Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he will fully consider the possible impact on individual rights if a state of emergency is declared over the coronavirus outbreak.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange's key index closed below 20,000 points on Monday amid fears the coronavirus outbreak will deal a severe blow to the global economy.
Japan's government says North Korea launched what appear to be ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan on Monday morning.
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/upld/medias/en/radio/news/20200309200000_english_1.mp3
Key words : Abe possible impact
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200309_31/
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he will fully consider the possible impact on individual rights if a state of emergency is declared over the coronavirus outbreak.
Abe was speaking on Monday at an Upper House committee that is discussing a bill that would allow the prime minister to declare a state of emergency.
A ruling party lawmaker called on Abe to be careful about restricting private rights after making such a declaration.
Abe responded that experts say Japan is now at a critical juncture in terms of whether the outbreak will spread further or come to an end.
He said the bill is designed to keep the impact on people's lives to a minimum while preparing for a worst-case scenario.
He said he acknowledges that a state of emergency could restrict individual rights and he will fully consider what effects this would have when making decisions.
The prime minister said the number of infections in Japan, excluding cases from a virus-hit cruise ship, is considerably lower than in France or Germany, and not just countries where infections have surged, such as China, South Korea, Italy and Iran.
Abe said the government will try to prevent negative views of Japan from spreading abroad.
He said he will ask experts to help distribute information about Japan's situation.
Key words : data compiled
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200309_21/
Data compiled by local governments show that the number of coronavirus infections in Japan has increased to 483 as of 11:30 a.m. on Monday, after three more cases were reported earlier in the day.
In addition to this figure, 696 people from the Diamond Princess cruise ship have been infected, and 14 cases have been confirmed among people who returned from Hubei Province in China on chartered flights.
Fourteen people have died. Seven of them were infected in Japan and the remaining seven were from the cruise ship.
By prefecture, Hokkaido has the most cases at 101, followed by Aichi with 80, and Tokyo with 64. Osaka has 55 cases and Kanagawa has 41.
Among people who have been confirmed infected are health ministry and quarantine officials.
The health ministry said that as of last Friday, 61 patients were in serious condition and either on respirators or being treated in intensive care units. Thirty-one of them came from the Diamond Princess cruise ship.
A total of 311 people have recovered and left hospitals on or before Friday.
Key words : Tokyo Stock below 20,000 fear
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200309_37/
The Tokyo Stock Exchange's key index closed below 20,000 points on Monday amid fears the coronavirus outbreak will deal a severe blow to the global economy.
The Nikkei 225 lost 1,050 points from Friday to finish at 19,698.
This is the first time the index has closed below 20,000 since January 2019. It was the biggest one-day drop since December 2018.
The TOPIX index of all First Section issues fell 82 points to 1,388.
The yen's biggest advance against the dollar in more than three years fueled the sell-off.
Key words : Japanese yen
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200309_27/
The Japanese yen has surged more than 3 percent against the US dollar on the Tokyo foreign exchange market, the highest level against the greenback since November of 2016.
Market watchers say investors rushed to sell dollars and buy yen on concerns that the spread of the coronavirus may seriously impact the global economy including the United States.
Key words : businesses in Japan
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200309_23/
Businesses in Japan are planning to forge ahead with March shareholder meetings despite coronavirus worries. But firms will be taking extra precautions to ensure the safety of participants.
The government says companies can postpone the events as long as they're held within a reasonable timeframe.
Executives, however, say it's hard to tell how the outbreak will unfold. They're also worried that changing the schedule would affect shareholders' rights to receive dividends.
So some companies are holding the meetings with extra measures. Food maker Kagome will check the temperature of participants and decline entry to anyone with a reading of 37.5 degrees Celsius or more.
Major restaurant chain operator Skylark Holdings plans to livestream its meeting. The company is asking elderly people and those with pre-existing health conditions to cast their votes online.
Cosmetics maker Shiseido will place seats at its event farther apart than usual. It will also cancel a display section that introduces its products.
Key words : flight from south
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200309_25/
A flight from South Korea has arrived in Japan hours after the country tightened its border controls to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Starting on Monday, Japan's government is asking people arriving from China and South Korea, including Japanese nationals, to self-isolate at home or other private accommodation for two weeks.
Officials are also asking these travelers to avoid using public transportation.
Airlines can only use two airports in Japan for flights from China and South Korea.
