Newsletter October 29

The Belgian Embassy kindly informed that ANA has added a few direct flights Tokyo-Brussels for the year-end period (now 8 in total). For more details please refer to the attachment.

The Japan External Trade Organization’s website offers foreign investors a wide array of information including:

Save-the-date! The European Delegation to Japan is organizing the EU-Japan Economic Partnership (EPA) Progress Seminar, which will be held through a series of online webinars from 24 until 26 November 2020. More details will follow soon.

In that regard, if you have any feedback to share regarding the use of the EPA, issues you are facing, please let us know.

On Tuesday 24 November 16:00-17:30 you can attend the “Aichi Industrial Location Seminar 2020 in Tokyo”. Participation is free but you need to register in advance. More details on the website (Japanese only).

We also want to inform you of some cultural news:

-Tomorrow evening you can attend a concert of Belgian pianist David Campignon in Kyoto. More details on the website.

-On Friday 6 and Saturday 7 November the first Expat Expo Tokyo 2020 will be held at Tokyo World Gate. It’s an expo for international residents in Japan with the latest information from exhibitors who are offering goods and services in English. Entry is free but you need to register. More details on the website and facebook page.

-The International Opera Academy (IOA) in Ghent offers a specialised two-year fulltime programme to singers and pianists from all over the world, to prepare them for future professional careers as opera singers or repetiteurs. To limit travel costs for Japanese, they now offer the possibility to audition with a video recording. More information on the website and in the attachment. More information about the video auditions here.

Finally, here are a few news headlines of the past days:

-Japan upgrades view on regional economies for 2nd quarter in row (Japan Today, Oct. 29)

-Biggest bullet train operator posts huge loss (NHK World-Japan, Oct. 28)

-East Japan Railway posts half-year $2.5 bil. Loss (NHK World-Japan, Oct. 28)

-JAL sees FY 2020 net loss over 200 bil. yen, 1st loss since relisting (Kyodo News, Oct. 28)

-ANA expects record net loss of 510 bil. yen in FY 2020 amid pandemic (Kyodo News, Oct. 27)

-Virus halves migration to OECD states in Jan.-June, record-high fall (Kyodo News, Oct. 24)

-Hawaii to exempt Japanese travelers from quarantine starting Nov. 6 (Kyodo News, Oct. 28)

-India to allow entry of foreign visitors, except tourists (Kyodo News, Oct. 23)

-2-hour virus test to be available at Narita airport near Tokyo (Kyodo News, Oct. 22)

-Japan Airlines offers discounted coronavirus tests to travelers (Kyodo News, Oct. 23)

-Japan gov’t OKs bill to offer free coronavirus vaccines (Kyodo News, Oct. 27)

-Japan mulls extending travel subsidy campaign past January (Kyodo News, Oct. 28)

Take good care!

The BLCCJ office