A departure lobby for domestic flights at Tokyo's Haneda airport is crowded with people on Thursday. Photo: KYODO
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Golden Week travel begins despite pleas from governors to stay home

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That photo is horrific. No one should be travelling.

5 ( +50 / -45 )

Tokyo's Haneda airport was busy on Thursday as many people left the capital for domestic destinations during the Golden Week holidays, despite Tokyo Gov Yuriko Koike's request to Tokyoites to stay home during the holiday period which runs until next Wednesday

This is what will happen when government doesn't put any enforcement.

26 ( +46 / -20 )

well unless you stopped the trains and planes, unless you posted police at stations to turn people away, unless you actually did something then something would happen. True story

27 ( +41 / -14 )

a full week super spreader event, like no other

29 ( +50 / -21 )

This is what happens when the government lives in a bubble totally seperate from its citizens. The populace bow and do their own thing, knowing they have no say over any decision the government make. Penalties would help but I wouldn't want to be the cop trying to dish them out. There is a lot of latent anger out there.

35 ( +45 / -10 )

What did they think would happen? Did the J-Gov't really think people would stay home when they just "request" people to do so? Here comes super spread 2021.

40 ( +48 / -8 )

“LudditeToday  06:46 am JST

That photo is horrific. No one should be travelling.”

japanese culture has a way of sucking the joy out of almost everything due to its forced protocol, for lack of a better term. Good for them the people with the marbles to try and enjoy what little time we have “left”. I don’t want to die of corona but I sure as hell ain’t gonna sit at home like a good little sheep doing what this joke of a government request when the ball has been dropped so many times it’s just not funny. If there was a clear plan insight maybe, but the left hand doesn’t know what the right is doing. The only thing they care about is the Olympics and appearances. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again “soft fascism”.Vive la Nihon”. Yes we mask up and are careful, do we buy a word the government say, hell no!!!

43 ( +56 / -13 )

No, no they’re doing exactly as the government wanted. 「Go To」Campaign!

This is what you wanted Suga, Koike. Here’s your bed. Time to sleep in it!

41 ( +44 / -3 )

What gets me is how the government knows what is going to happen, but keeps repeating the same failed game plan. Shouganai na (sarcasm!)

25 ( +30 / -5 )

Only time will tell as to whether this is a complete disaster in the making.

It's sure bad in India, don't people watch international news?

5 ( +19 / -14 )

welcome to Okinawa and have a fun weekend, just follow the protocol and you will be fine

4 ( +19 / -15 )

Let the people make their own choices. It's been over a year, one cannot stay home forever.

1 ( +31 / -30 )

people can travel all they want, as a matter of fact, maybe now people will actually travel more.

shouldnt have closed everything down in the first place as people want to actually enjoy GW...? who knew..?

ill certainly be traveling.

-17 ( +18 / -35 )

If people want to travel, let them travel. Too many hypocrites giving orders to stay home in the government. They can stay home!

11 ( +27 / -16 )

Pleads and urging people to do what they can to help only work on responsible people that would have done it anyway, For those that consider only themselves and their immediate pleasure the ultimate priority will not stop doing what they want with or without any government pleads.

9 ( +31 / -22 )

They move in herds. They DO move in herds.

19 ( +26 / -7 )

If and when the government put's it act together then may be the public will follow the orders or even respect the guidelines.

19 ( +21 / -2 )

YES, Go Travel Japan.

7 ( +13 / -6 )

Many of these people sacrificed GW last year with the hope that the j-gov was working on some plan to eradicate Covid, but instead they saw an inept government basically do nothing. No one has any faith in this administration, so this is what happens.

51 ( +53 / -2 )

Japanese people have been told they're not going to catch covid on the train travelling to work. They're not going to catch it in the workplace. They won't catch it outside. So long as they aren't foreign, aren't drinking beer, aren't at karaoke, they won't catch it, right? Stands to reason that getting on a train to leave Tokyo and see your relative in Sendai isn't any different than sitting on a train 2 hours a day for work.

This is the reality the Japanese government has set up for its people. This is the reality they'll have to deal with.

62 ( +63 / -1 )

Golden Week travel begins despite pleas from governors to stay home

Its ok. Official numbers will drop very quickly as we know, now that the measureless State of Emergency started.

Just wait and witness another miracle. In no time we are back to 100-200 cases in Tokyo so no one questions the Olympics not being cancelled.