The flight from the South Korean city of Incheon arrived at Narita Airport, near Tokyo, on Monday morning.
Quarantine officials say the plane was only carrying eight passengers.
The travelers had to complete a questionnaire about their stay in China or South Korea and where they will stay in Japan. They were also asked to check their temperature every day and to immediately contact a consultation center if they develop symptoms such as fever or coughing.
One of the eight passengers, a French national, booked a hotel after arriving at Narita, as requested by the quarantine authorities.
Key words : foreign resident
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200309_48/
Authorities in some prefectures where people are confirmed to be infected with the new coronavirus are providing multilingual information services for foreigners visiting or living in Japan.
Okinawa Prefecture has set up a round-the-clock hotline serviced by medical professionals who provide information on medical institutions that can handle foreign languages. The service is available in English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Vietnamese and Thai. The phone number is 0570-050-235.
In Kumamoto Prefecture, the Kumamoto Support Center for Foreign Residents is offering telephone consultations in 18 languages: English, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Nepalese, Indonesian, Tagalog, Thai, Portuguese, Spanish, Malay, French, Russian, German, Italian, Burmese, Khmer, and Mongolian.
The service is available on weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. The phone number is 080-4275-4489.
The Miyazaki Support Center for Foreign Residents in Miyazaki Prefecture has services in 18 languages. They are English, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Malay, Tagalog, Nepalese, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Myanmar, Mongolian and Khmer.
Calls are accepted from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. from Tuesdays to Saturdays.
The phone number is 0985-41-5901.
Oita Prefecture provides service around the clock in 18 languages.
When you call a public health center in the prefecture, you can get consultation with an assistance of an interpreter from a call center in the private sector.
The service is available in English, Chinese, Portuguese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian, Nepalese, Korean, Spanish, Khmer, Myanmar, Malay, French, Russian, German, Italian and Mongolian.
Fukuoka Prefecture has a hotline, which is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
The Multilingual Medical Information Service Call Center provides the service in 17 languages: English, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Nepali, Tagalog, Indonesian, Portuguese, German, Russian, French, Spanish, Italian, Malay, Burmese, and Khmer.
The phone number is 092-286-9595.
A hotline is also available for foreigners visiting Yamaguchi Prefecture and those in the Kyushu region. The service is provided 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
The service is available in 17 languages: English, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Nepali, Tagalog, Indonesian, Portuguese, German, Russian, French, Spanish, Italian, Malay, Burmese, and Khmer.
The phone number is 092-687-6639.
In Yamaguchi Prefecture, Consultation Center for Foreign Nationals offers services in four languages.
Service in English and Vietnamese is available from 10 am to 4 pm on Wednesday and Friday. Consultation in Chinese and Tagalog is offered from 10 am to 4 pm on Tuesday and Thursday.
The phone number is 083-995-2100.
In Hiroshima Prefecture, the Hiroshima International Center is accepting consultations in ten languages. They are English, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Tagalog, Portuguese, Indonesian, Thai, Spanish and Nepalese.
Calls are accepted from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays.
The phone number is 0120-783-806.
Osaka Prefecture is offering telephone services in 10 languages including English, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Thai, Indonesian and Nepalese. The Osaka Foundation of International Exchange is providing a hotline on weekdays and on the second and fourth Sundays. The phone number is 06-6941-2297.
The Osaka International House Foundation is also offering telephone services in English, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Tagalog. The phone number is 06-6773-6533.
And the Osaka Convention & Tourism Bureau has a hotline exclusively in Chinese. The phone numbers are 080-1460-7627 and 080-1463-3489.
In Hyogo Prefecture, the Hyogo International Association Information and Advisory Service offers consultation services from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays.
The services are available in four languages: English, Chinese, Spanish and Portuguese.
The phone number is 078-382-2052.
Kyoto Prefecture is offering the telephone support services in English, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Portuguese and Spanish. The service is provided by the Kyoto Prefectural International Center every day, except for the second and fourth Tuesdays and holidays. The phone number is 075-343-9666.
In Shiga Prefecture, Shiga Foreign Residents Information Center accepts inquiries in 12 languages from 10 am to 5 pm on weekdays.
The service is available in English, Chinese, Portuguese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian, Nepalese, Korean, Spanish, Russian and Hindi.
The phone number is 077-523-5646.
