Japan business leaders call for support under coronavirus emergency

Hiroaki Nakanishi, chairman of the Japan Business Federation known as Keidanren, stressed the need for a "greater sense of crisis" to be shared among all people.

What a clueless comment as expected from a Keidanren shill. The people are very well aware of the severity of the pandemic, they have been suffering from the medical and economic effects for months, sometimes ending in tragedy.

Given their response to the pandemic, the politicians and bureaucrats with their job security and business leaders with their financial bailouts and rising stock market are the ones who are missing a sense of crisis.

The biggest expense for many Restaurants in central Tokyo is rent and most landlords have given no support at all. The government should offer them land tax discounts if they offer rent discounts like other countries already do but so far not here.

Many businesses, especially small shops and Izakayas will go into bancruptcy.

But I will continue to support my Mom and Pops Izakaya in my neighborhood by visiting them before 8pm and with Take Out!

All the regular guests in that Izakaya will do that!

I hope this will go on everywhere the new SOE is implemented.

Support your local Izakayas.

They are the heart of Japan.

And if the heart stops beating, everyone knows what will happen.

Hiroaki Nakanishi, chairman of the Japan Business Federation known as Keidanren, stressed the need for a "greater sense of crisis" to be shared among all people.

Mr Nakanishi is right.Especially the people at the top...

So when the economy is going well they call for lower taxes and less government restrictions and when times are less favourable for them, expect movement handouts.

More evidence this economic system is rigged to support big corps and their rich investors and COEs.

Pin the whole virus response on alcohol hours and face doom.

Does Japan really have any business leaders?

Nakanishi, Im sorry to say, but any business that cannot survive a month of reduced income (its FAR from a lockdown) is simply not a viable business. Period.

Tokyo is one of the most disaster prone places on earth. Always expect them and PLAN for them.

It’s not just businesses that need financial support.

I am a private contractor, & I get nothing.

Customers have already started cancelling

Mimura asked for "flexible and swift" aid from the government

Mimura san, what country do you think this is....flexible and swift?..lol...lets have us a panel to discuss the real meaning of " flexible and swift " first ;)

But I will continue to support my Mom and Pops Izakaya in my neighborhood by visiting them before 8pm and with Take Out!

Fully agree with you on that one...but whats gonna happen to your favorite girlie bar though Monty? :)

@Fighto

Do you really understand how Japanese people react to orders?

Imagine a Business where a customer or staff caught the virus,having been urged to lockdown!

There would be almost endless recriminations.

Remember this is a country where medical workers have been vilified for aiding corona patients!

@Marcelito

whats gonna happen to your favorite girlie bar though Monty?

Yesterday, after Suga san's declaration, I sent a message to my favorite Girl from that bar, and she said that the Mama will close the bar until the SOE is finish.

She and other Girls, all have daytime Jobs too, so they can survive somehow, but the loss in income from the work at the Bar is very tough.

She also mentioned that the Mama is rich, and she can handle 1 month off, but if the SOE will be extended for another 2 or 3 months, nobody knows what will happen to the Bar.

Anyway, I didn't go there since the pandemic starts, but I have contact with my favorite Girl, so she will keep me updated about the future of the Bar.

Anyway, I didn't go there since the pandemic starts, but I have contact with my favorite Girl, so she will keep me updated about the future of the Bar.

Naughty Monty...:-)

Anyway, hope that most businesses can survive this.

I call for business leaders to support the people for a chance. Remember the third arrow?

I'm getting a liquor license before the next pandemic.

Japanese PEOPLE call for support under this emergency!

No mention of a second assistance subsidy for the people though...

Frankly, I could care less about financial support for restaurants. They've already received enough financial support over the past year. How about some financial support for other types of small business, or for self employed or for freelancers?!

What is it with the Japanese obsession with restaurants?

Heading home last night I passed a bunch of small mom and pop restaurants, and they all seemed just as busy as usual. They've had the darn Go To Eat campaign supporting them. So that's my taxes going to support restaurants whose business hasn't gone down, with no sign of any new support for my industry or any other industry (other than travel).

PS/ If my written Japanese was good enough, I'd be tweeting at Japanese politicians demanding wider financial support and asking why they are stopping the assistance subsidy at a time like this, rather than repeating it for 2021!

If your Japanese is good enough then feel free!

Normal logic would be, everyone gets something out of the pot and then brings it to the businesses as a customer, getting something in return for paying the business owner, a meal, a piece of clothes , anything. Now these greedy punks want our tax payers money, without giving in return, not even a cheap little ramen soup? Are they completely crazy? We all don’t have money now too!

Let me translate this for all of you.

Hiroaki Nakanishi, chairman of the Japan Business Federation known as Keidanren, stressed the need for a "greater sense of crisis" to be shared among all people.

Please, please, please! Bring Chinese tourists back! Our economy can't operate without them because all Japanese elites put all of their assets in China. We have to appease China if we want to survive!!

Japanese people, please be more cautious if we want to see any Chinese tourists back. The biggest crisis here is not the pandemic, IT IS the lack of China in our economy.

Facing criticism that the declaration came too late, the government of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is urging companies to make sure that employees work from home or stagger working hours.

Better than nothing. I will just remain to be a stubborn old man who does nothing.

Japan is the Nihon, divine place. All crises will magically disappear! American daddies will help us as usual.

There is no problem in Nihon place.

Mimura asked for "flexible and swift" aid from the government and local authorities to firms that follow requests so that they can stay in business.

Woke Opportunist: My businesses are not performing well because I awfully think Japan is still a magical place where money grows from the trees. I should have become more internationalized and globalized. Mistakes learned.

Okay, I am going to ask those fools in the government to give me free money. It will prop up my businesses, while I will take a huge chunk of them to invest in China and Vietnam. I probably think of retiring in Vietnam after fooling those bureaucrats. Hahaha!! There is no way that Japan can survive after the pandemic. NO WAY!

Nihonjinron dreamer: With government money and all debts are our own, we will never risk any collapse. Japan is the God-chosen land. There is nothing wrong even if my business is underperforming and my family is poorer than those Chinese tourists and Vietnamese workers. I will not ever leave Japan at all! All Gaijins are filthy!

The government made a "grave" decision to declare an emergency, Nakanishi said, asking for effective steps against the virus in the shortest possible span of time.

Please, don't destroy my business! Open borders with China and Vietnam.

"It's essential to maintain employment and businesses from the viewpoint of protecting the lives and livelihoods of citizens and measures toward maintaining social and economic activities are also critical," Nakanishi said.

I will employ people as part-time or temporary workers in the guise of "permanent employment". Basically, all my employees are permanent and can't be fired. However, they will have to work part-time and be underpaid. In the statistics, these people will be labeled as employed. Win-win for both businesses and the government to look good.

I do not understand why Japanese authorities have not yet started vaccinating people, and have no plans to do so for more than a month. Why are no vaccinations being administered?

Of course, it is sheer incompetence and close mindedness.

The LDP has not allowed the wealth of its people to benefit them by blocking free trade and instituting a rule bound society.

There is a reason that vaccines are not present in Japan and why many medical staff here can not believe them to be safe and hence won’t take them.

The rigid system which focuses the gaze on a Japan centric mode of thinking is equivalent to brainwashing...