Please send us home, say 220 Indians stranded in Japan

A research scholar waiting to meet his newborn baby, a graduate worried about the job offer in Bangalore and a pregnant woman whose four-day work trip now stretches interminably are among the at least 220 Indians stranded in Japan and getting increasingly desperate to return home. Stuck in a foreign land as COVID-19 tightens its grip on many countries, dwindling financial resources and expired medical insurances are adding to their tensions.

The group of 220 Indians, including 92 dependants, have collectively reached out to the Indian Embassy in Tokyo asking to be evacuated to India, which has been under lockdown since Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement on March 24. In a signed letter, the stranded Indians have also assured that they will quarantine themselves when back and cooperate with authorities. Japan's partial lockdown is also a source of worry with some saying they live in constant fear of getting infected with the coronavirus that has infected more than 2.4 million people and claimed over 1,70,000 lives.

Rahul Joe, a research scholar at the University of Hokkaido till his contract expired last month, was all set to move back to Ahmedabad to be with his pregnant wife. The date was set and the tickets booked. “We were blessed with a baby girl two days back and I don't know when will I able to see my baby for the first time. My medical insurance expired with my contract and now I am scared that if I fall ill I will have no means to get myself treated," Joe told PTI over the phone from Tokyo.


With the number of cases rising in Japan, the country on April 16 expanded the state of emergency to the entire nation in an attempt to prevent the new coronavirus from spreading further and straining the healthcare system. The country has reported more than 11,000 cases.