourage startup businesses by sending 1,000 people to Silicon Valley over five years to provide them with valuable entrepreneurial experience in the California tech hub. Japan Today reports: The government aims to draw up a five-year plan by year-end to target a 10-fold increase in the number of startup companies as part of its push to drive economic growth through innovation and the cultivation of human talent. Hagiuda told reporters after his visit to the headquarters of technology giant Google LLC that he was very impressed by the mentality there in which there is no fear of failure, and that it is something Japan can learn. “Struck out swinging is considered (an experience) that can lead (people) to the next stage, here in America,” Hagiuda said.

The plan envisions sending 200 people from Japan to Silicon Valley annually starting in the new fiscal year that starts in April. It will expand a similar yet smaller program under which around 20 people have been sent there annually over the past seven years.Devoting more resources to startups is one of four pillars in the strategy Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has set out in pursuit of a new form of capitalism that focuses on growth through investment.

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Japan’s KDDI Mobile Service Criticized After 86-Hour Failure Last Weekend

Earlier this week, long-time Slashdot reader ThinkPad760 wrote:

How is this not news everywhere?

KDDI, Japan’s 2nd largest mobile phone provider and carrier to multiple critical government agencies — including the weather service — failed for 86 hours. After failing to inform users and the government about the problems, questions are starting to be asked.
Japan’s government “will set up an expert panel to compile measures to prevent a recurrence,” reports Japan Today, citing Japan’s Internal Affairs and Communications Minister.
The network failure occurred when a router for voice calls was replaced during regular maintenance, with repair work triggering a concentration of traffic that led the company to reduce user access. During that time, the carrier experienced a cascade of technical problems that further prolonged the connection difficultie

40 million users were affected by the outage, Reuters reports — adding that it’s not the first time for something like this:
Japan’s three big telcos have all had widespread network failures in recent years. NTT Docomo’s [29-hour] outage last October affected 12.9 customers, while disruption to SoftBank Corp’s network in late 2018 cast a shadow over its bumper public listing.

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Yahoo Tells Japan Employees They Can Work Anywhere, Commute By Plane When Necessary

Yahoo Japan is telling its 8,000 employees they can work anywhere in the country — and even be flown into work when the job requires it — bucking the trend of companies looking to return workers to offices in the third year of the coronavirus pandemic. The Japan Times reports: The program takes effect April 1 and allows employees to commute by plane, which wasn’t previously an option, the company said in a statement Wednesday. While Yahoo is best known for its internet portal in Japan, it’s a unit of SoftBank Group’s Z Holdings, which also owns the Line messaging app and PayPay mobile payments service. Ninety percent of the company’s employees are now working remotely, according to President Kentaro Kawabe, who tweeted that an overwhelming majority of them said their performance has held steady or improved at home. “So we’re allowing Yahoo employees to live anywhere in Japan. This doesn’t mean we’re denying the benefits of the office — you’ll be able to fly in when needed,” he added.

Yahoo is setting a commuting budget of $1,300 per month per worker and lifting its previous daily cap. In-person communication will still be encouraged as the initiative is also aimed at bolstering morale and well-being, with social gatherings to be subsidized by [$44] per employee a month. The company has had an “office anywhere” remote work system in place since 2014, however it had capped the number of work-from-home days before the virus took hold to five days a month.

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