Japan’s closed borders

Business Daily

BBC

News, Business

4.4 • 796 Ratings

🗓️ 17 February 2022

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Two years on from the start of the pandemic and most visitors are still banned from Japan. We take a look at why the world’s third largest economy has one of the strictest border controls in the world. How is it affecting people? And how is it affecting the economy? Tamasin Ford goes on a virtual tour of Tokyo’s foodie hotspots with Yukari Sakamoto, writer, chef and the author of a book called Food Sake Tokyo. Yukari explains how a lack of tourists has impacted her business, and how travel bans have stopped her from seeing family and friends. We also hear from a student stuck in the UK, and from Seijiro Takeshita. Professor of Management and Information at the University of Shizuoka Japan about the concerns from some big business over continued isolation.

(Image: Women cross a street at night, in Tokyo on November 3, 2021. Credit: Charly Triballeaue / AFP/ Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Tamison Ford. Welcome to Business Daily from the BBC. What's it like to live in a country
0:08.1	almost completely cut off from the world? Personally, it's been hard. I haven't seen many family and friends
0:14.8	because my son is too young to be vaccinated. So it's been a little bit lonely. And we're waiting for things to go back to the before
0:23.5	times. But to be honest, I don't think that will be happening soon. Two years on from the pandemic
0:29.4	and Japan still has one of the strictest border controls on the planet. In today's Business Daily
0:35.6	from the BBC, we take a look at the impact of Japan's
0:38.9	tough border restrictions on its people and its economy. It does give a very negative, you know,
0:46.3	I say reputational damage to Japan. And let's not forget, you know, Japan lives on trade.
0:54.1	Business Daily from the BBC.
1:02.0	So my name is Yucari Sakamoto.
1:05.6	I am the author of a book called Food Sake, Tokyo.
1:09.8	And my main job is market tours to the markets in Tokyo.
1:14.9	And my side job is food and travel writing.
1:18.3	And then I also do some cooking classes.
1:23.8	Unfortunately, I can't go to Japan to experience one of Yukari's tours of all the great food places in Tokyo,
1:31.6	so I asked her for a virtual one instead.
1:38.5	So 97, 98% of my market tours is with inbound tourists, or I should say was with inbound
1:51.2	tourists. People who love food, people on their honeymoon, wanting to just understand Japanese
1:57.4	food at a deeper level.
2:03.4	So the most popular tour starts off at Skiji Market,
2:08.4	which is the world's largest seafood market.
2:16.6	So we would see seasonal seafood, seasonal fruit, vegetables, but also the pantry staples.
	...

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