Weekly Update: News on Japan & the Netherlands – Week 38, 2020

Suga’s election as prime minister at an extraordinary Diet session on Wednesday is almost certain as the governing party controls the House of Representatives, the more powerful lower chamber, and holds a majority in the House of Councillors with its coalition partner Komeito. The LDP election became a mere formality for endorsing the party factions’ decisions to back Suga.

Suga is almost certain to succeed Abe Shinzo as prime minister following a vote in the Diet on Wednesday. If so, his Cabinet would also be announced later that day. On Tuesday NHK reported he will launch a new LDP leadership, filling key posts with veteran lawmakers from the five LDP factions that backed his campaign.

Suga retained party heavyweight Nikai Toshihiro in the key LDP post of the Secretary-General. Veteran politician Moriyama Hiroshi stays as Diet Affairs Committee Chairperson. These influential figures were Suga’s most powerful supporters in the leadership campaign.

He also appointed former Communication Minister Sato Tsutomu as General Council Chairperson, the top role of the party’s highest decision making body. Former Education Minister Shimomura Hakubun remains in the party management as Policy Research Council Chairperson. And Yamaguchi Taimei is named Election Strategy Committee Chairperson.

Suga’s term as LDP president is limited to the remainder of Abe’s current three-year term through September 2021 and a lower house election must be held before 21 October.

At least 7.81 million people are estimated to have stayed at hotels between 27 July and 3 September under the subsidy program, according to the Japan Tourism Agency. Under the Go To travel campaign, the government covers part of the cost of domestic tourist trips. The inclusion of Tokyo, which has a population of nearly 14 million, may significantly boost consumption and help revive the tourism industry hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

“We need to remain vigilant for a possible resurgence,” Koike said at a press conference. Masataka Inokuchi, vice president of the Tokyo Medical Association, warned at a panel meeting on Thursday that the alert level “could return to its highest” if there are cluster infections.

The metropolitan government initially called for establishments serving alcohol and karaoke venues to shorten their business hours between 3 and 31 August. After Koike asked residents to avoid traveling or returning to hometowns during the summer holiday season, the number of infections began decreasing from mid-August.

While the request for Tokyo cities and towns outside the 23 wards was removed as scheduled, it was extended to next Tuesday in the central areas.

AstraZeneca said in a statement on Saturday that it had resumed the trials in Britain after an independent committee concluded it’s safe to conduct the trials. The firm agreed with the Japanese government last month to provide doses for at least 60 million people. It aims to make those for 15 million people available by next March.

Centenarians marked the largest annual increase with the number of men rising 1,011 from last year to 9,475 and women up 8,165 to 70,975, the tally showed. The ministry estimated the figures based on resident registry data before the Respect for the Aged Day holiday, which falls next Monday.

When the survey started in 1963, the number of centenarians stood at 153, but it eclipsed 1,000 in 1981 and surpassed 10,000 in 1998, mainly due to advances in medical technology. Japan’s average life expectancy was 87.45 for women and 81.41 for men in 2019, both record highs, according to health ministry data released in July this year.

Kane Tanaka, a 117-year-old resident of Fukuoka, southwestern Japan, is the oldest Japanese woman. She has been recognized as the oldest living person in the world by Guinness World Records. Mikizo Ueda, a 110-year-old resident of Nara, western Japan, is the oldest Japanese man.

By prefecture, Shimane in western Japan has the highest number of centenarians per 100,000 people for the eighth straight year at 127.60, followed by Kochi and Tottori at 119.77 and 109.89, respectively.

The system that was developed by a Dutch company can also suggest methods of treatment based on data collected outside Japan. The hospitals are able to focus on treating patients, as they will need fewer staff members for monitoring.

The head of Showa University Hospital’s ICU division, Kotani Toru, says the outbreak has worsened the already serious shortage of doctors working in intensive care units, but the system can ease their burdens.

A hospital in Yokohama, near Tokyo, plans to start using a remote monitoring system developed by a Japanese maker next month.

“The number of admitted Covid patients continues to rise, following the rising number of infections for the past ten days,” said Ernst Kuipers, the head of the Dutch acute care providers network. “Three-fourths of the patients admitted are in Randstad hospitals,” he said.

Jaap van Dissel of the RIVM suggested this week that new social restrictions should be placed on the larger Dutch cities because of the rising number of infections. Earlier in the week, Health Minister Hugo de Jonge said this was likely in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, and that a national lockdown was possible if the numbers continue to rise.

