Japan's COVID-19 Policies and Its effectiveness
This article and paper looks into understanding the effectiveness of border closure and border restrictions put up by Government of Japan throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic until 2022 and check for it's effectiveness
Japan just like almost all the countries in this world experienced a wave COVID19 infections in 2020 which they tried to control the spread of. However, in order to stop further spread of the virus, Japan adopted to close their borders and a state of emergency inside the country.
Japan has since implemented a lot of state of emergencies and has promoted it's effectiveness.
However, it is actually the case? This article looks deeper into this method and policies and checks how effective border restrictions and they relate to other methods of stopping rise in COVID19 infections
Initial cases of COVID19 first started appearing in the year of 2019, which were then followed by a series of strict survelliance measures which were then followed by recommendations for people to quarantine for
symptoms of cold and cough.
However, the Government of Japan decided to enact a state of emergency in March 2020 followed by rising cases of COVID-19 all over the world.
This was followed by a complete border restriction in Japan.
Similar to Japan, many countries also took similar measures to minimise the level of spread of the infection.
It is important to know that lockdowns in Japan work differently compared to Other countries.
As a matter of fact, Japan does not even have the concept of Complete lockdowns where the movement of an individual is completely halted or restricted. Instead, the government suggests
its citizen refrain from Travelling. This is because the constitution of Japan does not allow completement restriction of movement of its residents.
Japan's state of emergencies are similar to lockdown however, they are merely a set of suggestions and recommendations which are expected to be followed by the residents of the country. State of emergencies were quite effective at the start of the pandemic however, they eventually lost their effectiveness as time progressed with their repetitive enactions.
Japan's border restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic stirred controversy when they were announced. Being one of the first countries to detect the virus on its mainland, Japan took the measure of blocking travelers from over 70 nations. The border closure began on April 3, 2020, as a preventive measure to avoid the spread of infections. By July 24 of the same year, Japan had banned people from 150 different nations, aiming to keep infected individuals from entering the country. However, these restrictions were criticized for not being comprehensive, as Japanese citizens faced no obstacles while foreign residents, including students and workers, were denied entry. The inconsistent execution of the restrictions allowed more infections to enter the country, undermining their effectiveness and leading to their failure.
Based on the info raised above, the paper/articile raised the following questions:
To the above raised research questions, the article proposed the following hypothesis on the basis of previous literature and theoretical framework
The evidence versus the sceientific framework is as follows:
| Non-Pharmaceutical methods against COVID-19 | Observations and Results from Scientific Research | Japan’s Response to the Pandemic | Results of those measures in Japan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lockdown | Lockdowns provide a considerable reduction in the spread of the virus, but the effect decreases over time (Goldstein et al., 2021) | Japan Declares a state of emergency in Japan (KYODO NEWS, 2021) | Japan’s COVID-19 case numbers fall. However, it had a caseload of 17000+ cases with around 800 deaths (McCurry, 2020) |
| Repeated Lockdown | Repeated and Continuous lockdowns decrease the effectiveness of Lockdowns (Goldstein et al., 2021; Joshi & Musalem, 2021) | By April 2021, Japan has declared three states of Emergencies (KYODO NEWS, 2021) | Every new COVID wave in Japan has been comparatively more significant than the previous one (Worldometers.info, 2022) |
| Border Restrictions | Border restrictions are effective at preventing the entry of virus but does not guarantee perfect permanent protection(Mallapaty, 2020) | Japan closes borders to people from more than 76 nationalities. (Mainichi Japan, 2020) | Japan closes borders to prevent large scale infection of the virus, but several new COVID-19 cases get detected from inbound passengers to Japan(KYODO NEWS, 2021) (Osumi, 2020) |
| Prolonged Border Restrictions | Prolonged border restrictions do not give better protection from the virus than countries with an open border policy. (Timur & Xie, 2021) | Japan bans entry to foreigners after the detection of the Omicron Variant of COVID-19 in November, effectively re-establishing the strict border restrictions (CNBC, 2021) | Shortly after declaring the closing of the Borders, Omicron is detected by Japan. A few weeks in, Omicron becomes the dominant strain, and Japan hits a record 90,000 new cases in a day (The Asahi Shimbun, 2022) |
Japan's implementation of lockdowns and border restrictions during the pandemic proved ineffective in the long run. Despite four states of emergency, the virus continued to spread. Closing the borders had a negative impact on Japan's public image, leading to high daily spikes in COVID-19 cases. Criticism arose from domestic and international institutions, yet Japan's government remained steadfast in its measures. Domestic support for border closures played a role in the government's decisions, despite scientific evidence against their effectiveness. Relief packages aimed at mitigating the economic impact faced challenges among Japanese citizens, foreign residents, and non-residents. Discriminatory measures banning foreign residents were heavily criticized globally and created uncertainty for prospective migrants. Future research should focus on the social impact of lockdowns and the consequences of barring prospective foreign residents. Evidence-based policies informed by scientific research are essential for managing crises effectively.
