Japan may restrict entry of foreigners if new type of flu breaks out

Thursday 10th April, 07:13 AM JST

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leitmotiv at 12:05 PM JST - 10th April

Other countries have similar emergency plans - as a last resort. But Japan could do a lot better by simply getting itself up to date with the rest of the industrialized world regarding its vaccine policies - thus making the need for such plans much less likely. Japan is stuck in the 80s regarding vaccines and still refuses to import any - making the population vulerable and the increasing the chances of activation of drastic, disruptive plans (such as this one). I am curious if this same government discussion included any mention vaccine policy revision.
realist at 12:06 PM JST - 10th April

J-government view of gaijin: Potential criminals/terrorists and now also the harbingers of disease, who must be controlled and kept out of "holy" Japan as much as possible. Japanese ethnocentrism and racism is the real disease here. Welcome to Japan.
nandakandamanda at 12:47 PM JST - 10th April

The government's own worst-case scenario has been advertised here in the Japanese press as a Japanese businessman returning from Country X carrying the latent virus. He continues to commute to work as he gets sicker and sicker, and ends up being the original trigger for the deaths of 640,000 people.
European1 at 01:19 PM JST - 10th April

lessons on putting your hands over your mouth when coughing, not spitting every 5 yards and refraining from urinating in the street like dogs would go a long way > Japanese people I work with know my rules. When they do as above, it is only my one look and they know "Ups, I have to cover my mouth". I told them stright away how terrible it looks when they open widely their mouth and I can easy thorw something there.
japanyesterday at 02:18 PM JST - 10th April

how with they ethically go about doing this?? i would love to see their methods. i'm guessing.. are you from ?, sorry you're not allowed in japan.
williamsmith at 05:11 PM JST - 10th April

Finally! I am so tired of getting the flu, so I am happy to hear that they will keep the sick foreigners out. Flu is not a Japanese virus, it comes from foreigners.
blue_monday at 05:13 PM JST - 10th April

In the Daily Yom "The government will prohibit Japanese who have developed symptoms of a new type of influenza during an outbreak in other countries from returning to Japan"
nigelboy at 05:24 PM JST - 10th April

In the Daily Yom "The government will prohibit Japanese who have developed symptoms of a new type of influenza during an outbreak in other countries from returning to Japan"

Oh crap blue monday. Why did you have to ruin the party???
Nessie at 07:22 PM JST - 10th April

It looks suspiciously like remilitarization through the back door.
Starviking at 08:17 PM JST - 10th April

Pretty useless measure for Japan anyway - unless they restrict all persons entering the country to quarantine areas for a few weeks. Japan has a virtually non-existent coroner/public health examiner system - if something gets into (or starts in) Japan then Japan is in a lot of trouble. Better to fix that up instead - oh, but then JGov would have to listen to the coroners, that wouldn't do - after all, JGov is top dog - we all must listen to them.
umbrella at 10:32 PM JST - 10th April

In the event of super flu, all foreigners should be rounded up and shot. We japanese don't carry diseases, just the barbarians.
Desiderata1967 at 11:10 PM JST - 10th April

Another laughable decision by Japanese idiotic 'officials'! They seem to have forgotten that Golden Week is just around the corner, with millions of people flying abroad for a few days break, then returning, how the heck can they dare blame this on foreigners?! Idiots.
ka_chan at 02:24 AM JST - 11th April

So what is the gov going to do about birds? Set up anti-aircraft along the coast and shoot those "foreign" birds down? In this modern world by the time it is decided that a "country" has a problem, it's too late! I still think it was pandemc of 1918 that caused the Japanese to use masks when they are sick. A custom that guickly disappearing so it must be time for another.
archiebald at 10:20 AM JST - 11th April

Britain has a similar plan in the case of a flu pandemic.
Hughgarse at 04:47 PM JST - 11th April

backdoor racisim sounds more like it!