Hi! Kirk here with a little heads up about the “Return To Japan Support Group”:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/returntojapan
If you become a member of the group, you will see that it is sponsored by a company called MetroResidences, which will let you rent a place to stay in Tokyo.
Generally speaking, the group is quite good; it has over 20,000 participants and you can get quick responses to your questions.
However, there’s a serious problem. That is that the administrator tells people that they have to quarantine in Tokyo, even though it’s also possible to rent a car and travel to far off places like Kumamoto. In my view, this is a clear conflict of interest; the obvious choice for renters is MetroResidences. In fact, I know of at least one Kumamoto International participant who rented from them, apparently as a result of participating in the support group.
Please look at the first image. Here the administrator says that you have to (which I take to mean “must”) quarantine in Tokyo. This was in response to an inquiry about whether or not you can take a connecting flight to another region of Japan. While it’s true that you can’t take a connecting flight, staying in Tokyo (that is, renting from companies like MetroResidences) is not the only option. As you can see in the second image, other people had already pointed out that it’s possible to rent a car. But, when I said the exact same thing, but in a comment to the administrator and with a link to previous discussion, I was disciplined (third image).
Actually, even before I was disciplined, I had called Kumamoto’s Consumer Center to report a possible conflict of interest. The person I spoke with said he would pass the information on to people in Tokyo who deal with such national issues.
Here’s the text of the post I linked to, which may have irritated the administrator even more than my just saying that you can rent a car:
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I would like to respectfully request a revision of the “group summary” which is located here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/returntojapan/announcements “Be aware any long-distance driving plans may not be suitable under the quarantine rules. (for example stopping at rest areas along the way)” I am not aware of the Japanese government saying that we should not stop at rest areas. And, if we are going to drive more that a couple of hours, I think that stopping at rest areas is important to maintaining alertness and safety. The following Sankei Shimbun article (in Japanese) says that car rentals have increased significantly since the government changed its stance and decided to allow people to travel to their homes and isolate there: https://www.sankei.com/.../20200422.../ I have not, however, been able to find an official government statement that is either pro or con regarding stopping at rest areas or indicates how far we can drive. It seems that the government has decided not to publish clear rules on relevant websites. Instead they are responding to individual inquiries via the following (and other) hotline numbers: 0120-565653 If you call the number (you may need to speak Japanese) as I did, I think you will find that we are allowed to rent cars and travel distances that would necessitate stopping to rest. Also, as I have written in a previous post, my plans to drive from Narita to Kyushu were not met with any disapproval or warnings when I when through the entry process at Narita. Since this is a support group, I don’t think it should discourage us from doing something that the government says is OK, especially something like stopping to rest, something that is necessary for safe travel. Not adjusting the group summary without a clear justification is also problematic because there is at least an appearance of a conflict of interest: MetroResidences stands to benefit if more people decide to rent a place to stay instead of a car.
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If you are or become a member of the group, you can read the discussion this post engendered here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/returntojapan/posts/1210049706159548
In one of the comments a participant said that she had been banned for saying that it was OK to drive to Kyushu, just as I have no been. Like I say, conflict of interest. Suppression of information that might lead participants away from a MetroResidences rental.
Well, that’s the gist of my complaint. There’s a lot of good information that gets exchanged in the support group but be aware of the conflict of interest and the possibility that the administrator will discipline you of you try to tell people that renting in Tokyo isn’t the only option.
Finally, I’d appreciate it if you would share this post with anyone who is considering traveling abroad. They will probably want to refer to the good information available in the group but I would like them to go in with their eyes open, especially if they might prefer renting a car to staying in Tokyo for two weeks. Thanks!