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2020.04.09
Photo: Aflo
We extend our thoughts and prayers to all those who have been infected with COVID-19.
Incorrect or unreliable information can easily spread during a pandemic and COVID-19 is no exception. In light of such situation, Yahoo! JAPAN is taking various measures such as compiling reliable information and providing the information in an easily accessible manner. Furthermore, we are taking steps to prevent the spread of the infection among our employees.
Last Updated: 9 July 2021
Yahoo! JAPAN is undertaking a variety of measures such as delivering reliable information to our users in an easy-to-understand manner, and supporting children to study at home while the schools are closed.
June 7, 2021
Redesigned the COVID-19 Q&A section of the Yahoo! JAPAN app. Based on frequently searched words from Yahoo! JAPAN Search, related questions and answers are displayed at the top of the page.
May 14, 2021
In response to the rising public interest, launched “Vaccination Topics” in the Yahoo! JAPAN app, a special site dedicated to delivering content related to the COVID-19 vaccination.
May 13, 2021
The donation project launched jointly by COVID-19 Consortium for Donating Cash Handouts, Public Resource Foundation, Yahoo! JAPAN, and TRUSTBANK, Inc., decided to continue the donation drive and made a new start under a new project name, “COVID-19 Donation Project.”
April 27, 2021
One year since the relaunch of "Congestion Radar." Use of the service has increased about fivefold in the "new lifestyle."
April 23, 2021
Yahoo! JAPAN began displaying the number of people who have received the COVID-19 vaccination in each prefecture, in the “COVID-19” tab.
April 23, 2021
For baseball fans who have difficulty cheering locally due to the pandemic, Yahoo! JAPAN started offering a paid cheering function that allows them to express their love for the team while watching the games live on Sportsnavi.
April 22, 2021
Responding to the demand for daytime use of rooms for work spaces during the pandemic, Yahoo! JAPAN began handling the booking of day-use plans at 181 directly managed APA Hotels and Resorts nationwide, on PassMarket.
April 21, 2021
Yahoo! JAPAN MAP started providing a function that allows users to post reviews and photos of restaurants and facilities at the same time, contributing to the distribution of operation information during the pandemic.
April 5, 2021
Yahoo! JAPAN MAP started providing the “COVID-19 Vaccine Map” feature that enables people to find locations of the vaccination sites/medical institutions.
March 18, 2021
YAHUOKU! held “Send Cheers through YAHUOKU!,” a charity auction project aimed at supporting healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ten yen was donated for each auction item tagged with the phrase “ヤフオクで応援 (send cheers through YAHUOKU!)”.
March 16, 2021
Yahoo! JAPAN Daily Life (PC ver./smartphone web ver.) and Yahoo! JAPAN Search began providing municipality-specific information related to COVID-19 vaccination for approximately 1,000 municipalities.
February 26, 2021
Yahoo! JAPAN started providing COVID-19-related updates under its “COVID-19” tab, including a dashboard showing vaccination progress in Japan.
February 24, 2021
Yahoo! JAPAN started an awareness-raising program that displays a banner ad to 0.3% of the users, the same proportion as the cumulative COVID-19 cases to the total Japanese population, to once again raise awareness of correct understanding of and measures on COVID-19.
January 25, 2021
Yahoo! JAPAN Transit Navigation announced the service use trend before and after the issuance of the COVID-19 state of emergency.
January 19, 2021
Yahoo! JAPAN News, using its comment feature, launched a project to send support to those dealing with COVID-19 infection by prefectures.
January 18, 2021
COVID-19 Benefit Donation Project decided the recipients (individuals, corporations and organizations) of the donations.
January 18, 2021
Yahoo! JAPAN Transit Navigation adapted to the timetable changes by JR East, Toei Transportation, and private railway lines that moved up their last train departure times in response to the issuance of the state of emergency for COVID-19.
December 25, 2020
Yahoo! JAPAN opened a special site to enjoy watching the Hakone Ekiden (a round-trip intercollegiate relay marathon between Tokyo and Hakone) at home.