32 ( +32 / -0 )

"We have not been able to curb the movement of people. We urge residents to stay home as (more contagious) coronavirus variants are spreading," a Tokyo metropolitan government official said Thursday.

Maybe ‘urging’ isn’t the right approach. Maybe try something with a bit more teeth? Just a thought.

13 ( +19 / -6 )

Just crowd seems okay if they are wearing face mask all the time out there and if they don't talk very loudly and don't make drinking cluster in there. Main infection is spitting saliva face to face while talking each other.

-4 ( +9 / -13 )

As everyone else has said, this is the culmination of a complete lack of leadership on the governments part. People are tired of the ‘one rule for the citizens, another for us’ line that the government has so clearly been treading this entire time with its host club outings, fancy dinners and such. It’s a tragedy that more innocent people will die as a consequence of people’s ambivalence towards COVID nowadays but the government really only have themselves to blame. They proved they time and time again that they care more about the security of the yen than their own people.

19 ( +22 / -3 )

“You can’t help someone that won’t help themselves.”

Lets wait to see a huge spike in virus case numbers next week.

-4 ( +9 / -13 )

“Super spreader events” People still lock themselves up in tiny metal boxes for daily commutes. General public has been heeding what rules and regulations they been asked to follow. With the numbers of COVID relatively low in comparison to other countries, people are getting restless and have decided to take the risk. After all they take that risk daily on their commutes. Hopefully the numbers won’t get out of control. We’ll see...

14 ( +17 / -3 )

This could be worse than GO-TO- TRAVEL, but I ain't No expert!

5 ( +10 / -5 )

Not long ago there was a Go To Travel campaign and people were encouraged to travel and Government ministers endlessly said it was perfectly safe. And then there is a SOE, or is it just a quasi SOE, that basically says the virus comes out only after 8 PM ( or is it 9 PM, this seems to vary) and only in restaurants and bars and recently only if you drink alcohol. And the same officials in charge of all this still seemed to be doing the exact opposite going out in groups to these same places. Now people are supposed to believe these same people that they need to stay home and not travel.

32 ( +34 / -2 )

So many of you want gov't officials and bureaucrats ordering everyone home? You want police at shutdown stations turning people away? Military men with weapons at airports ordering people back home? You want police in parks threatening to arrest parents with children for daring to go outside? You want roving bands of UK style "Covid Enforcement" patrols stopping people walking down the street demanding to know where they are going and where they live? Man some of you really want to be ruled by an iron fist dictator. North Korea and China are not too far away you know, you can move there. Not me, I prize my freedom too much.

-4 ( +18 / -22 )

After watching the news on TV about this very same topic yesterday, everyone they interviewed said pretty much the same thing. Last year's stay-at-home request was tolerable because it was new, but another year of not seeing their family in other prefectures was too much.

Doesn't the government have 14 million unused doses of vaccines? How many will go bad because of the incredibly slow rollout? Personally, I would be more interested in listening to what they have to say and be more apt to follow their requests if they managed the rollout better and were on top of things, but sadly that's not the case.

18 ( +19 / -1 )

I am glad there isn’t tougher government or police enforcement. That’s a good thing that Japan isn’t doing that against its citizens. Have you seen what has happened in Australia, England or some parts of the US? That is the horrific part.

Plus, the focus is on cases now but the death rate keeps going down. The narrative is cases. Enjoy the fact that you can choose what you want to do and not be forced to do so.

-7 ( +13 / -20 )

Not long ago there was a Go To Travel campaign and people were encouraged to travel and Government ministers endlessly said it was perfectly safe. And then there is a SOE, or is it just a quasi SOE, that basically says the virus comes out only after 8 PM ( or is it 9 PM, this seems to vary) and only in restaurants and bars and recently only if you drink alcohol. And the same officials in charge of all this still seemed to be doing the exact opposite going out in groups to these same places. Now people are supposed to believe these same people that they need to stay home and not travel.

Exactly this!!

3 ( +11 / -8 )

This is not news anymore

11 ( +14 / -3 )

Why people should Suddenly AGAIN cancel their trips or whatever they planned already for weeks or months without enforcement. The government and governors always ask a few days before, and this has been the case . Many do not listen anymore, seeing their politicians doing media performances specially when knowing some are enjoying steak diners, night bars, etc....