Wakayama Prefecture is providing information in English, Chinese and Tagalog through the Wakayama International Exchange Center. Tagalog is available from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. English and Chinese are available from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day except Wednesday. The phone number is 073-435-5240.
Aichi Prefecture is offering support through its Multilingual Call Center. The call center can be accessed using a smartphone, by first visiting the prefecture's official tourism site Aichi Now, where there is a link to the call center page. A call can be made by pressing the button on the page.
The service is available in 9 languages: English, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish for 24 hours.
Thai service is available from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.. Calls in Vietnamese, Tagalog, and French can be made from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m..
Mie Prefecture is offering telephone information in 10 languages: English, Portuguese, Spanish, Tagalog, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Nepalese, Indonesian and Thai.
The service is provided by the Mie Consultation Center for Foreign Residents on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The phone number is 080-3300-8077.
In Gifu Prefecture, the Gifu Prefectural Consultation Center for Foreign Residents accepts inquiries in 14 languages from 9: 30 a.m. to 4: 30 p.m. on weekdays.
The service is available in English, Chinese, Portuguese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian, Nepalese, Korean, Spanish, Khmer, Myanmar, Malay and Mongolian. The phone number is 058-263-8066.
In Ishikawa Prefecture, the Ishikawa Foundation for International Exchange is offering phone consultations in five languages: English, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese and Russian.
The service is available on weekdays, from 9:15 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. The phone number is 076-222-5950.
In Nagano Prefecture, the Nagano Multilingual Call Center is offering telephone consultations free of charge around the clock every day of the year.
The service is available in 17 languages: English, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Indonesian, German, French, Italian, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Nepalese, Tagalog, Malay, Burmese, and Khmer.
The phone number is 0120-691-792.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is offering a hotline for speakers of English, Chinese, Korean, Spanish and Thai and can refer people to relevant public health centers as necessary. The service is provided by the Tokyo Metropolitan Health and Medical Information Center "Himawari" from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day including weekends and holidays. The phone number is 03-5285-8181.
In Saitama Prefecture, the Saitama Information & Support is offering telephone support services in 10 languages: English, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, Tagalog, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian and Nepalese.
The service is available on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The phone number is 048-833-3296.
In Gunma Prefecture, the One-Stop Consultation Center for Foreign Residents of Gunma is accepting inquiries in 5 languages from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The service is available in English and Vietnamese from Mondays to Fridays, in Portuguese from Mondays to Wednesdays, and in Chinese and Spanish on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
The services in English and Portuguese will be available from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends until the end of March.
The phone number is 027-289-8275.
The Yamanashi Foreign Consultation Centre in Yamanashi Prefecture accepts calls in ten languages.
Consultations can be made in English, Chinese, Portuguese, Korean, Spanish, Indonesian, Nepalese, Vietnamese, Thai and Tagalog from 9 am to 4 pm from Tuesdays to Saturdays.
The phone number is 055-222-3390.
Hokkaido Prefecture is also providing an information hotline in English, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Thai, Russian, Nepalese, Indonesian and Burmese. The service is provided by the Hokkaido Foreign Resident Support Center. The phone number is 011-200-9595. The service is available on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Key words : north ruling
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200309_33/
North Korea's ruling party newspaper says the country has quarantined nearly 10,000 people who may have the new coronavirus.
The Rodong Sinmun reported on Monday that about 9,930 people, including more than 380 foreigners, have been placed under quarantine.
The paper said that the quarantine is intended for those who entered the country from abroad and the people who came into contact with them.
It also said that around 3,870 people, including 221 foreigners, have been already released from quarantine.
It is believed that many of the foreigners are diplomats stationed in Pyongyang and their family members.
The official newspaper reiterated that the infectious disease has not entered the country yet.
The report also said some residents are complaining about an order from the authorities to wear facemasks. It called the move unacceptable, and stressed that people should unconditionally follow the order without fail.
Key words : China authorities below 100
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200309_34/
In China, authorities say there were 40 new confirmed infections on Sunday, adding that daily totals since Friday have been below 100.
Most of the new cases have been from Hubei province where local officials continue to face criticism from residents who accuse them of not doing enough.
Last week a video of Vice Premier Sun Chunlan's visit to an apartment in Wuhan went viral on Weibo. In it, local residents began yelling at Sun that the goods that were recently delivered to the apartment were fake and that the whole visit was staged.