Site open from December 25, 2020 to January 31, 2021
December 24, 2020
Yahoo! JAPAN Internet Fund Raising collected more than 1,230,000 donations totaling about 1.4 billion yen in 2020, which includes emergency donations to support healthcare workers working at the forefront of COVID-19 treatment.
Results of: January 1, 2020 – November 30, 2020
December 21, 2020
Yahoo! JAPAN Internet Fund Raising opened a donation account to support live music venues and clubs in Kyoto, in collaboration with “#京都音楽シーン救済プロジェクト” (Save Kyoto’s music scene project) launched by Hyogen Shien Association.
December 11, 2020
Donations to “COVID-19 Benefit Donation Project,” a donation drive launched jointly by COVID-19 Benefit Donation Consortium, Public Resources Foundation, Yahoo! JAPAN, and TRUSTBANK, Inc., reached 300 million yen.
December 9, 2020
Yahoo! JAPAN Internet Fund Raising opened a joint donation account with non-profit organization “Charity Santa,” with an aim to send picture books to children during the COVID-19 pandemic.
December 7, 2020
More than 1,000 local governments are now using Yahoo! JAPAN Disaster Alert and the Yahoo! JAPAN app to send emergency information related to disasters, COVID-19, etc. to local residents.
November 20, 2020
Yahoo! JAPAN and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government jointly conducted an online disaster preparedness mock exam, with an aim to encourage residents in Tokyo to casually participate and acquire knowledge on disaster preparedness including the risk of COVID-19 infection.
Period: November 22, 2020 – December 21, 2020
November 13, 2020
PassMarket started to sell tickets subject to the government’s “Go To Event” campaign, an initiative to support safe leisure facilities and events that are taking sufficient COVID-19 prevention steps.
Campaign period: October 29, 2020 – January 31, 2021
October 6, 2020
The Yahoo! JAPAN app (for both iOS/Android versions) added to its tab bar a “local” tab which curates local information such as local news and the number of COVID-19 patients in the area.
October 2, 2020
Yahoo! JAPAN Loco started to support Osaka Prefecture’s “campaign to promote use of restaurants in small groups,” which can be used together with the government’s “Go To Eat” campaign.
*Applicable to use of restaurants between mid-September 2020 to December 31, 2020.
October 1, 2020
Z Holdings Corporation opened up LODGE, an open collaboration space run by Yahoo! JAPAN, to its group companies, with a view to supporting diverse work style in the post-COVID-19 era.
September 29, 2020
Yahoo! JAPAN Loco announced that it will start providing “Go To Eat” campaign points from October 1, 2020.
*Points rewarded through January 31, 2021; earned points valid through March 31, 2021.
September 29, 2020
The COVID-19 Benefit Donation Project started its third call for recipients from four fields, including healthcare providers and SMEs.
*Application accepted between September 29, 2020 and October 13, 2020 (closed at 5:00 p.m.).
September 18, 2020
Yahoo! JAPAN Travel started offering discounts of travel products to and from Tokyo which are subject to the government’s “Go To Travel” campaign.
September 3, 2020
Yahoo! JAPAN Loco was selected among the contractors of online restaurant booking operations for the “Go To Eat” campaign run by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
September 2, 2020
A virtual cycling event “Online O-‘En’ Fes” (online festival for sustaining and supporting connection) held in place of TOUR de TOHOKU which was canceled this year.
August 31, 2020
In light of the post-COVID-19 lifestyle, Yahoo! JAPAN BEAUTY started a feature that enables users to refine their search based on sanitation measures taken at beauty parlors.
August 25, 2020
Yahoo! JAPAN and Shiga Prefecture announced holding of a large-scale online disaster preparedness drill,“#make use of hazard map,” on Disaster Prevention Day (September1).
August 24, 2020
Yahoo! JAPAN and YAMATO TRANSPORT strengthened collaboration in non-face-to-face delivery services for individual customers for the post-COVID-19 lifestyle. Starting from September 1, the lowest shipment fee of 170 yen is offered for C to C transactions of YAHUOKU! and PayPay Flea Market using “Nekopos” (delivery to mailbox) service.
August 20, 2020
COVID-19 Benefit Donation Project Consortium decided the recipients (individuals and organizations) of the donation money.