And many do question the lack of hospital capacities after one year of pandemic. I have heard a big city like Sendai has only 10 beds for covid severe cases

Go To is back

17 ( +18 / -1 )

Not long ago there was a Go To Travel campaign and people were encouraged to travel and Government ministers endlessly said it was perfectly safe. And then there is a SOE, or is it just a quasi SOE, that basically says the virus comes out only after 8 PM ( or is it 9 PM, this seems to vary) and only in restaurants and bars and recently only if you drink alcohol. And the same officials in charge of all this still seemed to be doing the exact opposite going out in groups to these same places. Now people are supposed to believe these same people that they need to stay home and not travel.

The Government is just testing their power to see how far they can go to control people. The people are not having it. The New world order will fail because the people refuse to participate. Freedom is every human's birthright. Power to the people.

11 ( +20 / -9 )

Urge people to stay home.

Don’t worry, next Thursday, you can go out, back to work

20 ( +21 / -1 )

This a blow back from the govts fumbling bumbling mumbling stumbling and failure, people are not going to lay down any longer and listen to the govt and koike bang on about the olympic games while they are making huge sacrifices in terms of quality of life, their family and their free time, 2 years in a row.

The govt still partying in Ginza and carrying on like no tomorrow but the average person has had enough, here is what that looks like.

Live your life it is meant to be lived and enjoy it , stop cowering , enough is enough.

15 ( +17 / -2 )

The message from the government is we are in a state of emergency, but the action of not cancelling the olympics tells us everything is ok. Classic case of don’t do as I do, but do as I say. If you want people to take the emergency status seriously the olympics must be cancelled..

22 ( +22 / -0 )

Horrific as this picture is, it's no worse than Shinagawa station has been every day, or my morning commute.

The only difference seems to be that at the end of this bundling together of people, there is the possibility of sitting outside with loved ones - maybe on a beach, with clean fresh air and sunlight dispersing the virus, rather than a hermetically-sealed office, with blinds drawn and fluorescent lighting and a dozen oyajis sitting there snorting with thier masks on their chins until it's time to get another sardine tin train home again, rinse and repeat.

As Kobe said above - try as the government might to suck the joy out of everything (except their luxury steak dinners and hostess clubs, the tabs for which, let us not forget, we taxpayers pick up every single time) - people are starting to realise that we have only one life to live, and this is probably the last Golden Week we're gonna get before the tax hikes come in to start paying for the Five Ring Circus which is guaranteed to be an abysmal failure none of us want.

If it's safe to crowd onto trains and sit in airless offices for 10 hours a day, don't look down on people for seizing one precious chance of enjoyment in their micromismanaged lives.

Mask up, get outside and enjoy the sunshine and your leisure.

24 ( +27 / -3 )

This is good to see. There comes a time when even the normally compliant Japanese say “screw you” to their rulers, that they’re sick of the lies and double standards, the daily disinformation. Of course, bad behavior by government everywhere is as natural as the sun rising, and finally more and more Japanese people won’t swallow it. Good for them. I live in hope, but maybe this is a sign that the thoroughly evil COVID passport idea will fall flat as well.

11 ( +20 / -9 )

Urge people to stay home over GW. lol. For a lot of people today isnt even a holiday.

15 ( +15 / -0 )

Turn off your TV, stop reading the news- Corona virus will disappear!

12 ( +16 / -4 )

anon99999Today  08:28 am JST

Not long ago there was a Go To Travel campaign and people were encouraged to travel and Government ministers endlessly said it was perfectly safe. And then there is a SOE, or is it just a quasi SOE, that basically says the virus comes out only after 8 PM ( or is it 9 PM, this seems to vary) and only in restaurants and bars and recently only if you drink alcohol. And the same officials in charge of all this still seemed to be doing the exact opposite going out in groups to these same places. Now people are supposed to believe these same people that they need to stay home and not travel.

Yep. Once you understand that officials do not give a flying fedora about anyone beyond their immediate circle, their behavior makes perfect sense. With a few exceptions, they’re attracted to government and public bureaucracy because it offers them power without real accountability. They know they can order us to do one thing while doing the opposite themselves because there’s no penalty for doing the wrong thing - they’re only punished when a scapegoat is needed or someone betrays the inner circle and let’s the truth slip out. They know that there’s very little risk to most of the population from this virus, which is why they go out living it up; if they were truly fearful their private behavior would indicate that. But clearly they’re not.

