The Noto Peninsula earthquake has hammered foreign technical interns in Ishikawa Prefecture, and concerns are rising about their futures in Japan and the survival of their understaffed employers in the region.
Japan’s diplomatic approach to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic group Hamas differs from other Group of Seven nations, which have expressed sole support for Israel.
Top officials of the Nishio city government in Aichi Prefecture apologize at a news conference on May 11 for prioritizing a pharmacy company chief and his wife for COVID-19 vaccines. (Keizo Fukatsu)
NISHIO, Aichi Prefecture The city government here apologized on May 11 for attempting to let a prominent businessman and his wife jump the line for COVID-19 vaccinations.
Nishio Vice Mayor Yoshihide Kondo said at a news conference that he tried to “do a favor” for Hirokazu Sugiura, the 70-year-old founder and chairman of pharmacy giant Sugi Holdings Co., and his wife because “the city has received assistance (from the company) in many forms.”
People using Nippon Hotel Co.’s travel lodging package can spend time at this room at Hotel Metropolitan in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro district. (Provided by Nippon Hotel Co.)
Struggling hotel operators are ramping up efforts to lure in guests looking for longer stays and seeking to use the rooms as temporary residences or telework offices.
Hotels are scrambling to generate as much profit as possible as the novel coronavirus crisis keeps its usual customer base away, which has prompted a string of innovative promotional packages amid the pandemic.
The trend toward introducing longer-stay options began to take off on Feb. 1, when Imperial Hotel Tokyo, located in the capital’s Uchisaiwaicho district, unveiled a new 30-night extended-stay package for 360,000 yen ($3,280).