August 18, 2020
Yahoo! JAPAN opened a special website, “Answers to your questions on COVID-19 testing,” which aggregates COVID-19 testing information and advises appropriate action in case of a fever or other suspected symptoms.
August 12, 2020
Yahoo! JAPAN Car Navigation (for iOS/Android) began a “congestion forecast” feature that enables users to check the congestion situation around approx. 50,000 retail stores, commercial facilities, and leisure facilities.
August 5, 2020
Yahoo! JAPAN MAP app (for iOS/Android)began a function that enables users to check summer event updates smoothly on the map.
July 30, 2020
Updated the congestion radar of the Yahoo! JAPAN MAP app (for iOS/Android) with a feature to make the congestion level around commercial facilities easily visible with icons; the number of the facilities covered was expanded to approximately 50,000.
July 30, 2020
Yahoo! JAPAN concluded agreements with all target local governments for the free provision of data solution service to support their measures against COVID-19; also started a full scale provision of “DS.INSIGHT for Gov” for governmental agencies.
July 8, 2020
PassMarket began a sales commission discount campaign for leisure facility operators to support their infection prevention measures through the use of digital tickets.
July 6, 2020
370,610,274 yen raised for the collaborative donation project launched by video creator HIKAKIN and Yahoo Japan Foundation to support healthcare workers who are working to protect people’s lives. The donation money was used for activities to support front-line healthcare operations, such as support for healthcare workers and purchase of medical supplies.
July 2, 2020
Donated a total of 10,350,570 yen raised through the “Let’s overcome together –knowing is supporting” campaign to five organizations that support measures against COVID-19.
July 1, 2020
The COVID-19 Benefit Donation Project started the second round of inviting recipients from four fields, including healthcare providers and SMEs.
June 30, 2020
Yahoo! JAPAN BEAUTY began posting official information provided by hair salons so that customers can check out photos, sanitation measures taken, special holidays, etc., of the salons in advance.
June 26, 2020
Began providing “Tokyo COVID-19 Mimamori* Service for Stores” using PassMarket functions.
*Mimamori means “watching over.”
June 25, 2020
Selected individuals/organization to which the 100 million-yen donation money collected through “COVID-19 Benefit Donation Project,” a drive launched jointly by COVID-19 Benefit Donation Consortium, Public Resources Foundation, Yahoo! JAPAN, and TRUSTBANK, Inc., will be donated.
June 19, 2020
Enabled Yahoo! JAPAN MAP users to check the congestion situations around approx. 2,000 commercial/amusement facilities nationwide.
June 18, 2020
Bid amount at YAHUOKU! Yell Auction for combatting COVID-19 totaled 94,300,669 yen.
June 16, 2020
Applications started for tenants of Yahoo! JAPAN Shopping and PayPay Mall who wish to use “EAZY,” a new EC delivery service provided by Yamato Transport Co., Ltd. The service allows shoppers to choose from various non-face-to-face delivery methods.
June 9, 2020
Yahoo! JAPAN Transit Navigation (Android/iOS) started a congestion trend function that shows the congestion levels of trains on a 1-4 scale with icons.
June 5, 2020
Donations to “COVID-19 Benefit Donation Project,” a donation drive launched jointly by COVID-19 Benefit Donation Consortium, Public Resources Foundation, Yahoo! JAPAN, and TRUSTBANK, Inc., reached 100 million yen.
June 4, 2020
Conducted a campaign named “Let’s overcome together – knowing is supporting,” through which 10 yen was donated from Yahoo! JAPAN to organizations supporting measures against COVID-19 each time users liked on COVID-19-related initiatives undertaken by various companies.
June 3, 2020
Enabled Yahoo! JAPAN MAP to automatically update the store hour information of about 800,000 stores and 4,600 chain restaurants/retailers nationwide.
June 1, 2020
Yahoo! JAPAN began providing a function that indicates the congestion situations around nearby stores, such as grocery stores and pharmacies.
June 1, 2020
Yahoo! JAPAN News opened a special webpage “How do we live with coronavirus?” with a view to contributing to solving the various concerns and anxieties that users may have about the “new lifestyle” by inviting their opinions.