The Hungarian capital Budapest and the Danish capital Copenhagen are now also on orange. In France, a number of regions, including Paris, were already on that color; the Loire and two areas in the Pyrenees have now been added .

Travel advice has also been tightened for the Czech capital Prague. Travelers returning from the orange areas are expected to go into home quarantine for ten days.

Part of the healthcare staff is also given priority. This concerns employees who, among other things, cannot be replaced by a colleague and who are also essential for patient and client care and the continuity of care.

This includes laboratory employees, self-employed workers, temporary workers and employees who are paid from a personal budget (PGB). The priority rule does not apply to persons who provide unpaid and informal care.

The GGDs will look at how the priority system is set up next week. Among other things, research is being conducted into whether fast lanes can be created in regional hospitals for healthcare workers.

For a long time, the cabinet did not want to make a distinction between testing professional groups with corona-related complaints, but in response to concerns in the House of Representatives about staff shortages, it nevertheless discussed the options with the GGD.

“During the lockdown, public transport continued to operate as a vital sector at the request of the central government”, he says. “We kept the Netherlands mobile with almost empty trains, buses, trams, metros and ferries.” But the number of travelers plummeted: during the lockdown, the number of travelers was 90% lower than usual.

The measures were relaxed a few months ago, but the number of travelers remains  around 50%. This is partly due to the call from the government to work from home as much as possible.

The sector is expected to suffer a loss of 500 million euros this year. The public transport sector received a financial injection from the government, but this scheme will expire at the end of 2020.

The focus of the campaign is on inspiring travelers to travel by train, tram, bus or metro more often for business, social and recreational purposes. At the same time, the sector wants to inform them about the applicable measures in public transport. Peters: “With the cooperation of the travelers and, among other things, the educational institutions, such as wearing the face mask and traveling as much as possible outside of rush hours, we managed to travel responsibly with public transport.”

According to Peters, many people and companies are not yet aware that public transport is also accessible for non-essential journeys. “We would like people to experience again how pleasant and responsible it is to travel by public transport.”

The night train seems to be gaining popularity again in the past year, after a period when night connections disappeared from the scene. From December it is possible to travel from Amsterdam to Vienna at night.

At the arrival of the politicians this year, not only special hats are looked at, but also special face masks. Politicians who travel in specially arranged buses will receive a mask with a special design for Prinsjesdag. A total of five hundred copies were made and they are already considered a collector’s item. Experts expect some MPs to bring their own special face mask.

The traditional balcony scene after the Speech from the Throne has also been canceled. Normally, tens of thousands of fans come to Noordeinde Palace early in the morning to get a glimpse of the royal family, but this year the municipality of The Hague wants to have as little audience as possible in the city. All outdoor activities have therefore been considerably reduced.

The Netherlands must prepare for a severe economic setback, King Willem-Alexander said in his speech. According to the king, the Dutch government is choosing not to cut spending during the corona crisis, but to invest in “job retention, good facilities and a cleaner country”. King Willem-Alexander did call the economic figures “unprecedented in peacetime”. “A historic turnaround from a surplus in the state budget to a deficit of 7% in one year.”

The speech from the throne also mentioned the emergency packages made available by the cabinet. According to the king, these extra expenditures should be used to absorb the consequences of the corona crisis in the short term. The king did emphasize the importance of “training and education”, so that people who have lost their jobs can find work in other sectors.

King Willem-Alexander concluded his speech from the throne by emphasizing the importance of continuing to look to the future “beyond this crisis”.

The Swedish furniture giant does say that the government has an important role to play “in the form of clear legislation, just like the age limit for tobacco and alcohol”. “In the coming period we will be talking to other retailers and politicians to find a solution together.”

The Action chain store decided to stop selling knives to children this summer. The company did this after local police officers from the Zaanstreek had caught several young people on the street in a short time with knives from the shop. Last week, local police said they definitely saw a decrease in possession of weapons among young people since the store implemented the measure. Mayor Jan Hamming of Zaanstad has subsequently called on other stores to do the same. IKEA, Xenos and HEMA are now responding to this.

Police said in March that the number of young people involved in knife violence has risen. “Knives are a widely used weapon. Not only young people use them. Whether the increase in minors involved is a development that is continuing cannot be said at the moment. But in any case it is worrisome and something to keep a close eye on,” said Anja Schouten, portfolio holder for youth at the police.