The video has since been removed from social media.
Meanwhile Chinese state-run media says the government is committed to the global fight against the virus including a 20 million dollar donation to the WHO.
The media outlet says the money will "help developing countries with vulnerable public health systems."
Key words : government says launched presume
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200309_20/
Japan's government says North Korea launched what appear to be ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan on Monday morning. It says they are presumed to have fallen outside Japan's exclusive economic zone.
Government officials say the North fired the multiple projectiles from its east coast between 7:34 a.m. and 7:35 a.m.
They say the projectiles flew to the northeast for about 100 kilometers to 200 kilometers and fell in the Sea of Japan around 7:36 a.m. to 7:39 a.m.
The officials say no damage to aircraft or vessels has been reported.
The government plans to hold a meeting of the National Security Council to discuss responses while the task force at the prime minister's office gathers information.
The officials say the latest launch threatens the peace and security of Japan and the region and that Pyongyang's series of missile launches pose a serious challenge to the entire international community.
They say they will make all-out efforts in cooperation with the United States and other relevant countries to gather and analyze information and monitor the situation.
Key words : cabinet office GDP
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200309_19/
Japan's Cabinet Office says the country's GDP for the October-to-December period in 2019 has been revised downward to an annualized contraction of 7.1 percent in real terms. The preliminary figure announced in February was a contraction of 6.3 percent.
The period coincided with the consumption tax hike. The revision puts the number close to the minus 7.4 figure that followed the previous tax increase in 2014.
Lower capital expenditure was the main factor behind the revision. It was changed from minus 3.7 to minus 4.6 percent.
Personal consumption, which accounts for more than half of GDP, was minus 2.8 percent as the tax hike weighed on consumer spending.
Analysts believe that GDP for the January-to-March period will also shrink due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Key words : Abe implement
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200309_40/
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says the government will implement a number of economic and fiscal policies to prop up the nation's economy.
He said they include the steady implementation of comprehensive stimulus measures worth 26 trillion yen, or about 250 billion dollars.
Abe spoke at an Upper House budget committee on Monday, after Japan's gross domestic product in the previous fourth quarter was revised downward to an annualized minus 7.1 percent.
He said the change came after the Cabinet Office revised capital investment downward for the same period.
He attributed the quarter-to-quarter contraction to a consumption tax increase in October, and also the impact of typhoons and a warmer winter.
Abe said the number of foreign tourists is falling due to the coronavirus outbreak. He also said there are increasing concerns about whether manufacturers can maintain production lines.
He said the government will implement economic and fiscal policies to respond to the outbreak, while closely watching the global economy.
Key words : Tokushima
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200309_05/
Rose farmers in Tokushima Prefecture, western Japan, have been hit hard by falling demand and lower flower prices amid the spread of the new coronavirus.
Demand for roses has declined following the cancellation and postponement of celebratory events.
A rose garden in the town of Kaiyo grows about 80 species of roses, and ships about 2.3 million flowers annually.
President Kazuhito Okamatsu says this time of year people are busy with school graduations and wedding ceremonies, as well as farewell and welcome parties.
He said flowers are usually in high demand and roses can be shipped for as much as two dollars apiece.
Okamatsu adds that demand for roses has been falling this year and prices have dropped to about one-third the average.
He also said shipments are only at about 70 percent and some products are unprofitable.
Okamatsu expressed concern that if the situation continues like this until next month's school entrance ceremony season, or Mother's Day in May, it will severely hurt his business.
Key words : local politician
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200309_36/
A local politician in Japan has apologized for selling thousands of face masks via online auctions at a time when they are in short supply due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Hiroyuki Morota, a member of the Shizuoka prefectural assembly, offered the apology at a news conference on Monday.
Morota said he put boxes of 2,000 masks up for auction some 89 times from February 4 to March 6, and made a total of 8.9 million yen, or about 87,000 dollars.
He said the masks came from the inventory of a trading firm he runs. He also said he did not make an improper profit from the sale of masks, which he imported from China several years ago.
But he said he lacked consideration as a politician to put them up for auction during the coronavirus outbreak.
He said he intends to continue his career as an assembly member.
Morota told reporters that his wife will take over for him as the head of the trading firm. He said he will donate the money earned from the auction.
Morota used the Yahoo! JAPAN auction site. The firm says it will ban mask auctions starting on Saturday.
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