May 28, 2020
In response to the growing dining-out needs after the lifting of the state of emergency, Yahoo! JAPAN Loco strengthened sanitation measure information of stores, including the addition of a function to enable store operators to upload photos showing how and what sanitation measures are taken in their stores.
May 26, 2020
For the convenience of users, Yahoo! JAPAN Search began displaying important dates relating to the COVID-19 benefit money payout (start dates of mail-out/application/payment, and application deadline) along with search results when users search with keyword “name of municipality + benefit money.”
May 26, 2020
When the state of emergency was lifted nationwide, opened a quiz-based information site on the “new lifestyle” practices against COVID-19: “Let’s overcome together – Learn how to deal with COVID-19 with a quiz!” (PC/smartphone versions).
May 25, 2020
Upgraded the congestion radar of Yahoo! JAPAN MAP to enable the display of congestion situation from 2 hours ago to as recent as 20 minutes ago.
May 25, 2020
Using PassMarket functions, started an admission booking and ticketing function for the reopened Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens (Nagoya City), as a measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
May 22, 2020
Added to the Yahoo! JAPAN MAP app (iOS/Android) a poll function that allows users to report whether the restaurants they visited offer take-out meals/drinks.
May 21, 2020
With a video creator HIKAKIN, opened in Yahoo Japan Foundation a collaborative donation account for supporting healthcare workers who are working to protect people’s lives.
※Donations accepted from May 21, 2020 to June 30, 2020
May 18, 2020
Switched seals and signatures for contracts to e-signatures. Aim to convert all contracts with private entities to e-signatures.
May 18, 2020
<COVID-19 Report>
Released a report on YoY change in number of visitors from neighboring prefectures to Tokyo, Aichi, Osaka and Fukuoka.
May 13, 2020
Based on information provided by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, expanded search function to display medical institutions that offer online medical examinations on Yahoo! JAPAN Search, Yahoo! JAPAN MAP app, Yahoo! JAPAN Maps (website ver.), and Yahoo! JAPAN Loco (smartphone ver.)
May 12, 2020
<COVID-19 Report>
Based on data from Yahoo! JAPAN Search, released an analysis on how the state of emergency affected food trend.
May 12, 2020
Considering the spread of COVID-19, decided to cancel “TOUR de TOHOKU”, a cycling event.
May 11, 2020
As an incorporator, Yahoo! JAPAN joined “Open COVID-19 Declaration”, which declares no assertion of intellectual property rights for a certain period, against any activities whose purpose is stopping the spread of COVID-19, including diagnosis, prevention, containment and treatment.
May 8, 2020
COVID-19 Donation Committee, Public Resources Foundation, Yahoo! JAPAN, and TRUSTBANK, Inc. released a website on “COVID-19 Donation Project” in which users can choose where to donate the COVID-19 100,000 yen payment from the government.
May 8, 2020
<COVID-19>
For the purpose of having a better view of how self-restraint is exercised, released a reprinting-permitted graph on daily traffic of people by prefecture in Japan.
May 8, 2020
Yahoo! JAPAN donated 10 yen for every user who searched the word,“Norikoeyo (Let’s overcome)” in Yahoo! JAPAN Search to activities that support medical workers in the frontline combatting COVID-19.
May 6, 2020
Distributed a special program “Let’s ask PM Abe! Live broadcast answering everybody’s questions on COVID-19” on Yahoo! JAPAN’s special webpage and “niconico,” a video service operated by Dwango.
May 1, 2020
Distributed special feature “Homeschool lessons”. Famous athletes, cultural figures held online lessons on craft, scientific experiments, and sports to entertain children and students who had to stay home during the Golden Week.
May 1, 2020
<COVID-19 Report>
Released a report that visualized decrease in crowds in Tokyo and Osaka areas in order to analyze the impact of the stay home request, etc.
April 30, 2020
Fisherman Japan, also supported by Yahoo! JAPAN, began selling “Fish Box with Online Lesson on How to Clean Fish” from April 15. Fresh fish that could not be sold due to closure of restaurants were sold by fisherman/fishmongers and home delivered. By the end of April, sold 735 sets (over 2.5 million yen).
