Re: [tlug] From an enthusiast TLUG follower

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <turnbull.stephen.fw@example.com>]

Raymond Wan writes:

 > I was flipping through the on-line Japan Times recently and 
 > there was some editorial about how awful Japan is for not 
 > letting foreigners in.

Not just "foreigners".  Permanent residents with spouse and kids
already in Japan.  Many countries allow permanent residents to
reenter.  Japan's being pigheaded about it, given that it's
subsidizing vacations for superspreaders as long as they don't start
or end in Tokyo.  Fracking politicians.

 > (I think the restriction is gradually being loosened?)

Not yet for real people.  As far as I can tell, there's an exception
for top management of big corporations.

At the moment I have students stranded in Bahrain and Shanghai, and
multiple students scheduled to arrive in October (mostly in China, one
Chinese student studying English in Australia), and all three Japanese
embassies are saying "we know nothing except what's in the newpaper by
now, check back later".  (That was last week.)

 > But I think every country has (1) citizens / foreign residents
 > stuck overseas unable to return

I think this is untrue for citizens; right of return is pretty much
the definition of citizen.  Most citizens who want to, have returned
by now, including to Japan.  I guess that there are probably quite a
few citizens who could return themselves but have non-citizen family
and prefer to remain with their families -- I wouldn't call that
"unable" (some have made the choice to return to work so they can
support their families) but YMMV.