Japan proposes ways to handle incoming biohazards (updated 27 Sept)

Update 27 Sept 2022

One day after the original post, Health Minister Kato said the LDP’s proposed revision will allow hotels to refuse symptomatic people who decline to mask up but not asymptomatic people.

This is different from the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare’s original proposal which the Yomiuri article referenced below was probably based on. But as I explain, the mask issue was never the worst part.

Original

Japan will soon take a big step forward…

…and also a big step backward.

Amusingly, the Yomiuri Shimbun points out this revision to the law is based on Japan opening up long after other places have removed their mask rules, leading to bare faces becoming the norm again in western countries soon to be sending their tourists out east. Nothing exemplifies Covid-era Japan’s logic better: “Our peer countries have gone back to normal…so we’ve got to toughen our mask rules!”

To be exact, the proposed revision would allow hotels to refuse entry to guests who don’t follow requests to take “anti-infection measures” during pandemics without a valid excuse. It leaves it up to the government to decide what those measures are, but does anyone think they won’t include masks?

“Meh, I’ll wear a mask in a hotel lobby if I have to. No biggie.” I hear you say. But that’s not the worst part of the proposed revision. Guests will most likely also be requested to take temperature checks. So what will happen when a guest has a high temperature?

According to the flow chart below, hotels will be able to request that guests with high temperatures and other symptoms present documentation showing they aren’t suffering from Covid or any other similarly categorised infectious disease. If a guest refuses without a valid reason or if a medical institution diagnoses them as being infected, the hotel can refuse the guest entry. So guests will run the risk of being booted out onto the street for catching Covid or whatever the virus of the month is, which unlike masking ain’t something you get much choice over.

The flow of the proposed revision for people without and with symptoms

So what’ll overseas tourists do if they’re found to be infected and refused entry to their hotel? Under Japan’s infection control law, local governments can instruct them to quarantine in a hospital or other facility and fine them if they refuse.

And a proposed revision to the infection control law will keep the public extra safe from incoming biohazards. According to NHK, it will mean anyone arriving in Japan who’s “suspected” of having Covid or a similarly categorised infectious disease can be instructed to quarantine at home or elsewhere and be fined if they refuse. Yep, suspicion alone will be enough. Not the best way to start a holiday (or end one if you’re a returning Japanese national or foreign resident).

And even if you’re willing to risk being treated like a criminal for displaying cold/flu symptoms in the airport or hotel lobby, you’ll also still have to play the PCR lottery to enter Japan if you haven’t had 3 shots of a western vaccine (Chinese and Russian ones don’t count). [Update 26 Sep: Japan will move towards recognising the Chinese jabs. The Russian ones are still bad though.] I suppose you can never be too safe.

So book your tickets, foreign biohazards. And choose your destination wisely.