The paper’s research is based mainly on secondary research, which can have its inherent drawbacks of outdated or static data. Due to geographical constraints, however, the paper also fails to not primary data such as a survey on perceptions of Japanese people concerning border restrictions which would have supplemented in finding out more insightful reasoning behind the sentiment of border restrictions. Moreover, by nature of the topic, the paper focuses only on Japan and, for the most part, looks at the predicaments of Japan’s Pandemic efforts. As a result, it fails to address or compare Japan’s statistics and actions against other nations. Doing so could help understand Japan’s actions on a deeper comparative level.
AirHelp. (n.d.). Coronavirus Flight Cancellation: Your Air Passenger Rights. AirHelp. https://www.airhelp.com//en-int/coronavirus-and-your-air-passenger-rights/
Alfano, V., & Ercolano, S. (2020). The Efficacy of Lockdown Against COVID-19: A Cross-Country Panel Analysis. Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, 18(4), 509–517. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40258-020-00596-3
ANU. (2022, February 7). Japan’s COVID border ban alienates friends and allies. East Asia Forum. https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2022/02/07/japans-covid-border-ban-alienates-friends-and-allies/
Auswärtiges Amt. (2022, March 18). COVID-19: Entry and quarantine regulations in Germany. German Federal Foreign Office. https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/en/coronavirus/2317268
Baggett, A. (2021, April 23). Japan’s COVID-19 State of Emergency: What You Need to Know. GaijinPot Blog. https://blog.gaijinpot.com/japans-covid-19-state-of-emergency-what-you-need-to-know/
CGTN. (2021, February 11). Coronavirus Pandemic: Japan encourages companies to adopt telework and flexible working hours. https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-10-19/VHJhbnNjcmlwdDU5NjEz/index.html
CNBC. (2021, November 29). Japan bans entry of all foreign visitors as omicron variant spreads. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/29/japan-bans-entry-of-all-foreign-visitors-as-omicron-variant-spreads.html
Department of Health and Social Care & Department for Transport. (2021, June 22). Travel to England from another country during coronavirus (COVID-19). GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/travel-to-england-from-another-country-during-coronavirus-covid-19
Deutsche Welle. (2021, November 30). Omicron: Which countries have closed their borders? | DW | 30.11.2021. DW.COM. https://www.dw.com/en/omicron-which-countries-have-closed-their-borders/a-59979182
Errett, N. (n.d.). Are travel bans effective? | Interdisciplinary Center for Exposures, Diseases, Genomics and Environment [Edu]. University of Washington INTERDISCIPLINARY CENTER FOR EXPOSURES, DISEASES, GENOMICS AND ENVIRONMENT. https://deohs.washington.edu/edge/blog/are-travel-bans-effective
FT Visual & Data Journalism Team. (2022, March 18). Free to read: Lockdowns compared: tracking governments’ coronavirus responses [News]. Financial Times. https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-lockdowns
Goldstein, P., Yeyati, E. L., & Sartorio, L. (2021, March 30). Lockdown fatigue: The declining effectiveness of lockdowns. VoxEU.Org. https://voxeu.org/article/declining-effectiveness-lockdowns
Hale, T., Angris, N., Goldszmidt, R., Kira, B., Petherick, A., Phillips, T., Webste, S., Cameron-Blake, E., Hallas, L., Majumdar, S., & Helen Tatlow. (2021). A global panel database of pandemic policies (Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01079-8
Haug, N., Geyrhofer, L., Londei, A., Dervic, E., Desvars-Larrive, A., Loreto, V., Pinior, B., Thurner, S., & Klimek, P. (2020). Ranking the effectiveness of worldwide COVID-19 government interventions. Nature Human Behaviour, 4(12), 1303–1312. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-01009-0
