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More businesses reopen as gov't eyes end to emergency measures in some regions

34 Comments
By Naomi Tajitsu and Kaori Kaneko

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34 Comments
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I do miss Chinatown in Yokohama.

-8 ( +5 / -13 )

Patience is a virtue. Being tested to it's limit here.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Great. Time to move things forward.

9 ( +15 / -6 )

"It would be unfortunate for an infection to occur just as rules are being loosened”

No worries, no one will ever be tested for there to be a reported case. Testing is already way down this week, pretty soon it will be like a complete ban

4 ( +13 / -9 )

Great news!

A functioning society has always relied on the public accepting a reasonable amount of risk.

Every country is in a different situation so there is no model to follow on such a new virus.

Japan needs to open up based on the fact that mortality rates have been low for 4 months. With weekly totals falling, the future looks much brighter.

More testing will obviously indicate a higher infection rate with most being asymptomatic. Governments use these numbers to put more fear in the public, increase their powers, and make illogical decisions which derail the vitally important economy.

The number of people who will suffer and die from the worldwide lock-downs is not going to be pretty. The UN has projected "acute hunger" doubling this year to 265 million. It could have been prevented.

6 ( +18 / -12 )

Across town, sports clubs and karaoke bars were opening for the first time in weeks.

in the UK were on our 5th week with possibly 2 or more to go, before the government think about relaxing the lockdown legislation, so how come Japan is relaxing there dismal, wishy washy, please stop at home, unless your boss say its ok to go to work, request. just about 2 weeks after it was introduced? its only about time for the incubation period for this virus. it really begs the question, are the facts and figures about infection rates and deaths, shall we say, been manipulated?

-9 ( +12 / -21 )

a growing number of the country's businesses are planning to resume operations despite concerns that isolation guidelines were being lifted too early.

Concerns from who? When the numbers have been shown to be falling without disclosing the number of test. There will be no reason for people staying home and businesses staying closed when the message they are getting is falling numbers.

Most people and even the experts don't think there is a correlation between the infection rate and number of pcr test.

9 ( +12 / -3 )

@ Brian Wheway..

30k deaths in Uk from Corona mate..

Bit different to here pal.

12 ( +18 / -6 )

Good !

Japan is already "the?" country with the highest debt of all first world countries by head.

It is not possible to close down for a long time as it will destroy the futures of many many people.

Of course caring for the ones that are in danger is important but caring for the far bigger group that isn't in any actual danger is important as well.

4 ( +9 / -5 )

blahblah22: "Testing is already way down this week, pretty soon it will be like a complete ban"

And that's one ban the government would ACTUALLY enforce. Then when word got out about the scandal they'd just say they had no idea what was happening and choose a receptionist as a scapegoat.

-3 ( +8 / -11 )

When this all started, I heard that people with symptoms were being treated for pneumonia. I’m not sure how factual this information is but I wonder if pneumonia-related infections /deaths have increased. If so, by how much. I’m still very skeptical about the low numbers in Japan especially since they always increase, without fail, after holidays. I will be convinced when the numbers are low from Tuesday-Friday with no public holidays in between.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

looks as if a second wave is inevitable now

-5 ( +8 / -13 )

It is a very good thing! Life is coming back!

Everyone who thinks it is too early, doing the maths about tests and infection numbers every day, and jumping from website to website just to find bad news, are free to lock down themselves in their appartement for many weeks or months.

Nobody said that you should go out and enter shopping malls or restaurants. Everyone is free to do his own lockdown at home.

0 ( +8 / -8 )

The beaches and all the parking lots up and down the coastline in my countryside prefecture are all still blocked off.

We've had zero new infections since April and remaining cases are now in the low two digits.

Meanwhile, campers, joggers, bikers, fishers, golfers and walkers, kids are enjoying themselves, often in pairs or groups, along the riverside parks with their parking lots all open.

It appears this local govt has a disdain for the "outlaw" sport of surfing.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

@Mirai Hayashi

A second wave? For a second wave, you need a first wave!

9 ( +14 / -5 )

@Manikin_head

I’m still very skeptical about the low numbers in Japan especially since they always increase, without fail, after holidays. 

I don't think that mass cover-ups are likely. Under this crisis, pneumonia-related dead at hospital is usually virus-checked (for fear of an in-house outbreak).

Sure, there are corona-related dead bodies found outside hospitals. But should there be a rapid increase in dubious deaths, things must be more visible in open society (just like in NY where lots of bodies are missing or left untreated in public places). There is no significant increase in the total number in Japan (or excess deaths) compared to the same period of the previous year.

Funeral services seem to operate normally. I even hear that they expect a much busier time to come soon because of presumably increased number of suicides!

