Forced quarantine at Japan s border: a returnee s experience coming home (Pt. 2)
April 14, 2021 (Mainichi Japan)
An area set up inside Narita International Airport where arriving passengers wait to get their coronavirus test results is seen in Narita, Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, on March 14, 2021. (Mainichi/Yuta Hiratsuka) While critics have called Japan s border control measures to prevent more coronavirus cases from entering the country too lax, some people who have gone through the process have said that relentless monitoring during their self-isolation period made the experience feel like forced quarantine. In this three-part series, a Mainichi Shimbun reporter describes his experience of returning to Japan with his family from Switzerland, where virus variants have been spreading.
Editorial: Low-altitude flights by US military in Japan are dangerous, breed distrust
April 5, 2021 (Mainichi Japan) Low-altitude flights by U.S. military helicopters over central Tokyo are becoming a common sight. A Mainichi Shimbun investigation conducted from an observation deck in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building and other locations over the course of half a year recorded U.S. helicopters flying at low altitudes of under 300 meters over 20 times. Such low-altitude flights are dangerous and could lead to a disaster, and they cannot be overlooked. The U.S. military should clarify the state of such flights and their purpose. Japan s Civil Aeronautics Act requires aircraft to maintain an altitude of at least 300 meters above the highest building in densely populated areas, or 150 meters in areas that are not densely populated.
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Editorial: 10 years after Japan s 3.11 disasters, flaws in restoration policies apparent The Mainichi
Japan is preparing to mark 10 years since the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami disaster. The number of fatalities from the disaster, including related deaths, has topped 22,000. Housing and infrastructure development and other such concrete measures have practically been completed, but restoration of the affected areas is only halfway along the road to recovery.
In the decade since the disasters, the government has injected 32 trillion yen (roughly $294.11 billion) into restoration. But in many towns, the population declines that posed an issue for them even before the disasters continue to accelerate. More than just a few residents have little actual sense of recovery.
Seniors at especially high risk as COVID-19 deaths surge in Osaka: Mainichi analysis
January 13, 2021 (Mainichi Japan)
Osaka Gov. speaks at a meeting of Osaka Prefecture s coronavirus countermeasures headquarters committee in the city of Osaka s Chuo Ward, on Jan. 12, 2021. (Mainichi/Ryuichi Mochizuki) OSAKA A Mainichi Shimbun analysis of spiking COVID-19 deaths in Osaka Prefecture has revealed extremely high mortality risks to people aged 60-plus in the western Japan prefecture. The Mainichi examined data related to the deaths, alongside the prefecture s own analysis and other information sources. Osaka Prefecture s total COVID-19 deaths reached 690 on Jan. 12, near parity with metropolitan Tokyo s 691, though the Japanese capital s population is about 1.6 times larger. Monthly fatalities also jumped from 78 in November to 259 in December roughly 1.9 times the 138 recorded for Tokyo.