April 28, 2020
Yahoo Japan Foundation began soliciting programs that support activities to prevent collapse of medical services due to COVID-19. Supports activities under two themes: “Supporting healthcare workers” and “Supporting infection prevention activities”
April 28, 2020
Disclosed rates of restraint in people’s movement in the 13 prefectures designated to be on high alert in “COVID-19 Summary” webpage, Yahoo! JAPAN smartphone version, and “Stay Home” tab in Yahoo! JAPAN app.
April 28, 2020
For event organizers, PassMarket launched a special feature which proposes how to create announcement webpages for online events, how to draw customers, and how to sell e-tickets.
April 27, 2020
<COVID-19 Report>
Released a report that analyses the search trends in Yahoo! JAPAN Search to see the impact of requests to close schools, etc. and to stay home on children.
April 27, 2020
In order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Yahoo! JAPAN Loco began publishing information on sanitation measures conducted by stores/facilities.
April 27, 2020
Added function that notifies emergency/crime prevention information from 700+ local governments in Yahoo! JAPAN app. Needed information (e.g. COVID-19 information from local governments) notified in a timely manner.
April 24, 2020
<COVID-19 Report>
Released a report that analyses weekday transportation trends under the promotion to work remote.
April 24, 2020
Yahoo! JAPAN Shopping began collaborations with “Hokkaido Gourmet Campaign” which uses online shopping website to support business operators with declined sales due to COVID-19.
April 24, 2020
Launched “Stay Home Portal,” a portal website that collects useful content on cooking, education, remote working, etc. to bring convenience and comfort to users who are spending longer time at home.
April 23, 2020
<COVID-19 Report>
Released a report that analyses search trends related to Golden Week under the request to stay home.
April 23, 2020
Newly created a “Yell Auction” category in YAHUOKU! where users can take part in social contribution activities against COVID-19 by listing their goods. Proceeds from listed goods in this category will be donated to the funds operated by Yahoo Japan Foundation.
April 23, 2020
Yahoo Japan Foundation established “COVID-19 Fund to Prevent Collapse of Medical Services” to reduce the burden on healthcare workers.
April 23, 2020
Yahoo! JAPAN Ads began a campaign to support companies that are unable to conduct their scheduled marketing measures (e.g. cancellation of events and promotional measures) due to the basic COVID-19 measures to refrain from nonessential outings. Advertisers who are posting search ads forthe first time received a 10,000-yen discount in advertising fee.
April 20, 2020
Released Food Action Special Feature whereby users can support industries in critical conditions due to self-restraint requests for COVID-19 (e.g. food producers and dining industry) through home delivery and donations.
April 20, 2020
For a limited time and as open data, Yahoo! JAPAN Data Solution disclosed numbers of persons coming to and going out of 47 prefectures, ordinance-designated cities, etc. and predicted data on year-on-year change for the data to be used to analyze the impact of stay home request, one of COVID-19 measures.
April 20, 2020
Using congestion radar, Yahoo! JAPAN Map app (iOS ver., Android ver.) and Yahoo! JAPAN Maps compared congestions before and after the declaration of state of emergency.
April 16, 2020
For the purpose of using the data for analyzing the impact of COVID-19, Yahoo! JAPAN Data Solution released an analysis on people’s movement in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area seen from the search volume of Yahoo! JAPAN Transit Navigation.
April 16, 2020
Yahoo! JAPAN Daily Life selected and introduced systems that have high demand among users based on search trends in Yahoo! JAPAN Search, such as grants and subsidies for COVID-19, and monetary support systems (e.g. loans), etc.
April 15, 2020
YAHUOKU! held a series of auctions, “Yell Auction”, dedicated to supporting general activities against COVID-19.
April 15, 2020
In light of the spread of COVID-19, Yahoo! JAPAN MAP (iOS ver. and Android ver.) added a search function to filter restaurants that provide take-out and delivery services, and expanded the amount of listed information.
April 14, 2020
To support NPOs, Yahoo! JAPAN Internet Fund Raising sequentially launched fund-raising projects to receive donations for “Emergency support for activities against the spread of COVID-19” from January 30, 2020.