日本がコロナ死亡者を過小申告している可能性はあるのか?

https://www.newsweekjapan.jp/reizei/2020/04/post-1161_2.php

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

Good news! Open up the economy! The closure of economies/lock down/house arrest will kill far more people than Corona virus......

4 ( +8 / -4 )

All these people going on about the testing. The numbers are down and yet you still want them to go up to prove your misguided point? Let’s say many people are getting it and not being tested, where are all the bodies? Sorry, this isn’t the pandemic you wanted. Report on the number of deaths “from” heart disease and portray that in the media like they are with Covid19 and the whole world will panic again.

-2 ( +6 / -8 )

Nori

I don't think that mass cover-ups are likely. Under this crisis, pneumonia-related dead at hospital is usually virus-checked (for fear of an in-house outbreak).

Not true at all, they don't test the living with clear symtoms why would they waste the limited test resources on the death.

Funeral and Cremation establishment are not taking chances and treating all pneumonia deaths as covid deaths, sealed in body bags and families not allowed to pay their last respect.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Note to the individual citing Japan's large debt. The yen is a fiat currency. 97% of debt is domestic. Japan holds the largest amount of debt owed by the USA. The U.S., owes Japan 1.5 trillion dollars.  Japan’s debt is mostly government bonds.  The Bank of Japan is the biggest holder, it accounts for 46.2% of the Japanese government bonds. However, the Japanese government doesn’t have to pay back the Bank of Japan’s bonds. Because The bank of Japan is a subsidiary company of the Japanese government. Borrowing and lending of money between parent and subsidiary companies is offset in consolidated accounting. Paying interest is not necessary either. So 46% of Japan’s debt is actually not a debt.  And other parts, which occupy the rest of the whole consists of banks, life and non-life insurance, public pensions, and pension funds, these parts are domestic financial firms. In fact, Japan remained the biggest creditor nation for the 28th straight year, according to the Ministry of Finance. The net value of assets held by the government, businesses and individuals stood at 342 trillion yen ($3.10 trillion) at the end of 2018, up 3.7% from the year before. Japan’s net external assets were about 1.3 times higher than those held by Germany, the world’s №2 creditor nation with 261 trillion yen in net assets at the end of 2017.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

looks as if a second wave is inevitable now

A second wave was always inevitable.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Good, time to reopen the world.

Enough damage has been done, let's get the economy back on track.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

'Open, shut them. open, shut them. Give your hands a clap!'

That is where we are headed, globally. It's the new normal.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Thankfully, the country is opening up

Be it health, cleanliness, lack of obesity, treatment, a different strain, whatever.

The low number of deaths and the fact hospitals weren't overrun meansespecially now we are going into summer when hospitals are quiet, it's now impossible to argue that Japan is going to replicate europe or america.

Even if there is a second post reopening wave, it wont be as deadly as other countries for the reasons mentioned above and especially as treatment and understanding of the virus improves everyday.

The only arguement that holds water would be to argue that possibly once the borders are open deaths may increase due to tourists bringing different strains.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

Sadly too many people seem to be thinking "It's over" life can get back to normal now! THOSE are the idiots that are going to get others killed!

This pandemic will not be "over" until there is a safe and reliable vaccination available to everyone!

9 ( +9 / -0 )

Serioulsy if they were smart they would keep it restrained for another 10 days or so, then relax things.

But hey its Japan and none of those in charge in the govt have a fucntioning brain cell anyway so WTF let em all loose.

Expect the enoshima coast line to be jammed up again with idiots, really looking forawrd to the regularyly scheduled traffic jam on the tomei in bound from matsuda or ebina to return to normal too, that was always fun on a sunday afternoon.

only 39 reported cases today in Tokyo , imagine how sick they must have been feeling to have gotten tested .

7 ( +7 / -0 )

The country is opening up!

I am

confused, the State of Emergency is until the end of May, isn’t it?

5 ( +6 / -1 )

A functioning society has always relied on the public accepting a reasonable amount of risk.

you know, it’s hard that you should say this, because I’m feeling the exact same way after a while with all these lockdowns and shut downs. I’m from the US, from New Jersey in fact, (which has the second most infections in the country) and yet I still feel this way.

Because I think the message has obviously been sent, at least you’re in the US anyway, people are being a lot more cautious about this than when they started. So the core message and instructions have obviously been received and practiced by the public at large.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

odd, not “hard”, my mistake. @objective

0 ( +0 / -0 )

A personal acquaintance working on a Covid-19 Ward has just been at home for the two week quarantine period with mild symptoms.

The test result was negative but the hospital already had many infected staff so....

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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