When will Japan open to tourists?

Over the past few months, Japan has been slowly easing its COVID-19 related border restrictions. In March, after almost two years, it started allowing in students, academics and business people. Then in April, parents and immediate relatives of foreign residents were allowed to enter the country. But the borders are still closed to tourists, a broad category of people that includes everyone from leisure travelers to the unmarried partners of residents of Japan. This week on Deep Dive, Kanako Takahara, The Japan Times' head of domestic news, join me to discuss when Japan might reopen to international tourism, and what that reopening might look like.

immediate ｲミ-ﾃﾞｨｴｯﾄ adj)直接の関連がある

broad ﾌﾞｩロｰﾄﾞ adj)幅の広い

This growing popularity leads to Japan's first major winter sports event, which is the 1972 Sapporo Winter Olympics, which was also the first Winter Olympics to be held in Asia, right? So not just a significant milestone for Japan, but also for the continent.

hold 開催する⇒be held 開催された

milestone マｲﾙｽﾄｰﾝ n)マイル標石⇒重要な時点、画期的な出来事

continent コﾝﾃｨﾈﾝﾄ n)大陸

not only/just/merely but also

Not just is daily exercises good for your body, (but) also for mental. 

Not only is English useful for traveling but also for

He is not only popular but also smart.

He is not only a comedian but also a singer.

The singer not only sings but also entertains a lot of people.

The singer loves not only to sing but also to dance.

The singer is famous not only in Japan but also in the U.S.

Not only the singer but also you like apples. その歌手だけでなく貴方もリンゴが好きだ。

Not only does he likes apples but he also loves pineapples. ⇒倒置文

彼はリンゴが好きだけでなくパイナップルも大好きだ。

merely ミｱﾘｰ adv)ただ...にすぎない、単に...するだけ（onlyより改まっている）

Feb 2, 2022

This Friday, the 2022 Winter Olympics kick off in Beijing, the second Olympics to be held during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the first ever to be held on entirely artificial snow.

With omicron surging around the world, Japan Times sports reporter Dan Orlowitz tells us about the stringent measures put in place to allow these Games to take place, and how Japan is responding to the U.S. call for a diplomatic boycott of these Olympics. Later in the show, Dr. Madeleine Orr joins us to talk about how climate change is threatening the Winter Olympics, and why Beijing is so uniquely reliant on artificial snow.

first ever  初めての、史上初めての

first-ever co-hosted event  史上初の共催イベント

entirely ｲﾝタｲｱﾘｰ adv)まったく、完全に、すっかり

artificial

surge

stringent

put in place

respond

call for

diplomatic

boycott

later

threaten

uniquely

reliant

Well, Japan isn't committed to the full diplomatic boycott. They're hedging their bets because I think they want to maintain civil relations with China, if not friendly.

So they will be sending Japan Olympic Committee President Yasuhiro Yamashita, they will be sending Seiko Hashimoto, who was the president of the organizing committee for Tokyo 2020. They will be sending Kazuyuki Mori, who's president of the Japan Paralympic Committee. They are officials, they are from the government, ostensibly, but Kishida is not going to fly over, you're not going to have any cabinet representatives in Beijing. And that lets China save face, it lets Japan save face, and it lets Japan be able to take the position that it is sort of standing in solidarity with the United States and its other allies who are doing this full boycott.

commit ｺミｯﾄｩ v)取り組む

committee　ｺミﾃｨ n)委員会

boycott ボｫｲｺｯﾄ n)ボイコット　v)ボイコットする

diplomatic ﾃﾞｨﾌﾟﾛマﾃｲｯｸ adj)外交上の

hedge one's bets 複数のものに賭ける、両面作戦をとる

hedge ヘｪｯｼﾞ v)策をとる、保険をかける、両掛けする

bet ベﾂﾄｩ n)賭け　v)賭ける

maintain　ﾒｲﾝテｲﾝ v)維持する

ostensibly ｵｽテﾝｼﾌﾞﾘｰadv)表面上は

solidarity　ｿﾘダﾘﾃｨ　n)結束、連帯、団結