EDUCATION

Over a career in Japan spanning 21 years, Osaka-based English language teacher Steven Thompson has taken 10 days of paid sick leave across two occasions when he caught the flu. (Japan Times)

Two persons from Sendai City have been confirmed with the novel coronavirus after meeting with two Assistant Language Teachers (ALT) who also tested positive, reports Kahoku Shimpo (Mar. 30). (tokyoreporter.com)

Japan’s approach to halting the coronavirus pandemic might seem to other nations around the world like it is very social, and not so distant.
(Japan Times)

What’s happening in Japan is written all over our faces — our blank, expressionless, masked faces. Never before, it seems safe to say, have so many people gone about masked.
(Japan Times)

Non-Japanese speakers who want advice on the new coronavirus can call hotlines run by the Japan Tourism Agency and some local governments.
(NHK)

In Japan, college is seen as not only of higher education, but also high fashion. That’s because your four years at university are pretty much your only respite from the uniforms and haircut regulations of middle/high school and the conservative dress codes of most (though not all) Japanese offices. (soranews24.com)

The education ministry on Tuesday issued guidelines to reduce the risk of coronavirus infection in schools across Japan that are scheduled to reopen in April after monthlong closures, calling for thorough ventilation of classrooms and warning against gathering in clusters. (Kyodo)

Princess Aiko, the daughter of Japan’s Emperor and Empress, has attended her graduation ceremony at Gakushuin Girls’ Senior High School in Tokyo.
(NHK)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government will not extend its current request for school closures across Japan to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus and will allow classes to begin as scheduled in the new academic year starting April, the education minister said Friday. (Japan Timesj)

A government panel of medical experts said Thursday that schools can reopen in areas without new confirmed cases of coronavirus infections, proposing to relax the current nationwide approach to pre-empt a further spread. (Kyodo)