Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
The Indian couple killed in a wrong-way police chase crash on Highway 401 earlier this week has been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
The rickshaw men in Tokyo are adding English-speaking staff, a sure sign Japan is bracing for a return of tourists from abroad.
Japan's border controls to curb the spread of coronavirus infections began gradually loosening earlier this month.
That's great news for Yusuke Otomo, owner of Daikichi, a kimono rental shop in Asakusa, an old district of Tokyo famous for its temples, quaint restaurants and rickshaw rides. He can barely contain his excitement.
"Those were a hard three years. But we managed to endure until today. And after such an experience, to think people from abroad can finally come back is simply thrilling," Otomo told The Associated Press.
"I'm thinking that maybe, just as before COVID, my shop, the city of Asakusa and everyone's hearts can flourish again. I can't wait."
Before the pandemic, Asakusa was so brimming with foreigners they sometimes outnumbered the Japanese. After the coronavirus struck, the streets were deserted.
"Not a soul in sight," he said sadly.
Some kimono rental stores folded. Restaurants were shuttered.
The crowds are finally back with a gradual relaxing of the city's COVID-19 restrictions, which called for restaurants to close early and people to social distance and limit attendance at events. But most of the visitors are Japanese.
Shuso Imada, general manager at JSS Information Center, a sake and shochu showroom in downtown Tokyo, said he has been feeling pretty lonely and is itching to tell foreign visitors about how to match the traditional Japanese rice wine with all kinds of non-Japanese food, even cheese and beef.
"In a way, we didn't have much to do and we just had to wait. The gates have now reopened," he said.
But like others waiting for tourists, he acknowledged that the limited entry for tour groups now in effect may not allow time for a relaxing visit to his centre.
Visitors have to abide by guidelines requiring travellers to have a special co-ordinator, stay on specific routes and abide by rules like wearing masks and regularly using disinfectant.
Before COVID, tourism was booming as a mainstay of Japan's economy, the world's third largest. Foreign visitors numbered a record 32 million in 2019 and the target for 2020 was 40 million. After COVID struck, the government gradually imposed very restrictive limits on foreign arrivals, for a time excluding many foreign residents.
As of June 10, it is allowing foreign tourists to visit, but in limited numbers and only on group tours, not as individual travellers.
Visas are required for nearly everyone, even those from countries that normally would have visa-free entry. And they're available only to travellers from 98 so-called "blue" countries, including the U.S., who are deemed to pose a minimal health risk and can enter without a quarantine if they show proof they tested negative for COVID within 72 hours of their departures.
People entering Japan from countries considered to be a greater risk must quarantine for three days at home or in government-designated facilities. There is a daily cap on arrivals of 20,000 people, including all travellers. And the number of airports open to foreign tourists also is gradually expanding.
Worries about COVID-19 remain. If infections shoot up again in another wave, pandemic precautions could be brought back.
Japan, a crowded island nation, is wary about outside risks and infectious diseases. After about two years of seeing very few tourists, Japanese have some adjusting to do, Otomo and others said.
So the authorities are taking it slow.
"I would love to have tourists from abroad come, as long as everyone, including myself, abides by the rules, like wearing masks and keeping sanitary standards," said Minaho Iwase, who was visiting Tokyo from Aichi, central Japan, recently.
Many tourists might be deterred by the restrictions on independent travel. But some seem not to mind.
"When my friends asked me to join this trip to Japan, I immediately said, 'Yes.' I visited Japan before. I love their food, their tradition, and their highly organized culture. Japan is great," said Sorrasek Thuantawee, an office worker who joined a group of eight Thais excitedly preparing to board a flight from Bangkok last week.
Japan is a favourite destination, despite its not "opening up 100%," said Nuttavut Mitsumoto, the guide for the group, Thai travel agency Compax World's first to Japan since it relaxed its entry rules.
The Japanese yen has weakened this year against the U.S. dollar and other currencies, making visits something of a bargain.
A study last month by Money.co.uk, a free online service that compares financial products, found Osaka ranked fourth and Tokyo eighth for most affordable "luxury travel," including Michelin star meals and five-star hotels.
Back in Asakusa, rickshaw man Shunpei Katayama has yet to drive around his first post-COVID foreign tourist, but English-speaking drivers are back on the job. And for now, Japanese visitors from outside Tokyo are keeping him busy.
"Japanese who can't go to Guam and other spots abroad come visit Shibuya. And Asakusa," he said.
On a recent day, Otomo was shooting photos of a Japanese mother and daughter dressed up in colourful kimono to attend a friend's wedding in Tokyo.
The foreign clientele that used to frequent his shop were so enthusiastic about dressing up as samurai, ninja and geisha, complete with swords and hair ornaments. Some quickly became friends, regardless of their nationalities, Otomo recalled a bit sentimentally.
"When they're happy, I'm happy. They get my adrenaline going," he said.
------
AP journalists Tassanee Vejpongsa in Bangkok and Haruka Nuga in Tokyo contributed to this report
____
CTVNews.ca wants to hear from Canadians with any questions.
Tell us what you’d like to know when it comes to rules around entering or leaving Canada.
To submit your question, email us at dotcom@bellmedia.ca with your name, location and question. Your comments may be used in a CTVNews.ca story.
The Indian couple killed in a wrong-way police chase crash on Highway 401 earlier this week has been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Three people have been arrested and charged in the killing of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar – as authorities continue investigating potential connections to the Indian government.
TD Bank Group could be hit with more severe penalties than previously expected, says a banking analyst after a report that the investigation it faces in the U.S. is tied to laundering illicit fentanyl profits.
RCMP say human remains found in a rural area in central Saskatchewan may have been there for a decade or more.
Winnipeg police say they have arrested two people in their 20s after a large amount of explosives were found in a home outside of Winnipeg, Man.
As Wegovy becomes available to Canadians starting Monday, a medical expert is cautioning patients wanting to use the drug to lose weight that no medication is a ''magic bullet,' and the new medication is meant particularly for people who meet certain criteria related to obesity and weight.
Spain scrapped an annual bullfighting award on Friday, prompting a rebuke from conservatives over a backlash against a centuries-old tradition they see as an art form but which has run into growing concern for animal welfare.
Drew Carey took over as host of 'The Price Is Right' and hopes he’s there for life. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he told 'Entertainment Tonight' of the job he took over from longtime host Bob Barker in 2007.
York Regional Police say they are continuing to search for a suspect in an auto theft investigation who was captured on video running over a police officer in Toronto last month.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.