Johnston, E. (2020, July 22). Japan’s controversial Go To Travel campaign kicks off as criticism and concerns grow | The Japan Times [News]. The Japan Times. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/07/22/national/japan-go-to-travel-campaign-criticism-coronavirus/
Joshi, Y. V., & Musalem, A. (2021). Lockdowns lose one third of their impact on mobility in a month. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 22658. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-02133-1
Kashyap, S., Gombar, S., Yadlowsky, S., Callahan, A., Fries, J., Pinsky, B. A., & Shah, N. H. (2020). Measure what matters: Counts of hospitalised patients are a better metric for health system capacity planning for a re-opening. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA, 27(7), 1026–1131. https://doi.org/10.1093/jamia/ocaa076
Kelland, K. (2020, June 8). Lockdowns saved many lives and easing them is risky, say scientists. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-lockdowns-idUSKBN23F1G3
Kuniya, T. (2020). Evaluation of the effect of the State of emergency for the first wave of COVID-19 in Japan. Infectious Disease Modelling, 5, 580–587. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.idm.2020.08.004
KYODO NEWS. (2021, April 23). Chronology of major events related to coronavirus and Japan. Kyodo News+. https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2021/04/29b154a681ba-chronology-of-major-events-related-to-coronavirus-and-japan.html
KYODO NEWS. (2022, January 11). Japan further extends entry ban until end of Feb. Kyodo News+. https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2022/01/974eab354bf9-japan-set-to-maintain-entry-ban-at-least-until-end-of-feb.html
Mainichi Japan. (2020, April 1). Japan to expand entry ban to 73 countries, regions amid virus spread—The Mainichi. https://web.archive.org/web/20200404082806/https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20200401/p2g/00m/0na/103000c
Mainichi Japan. (2021, December 15). Japan’s 100,000-yen handout for kids labeled “unfair” due to income criteria. Mainichi Daily News. https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20211215/p2a/00m/0bu/009000c
Mallapaty, S. (2020). What the data say about border closures and COVID spread. Nature, 589(7841), 185–185. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-03605-6
MARYLAND SMITH RESEARCH. (2021, December 20). Do COVID Lockdowns Really Work? | Maryland Smith. https://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/research/do-covid-lockdowns-really-work
Mateus, A. L., Otete, H. E., Beck, C. R., Dolan, G. P., & Nguyen-Van-Tam, J. S. (2014). Effectiveness of travel restrictions in the rapid containment of human influenza: A systematic review. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 92(12), 868-880D. https://doi.org/10.2471/BLT.14.135590
McCurry, J. (2020, May 25). Japan lifts State of emergency after fall in coronavirus cases. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/25/japan-lifts-state-of-emergency-after-fall-in-coronavirus-cases
McCurry, J. (2022, January 22). ‘I cried all day’: The anguish of people locked out of Japan by Covid. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/22/i-cried-all-day-the-anguish-of-people-locked-out-of-japan-by-covid
Merriam-Webster. (2022). Definition of LOCKDOWN. Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lockdown
Nikkei. (2022, February 16). Waiting list to enter Japan grows to 400,000 amid COVID curbs—Nikkei Asia [News]. Nikkei Asia. https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Japan-immigration/Waiting-list-to-enter-Japan-grows-to-400-000-amid-COVID-curbs
OSUMI, M. (2020, August 27). Japan’s entry policies increase alienation and deepen division | The Japan Times [News]. The Japan Times. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/08/27/national/social-issues/japan-entry-policies-coronavirus/
