Tag Archives: Japan

Japanese QAnon Nutbags Raid Children’s Vax Clinic

Vice News reports: A leader of a Japanese QAnon group that believes COVID-19 was made up has been arrested for allegedly trespassing into a clinic offering vaccinations for children in Tokyo. Hiroyuki Kuraoka, a 43-year-old anti-vax activist and former actor, was detained on Wednesday after he entered the facility earlier this month and protested the COVID-19 vaccinations it provided. Kuraoka …

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Japan Bans Foreign Visitors Due To Omicron Variant

Kyodo News reports: Japan on Tuesday banned new entries by foreigners globally for at least one month in an attempt to stave off the new Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the measure, reversing a three-week relaxation of travel restrictions, is needed to “avoid the worst-case scenario.” Additionally, 14 countries and regions, including Britain and …

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Team USA Wins Medals Race As Tokyo Olympics Close

The Washington Post reports: The Tokyo Olympics concluded Sunday, with the last medals awarded and the stage ceded to the Closing Ceremonies. After the coronavirus pandemic forced a year-long delay, and created an unprecedented environment of empty venues and ever-present restrictions, the Games were held in their entirety without many significant disruptions once they finally got underway. Team USA finished …

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Belarusian Olympian Asks For Protection After Being Taken To Airport Against Her Will, Plans To Seek Asylum

Reuters reports: A Belarusian sprinter said she was taken to the airport against her wishes on Sunday to board a flight back home after she complained about national coaches at the Tokyo Olympics. Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, who was due to compete in the women’s 200 metres on Monday, told Reuters she did not plan to return to her home country. She …

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Basketball Robot Sinks Half-Court Shot At Olympics

Market Watch reports: Nothing but net for Skynet! A 6′10″ basketball-playing robot sank a series of deep three-point shots and a half-court shot during halftime of the Men’s Preliminary Round Group B game between the U.S. and France on Sunday. And the mechanical man invited plenty of comparisons to the murderous, self-aware computer system from the ”Terminator” movies that nearly …

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Team Doctor: About 100 US Olympians Are Un-Vaxxed

NBC News reports: Five out of six U.S. athletes competing in the Tokyo Olympics have been vaccinated against Covid-19, the team’s top doctor revealed Friday just before the Games officially begin. That information was culled from the health histories that 567 of the athletes filled out before they departed for Japan, said Dr. Jonathan Finnoff, who estimated that 83 percent …

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Head Olympics Organizer Won’t Rule Out Cancellation

Reuters reports: The head of the organizing committee for the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday did not rule out a last-minute cancellation of the global sporting showpiece, amid rising coronavirus cases that have presented organizers with mounting challenges. Asked at a news conference if the Games, which are due to open on Friday, might still be canceled, Toshiro Muto said he …

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US Olympics Gymnast Tests Positive For COVID

CBS News reports: With just four days to go until the opening ceremony, the COVID-19 pandemic is casting an ever longer shadow over the Tokyo Summer Olympics. Officials have reported at least 12 new coronavirus cases connected with the Games since Sunday, including a U.S. gymnast and the first cases among athletes inside the Olympic village. Several of the latest …

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Former Trump State Dept Spox Turned Fox Host Claims Japan Is “Committing A Genocide” Against The Uyghurs

“I like to call them the ‘genocide Olympics.’ Anyway, I’m still on the team that I’m not even sure that we should be competing because there’s an ongoing genocide in Xinjiang. So if we are going to compete and have America athletes there in a country that’s committing a genocide, even more important, Harris, to have the freedom of the …

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Japan Declares COVID Emergency, Olympics Bans Fans

The Wall Street Journal reports: The Tokyo Olympics will be held without spectators, the organizers said, after Japan declared a new state of emergency that will continue through the end of the Games due to a rise in Covid-19 infections. Hundreds of athletes and officials from around the world have already arrived for the Olympics, which open on July 23. …

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Japan To Allow Up To 10K Spectators At Olympics

Reuters reports: Up to 10,000 domestic spectators will be allowed in Tokyo 2020 venues, Olympics organisers said on Monday, a decision that cuts against the recommendation of medical experts who said holding the event without fans was the least risky option. The announcement ends months of speculation and highlights Japan’s determination to push on with the Games and salvage the …

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Japan Extends COVID Emergency As Olympics Loom

The Associated Press reports: Japan extended a coronavirus state of emergency in Tokyo and other areas for 20 more days on Friday, with infections still not slowing as it prepares to host the Olympics in just over 50 days. Cases remain high and medical systems in Osaka, the hardest-hit area in western Japan, are still overburdened, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga …

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US To Participate In Olympics Despite Travel Warning

The Washington Post reports: The Japanese government is pushing ahead with the Tokyo 2020 Games this summer even as the State Department issued an advisory warning Americans against visiting the Northeast Asian country, which is struggling with a spike in coronavirus infections. The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee said that it intended to participate in the Games, which begin July …

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US Issues Highest-Level Travel Warning On Japan

CNN reports: The Tokyo Olympics, postponed in 2020 during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, are facing increasing hurdles in putting on a 2021 show. The latest troubling sign for the Summer Games came Monday when the State Department advised US citizens against traveling to Japan because of a sharp increase in Covid-19 cases. The “Level 4: Do Not …

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Japan Won’t Honor Olympic Charter On LGBT Rights

The Guardian reports: Japan’s ruling party has been accused of violating the Olympic charter after it failed to approve a bill to protect the rights of the LGBT community, during discussions marred by homophobic outbursts from conservative MPs. Closed meetings held this month to discuss a bill, proposed by opposition parties, stating that discrimination against LGBT people “must not be …

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Nearly 60% Of Japanese Want Olympics Canceled

ABC News reports: Preparations for the Tokyo Olympics have suffered another setback after a poll found that nearly 60% of people in Japan want them to be cancelled, less than three months before the Games are due to open. The Olympics, which were delayed by a year due to the pandemic, are set to open on 23 July. Japan has …

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Official: Tokyo Olympics May Be Canceled Over COVID

Reuters reports: The Olympic Games scheduled to be held in Tokyo this summer may have to be canceled depending on the coronavirus situation, a senior member of Japan’s ruling party said Thursday. The remarks were the first public admission by the ruling party that cancellation or postponement were under serious consideration, though the challenges of holding the Games have become …

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Japan Joins China And EU On Vaccine Passports

Nikkei Asia reports: Japan will issue digital health certificates to citizens who have been inoculated against coronavirus, joining China, the European Union and other countries that have embraced vaccine passports aimed at opening up overseas travel, Nikkei has learned. The certificate can be managed on a mobile app and will be in line with international standards, allowing the carrier to …

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Foreign Spectators Banned From Tokyo Olympics

ESPN reports: Spectators from abroad will be barred from the Tokyo Olympics when they open in four months, the IOC and local organizers said Saturday. The decision was announced after an online meeting of the International Olympic Committee, the Japanese government, the Tokyo government, the International Paralympic Committee, and local organizers. The move was expected and rumored for several months. …

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Japanese Court Rules Against Same-Sex Marriage Ban

The Associated Press reports: A Japanese court ruled Wednesday the government’s ban on same-sex marriages is unconstitutional, recognizing the rights of same-sex couples for the first time in the only Group of Seven country that doesn’t acknowledge their legal partnership. Even though the court dismissed the plaintiffs’ demand for government compensation, the precedent is a major victory for same-sex people …

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