The COVID-19 outbreak in Japan has left hundreds of thousands of university students in a chaotic situation. Lectures that were supposed to start in April only recently began to be offered online. Part-time jobs that helped students to support themselves have vanished, while the incomes of many of their parents have dwindled since the government declared the state of emergency in April.

A survey covering 1,200 university students released Wednesday pointed out that some 20 percent of them are considering dropping out of school as the coronavirus outbreak has left many without a source of income or financial support. The toll of this pandemic is even higher for foreign students studying in Japan.

Before the spread of COVID-19, many students held part-time jobs in the restaurant and tourism industries. According to a 2019 survey on 7,000 foreign students conducted by the Japan Student Service Organization, 75.8 percent of the respondents had a part-time job, and of those, 41.8 percent worked in the restaurant sector. But those businesses are now cutting back on their operations, plunging students into a dire financial situation.