Osumi, M. (2020, December 30). Tokyo’s pandemic border policy highlights insecure status of foreign residents. The Japan Times. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/12/30/national/japan-pandemic-foreign-residents/
Repeta, L. (2020, April 14). The coronavirus and Japan’s Constitution. The Japan Times. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2020/04/14/commentary/japan-commentary/coronavirus-japans-constitution/
Sugiura, E., & Slodkowski, A. (2022, January 27). Japan’s tight border rules threaten foreign investment, business groups say. Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/content/6a007e4a-2398-4ff2-8b79-ed7190a0e504
Swift, R., & Lies, E. (2021, November 29). Japan reverses border easing, bars foreign visitors due to Omicron | Reuters [News]. REUTERS. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-pm-kishida-says-foreign-visitors-be-barred-entry-nov-30-2021-11-29/
Takenaka, K., & Lies, E. (2020, January 31). Japan to enforce special virus measures from Sat, urges citizens against non-urgent China trips. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-japan-idINKBN1ZU01H
The Asahi Shimbun. (2022, February 4). New COVID-19 cases top 90,000 in Japan for 2 days in a row | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis [News]. The Asahi Shimbun. https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14539531
The Japan Times. (2021, November 18). Japan to spend record ¥55.7 trillion for economic stimulus. The Japan Times. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/11/18/business/japan-stimulus-spending/
The Japan Times. (2022, February 4). Japan’s medical system on brink amid COVID-19 surge | The Japan Times. The Japan Times. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/02/04/national/japans-medical-system-brink-amid-covid-19-surge/
Timur, L., & Xie, Y. (2021). Is border closure effective in containing COVID-19? Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease, 44, 102137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmaid.2021.102137
UN News. (2021, January 15). Air travel down 60 per cent, as airline industry losses top $370 billion: ICAO. UN News. https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/01/1082302
Wadhwa, M. (2020). In the Age of COVID-19 – Indian restaurants and the Indian cooks in Japan. The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, 18(18), 1–10.
Watanabe, T., & Yabu, T. (2021). Japan’s voluntary lockdown. PLOS ONE, 16(6), e0252468. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0252468
WHO. (2020, June 29). Listings of WHO’s response to COVID-19. https://www.who.int/news/item/29-06-2020-covidtimeline
WHO. (2022, January 19). Statement on the tenth meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee regarding the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. https://www.who.int/news/item/19-01-2022-statement-on-the-tenth-meeting-of-the-international-health-regulations-(2005)-emergency-committee-regarding-the-coronavirus-disease-(covid-19)-pandemic
Worldometers.info. (2022, March 31). Japan COVID - Coronavirus Statistics—Worldometer. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/japan/#graph-deaths-daily
YAMAGUCHI, M. (2022, February 17). Japan eases border controls amid criticism as exclusionist. ABC News. https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/japan-ease-border-controls-amid-criticism-exclusionist-82949262
Yamaguchi, M. (2022, March 1). Japan Relaxes COVID-19 Border Controls, But Only Slightly [News]. The Diplomat. https://thediplomat.com/2022/03/japan-relaxes-covid-19-border-controls-but-only-slightly/
読売新聞. (2021, December 6). オミクロン株の水際対策「評価」８９％、スピード感に肯定的受け止め…読売世論調査: 世論調査 : 選挙・世論調査. 読売新聞オンライン. https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/election/yoron-chosa/20211206-OYT1T50000/