(As of April14)
No. of organizations hosting the projects: 15
Donation amount: JPY44,151,235
No. of donations: 49,108
April 13, 2020
With the precondition of adequately protecting our customers’ privacy, began an initiative that will contribute to the optimization and efficiency of measures against COVID-19 taken by governmental agencies such as the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare, by analyzing big data on location information and search/purchase history.
※This was implemented in accordance with our agreement with the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, which defined the scope of information to be provided, use purposes, and terms and conditions of cooperation. The agreement was signed on April 13, 2020 after the consultation with our privacy advisory board consisting of external experts.
April 10, 2020
To support moves of users who have to go outdoors for inevitable reasons, Yahoo! JAPAN MAP began providing a previously suspended feature “Congestion radar” which displays levels of congestion of specific areas and areas around terminal stations using color gradation.
April 9, 2020
Began providing our data solution services for business free of charge to prefectural governments, etc., so that data can be used in measures against COVID-19.
April 7, 2020
<Measure against COVID-19> Disclosed a short report on keywords related to the declaration of state of emergency.
April 6, 2020
Yahoo! JAPAN News launched a project to cheer for persons responding to COVID-19, using its comment columns to allow users to share comments to each other.
April 3, 2020
Began disclosing daily data on number of visitors, etc. to the 23 wards of Tokyo through our data solution service so that data can be used in analyzing the impact of the request to stay home, a measure against COVID-19.
April 3, 2020
Released our response policy towards the request to platform operators from governmental agencies, to provide statistical data, etc. that will contribute to preventing the spread of COVID-19.
March 31, 2020
Sportsnavi released its “Special sports selections,” where users can watch video clips of the High School Baseball Invitational Tournament and FIFA World Cup for free.
March 31, 2020
Yahoo! JAPAN Creators’ Program released a special website to help users enjoy their time at home.
Late March 2020 onwards
Yahoo! JAPAN News created a content curation website that aggregates “Free contents to brighten up ‘stay at home’” and “Places to contact to consult mental disorder during self-isolation”.
March 19, 2020
Placed hand sanitizers, distributed facial masks, checked participants’ body temperatures, and seated participants apart in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in our Extraordinary Meeting of the Shareholders.
March 11, 2020
Following the Cabinet approval of the “Cabinet Order to Amend Part of the Act on Emergency Measures for Stabilizing Living Conditions of the Public”, decided to comprehensively ban the listing of facial masks by individual users in our Internet auction service “YAHUOKU!” and flea market app “PayPay Flea Market” from March 11, 2020 until further notice.
March 2, 2020
February 20, 2020
Closed our open collaboration space “LODGE” and adjacent restaurant/café.
February 13, 2020
Early February 2020 onwards
Provided tools for municipalities with which Yahoo! JAPAN has concluded disaster alliances, to provide emergency information (e.g. infection reports) to Yahoo! JAPAN Disaster Alert app and Yahoo! JAPAN Daily Life. The information can also be accessed from COVID-19 curation webpage (Japanese only) and from search results.
Left：Yahoo! JAPAN Disaster Alert app Right：Yahoo! JAPAN Daily Life
Early February 2020 onwards
Installed a banner in Yahoo! JAPAN Top Page and Yahoo! JAPAN app to navigate users to information on COVID-19.
Yahoo! JAPAN app began displaying targeted information to specific regions if there is information specific to each municipality.
January 30, 2020
Provided information on facts related to COVID-19 and measures to prevent infections in Disaster Prevention Handbook. This handbook is always available in Yahoo! JAPAN Disaster Alert app and Yahoo! JAPAN Weather & Disaster (PC ver. and smartphone browser ver.), and provides useful information for what to do and how to prepare for each type of natural disaster.
January 29, 2020
Yahoo! JAPAN News began updating the latest information on COVID-19 including status reports officially announced by the Prime Minister’s Office of Japan and by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW), and compiles media reports. It also began providing information on contact points prepared by the MHLW, each prefecture and the Japan National Tourism Organization.
January 23, 2020
When users search “coronavirus”, Yahoo! JAPAN Search displays as search results, reliable information provided by public institutions such as MHLW, information overseen by doctors and medical organizations, news articles by major media companies, etc.
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