David McElhinney

Japan’s house­hold spend­ing fell 2.3 per­cent in March com­pared with the pre­vi­ous year.

Japan is in­creas­ing­ly an out­lier in a re­gion that is lift­ing bor­der re­stric­tions and re­viv­ing quar­an­tine-free trav­el.

Japan’s strict bor­der con­trols have locked out for­eign aca­d­e­mics and chal­lenged the coun­try’s soft pow­er push.

Tokyo’s strict bor­der con­trols to keep Omi­cron out are throw­ing trav­el plans into dis­ar­ray.