5 ( +14 / -9 )

For those that consider only themselves and their immediate pleasure the ultimate priority will not stop doing what they want with or without any government pleads.

Who do you think you are to judge people? Who do you think you are? What do you know about those people to judge them? I will go to Hokkaido to see my family during GW. And going there does not make me irresponsible or you more responsible than me since I have not been gathering in big crowds for more than a year, I have been wearing a mask inside crowded places, mostly teleworking and so on.

-8 ( +12 / -20 )

Everyone here should know by now they'll do whatever they can to suppress numbers in the following couple weeks. It was the same last year for GW, obon, etc.

11 ( +12 / -1 )

Old man -

Let the people make their own choices. It's been over a year, one cannot stay home forever.

"Staying home forever"? Umm, you realize pretty much no-one has been staying home for a year, right?

Anyway, seeing as there is effectively no testing and tracing, and the Olympics are guaranteed no matter the spread, no amount of "urging" or "pleas" will make any difference now. Glad Im nowhere near that airport though.

9 ( +15 / -6 )

@R Barnett

Care to elaborate further on what has happened in Australia? It may seem draconian to you but despite some grumblings here I’d say most Aussies don’t have a problem with our response. After all, our numbers attest to that.

It’s a fine line these restrictions, I know, but the alternative could be worse. I just wish the Japanese government had been quicker off the bat in all this .

14 ( +18 / -4 )

R Barnett -

Plus, the focus is on cases now but the death rate keeps going down. 

Id love to know which data you are looking at. The death toll is most certainly trending UP in Japan and around the world. It takes 2-3 weeks for the spike in cases to be reflected in deaths so unfortunately that trend will continue barring a miracle and/or rapid vaccination.

11 ( +14 / -3 )

Just a glance at the photo above, indicates calling a state of emergency, actually means diddly squat.

Just read below, the risk of contagion is quite literally staring you in the face.

Contagious and concerning: What we know about COVID-19 variants.

https://japantoday.com/category/features/health/contagious-and-concerning-what-we-know-about-covid-19-variants-1

These hapless fools possibly visiting venerable relatives could be presenting them with a death sentence.

Every member of staff is working over the holiday break,

With the incentive of additional time off, over and above the holiday period allowance, plus double time and bonus. To be taken when it is safe to travel.

10 ( +12 / -2 )

If the people of Japan want to avoid the devastating death toll, along with the grief experienced by the families in the UK, then they will have to start listening and taking heed.

A state of emergency, means exactly that.

Deaths United Kingdom

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/deaths

5 ( +10 / -5 )

If they asked everyone if they would rather enjoy GW or the Olympics, I bet most would choose GW. But the government is pushing the exact opposite.

Anyway, if you do not want to travel, stay home, nobody is forcing you to travel. But the rest of us realize what this virus is and are willing to take that very small risk...

-3 ( +7 / -10 )

Everything will be fine so long as no one opens a beer or a chu hai after 8 pm there will be no problem

18 ( +19 / -1 )

R BarnettToday 08:42 am JST

''I am glad there isn’t tougher government or police enforcement. That’s a good thing that Japan isn’t doing that against its citizens. Have you seen what has happened in Australia, ''

What are you even on about?? You mean Australia in the acytual world we live in. The country that has essentially eradicated Covid, and in most cities enjoy life as normal? That Australia?

Short term enforced and subsidized lock downs work. You don't lose any 'freedom'.

12 ( +17 / -5 )

But the rest of us realize what this virus is and are willing to take that very small risk...

The problem is not people taking a risk for themselves, is people increasing the risk of spreading the disease to others and the pressure on health care systems that are strained even at this point. People are free to do it since the government only request people to refrain from doing it, those that understand this correctly are the ones that also understand the huge value of not contributing to the problem.

Who do you think you are to judge people? Who do you think you are? What do you know about those people to judge them? 

Sorry if you apparently feel unjustified in your own decision, but you got the comment backwards. For responsible people that understand the risk involved and wish to be part of the solution the request and pleas are unnecessary, they will already be doing their best to avoid putting others at risk, on the other hand people that do not care about others and will act only according to their own priorities will not listen either and will keep doing anything they had planned as long as it is not made illegal. In either case the pleas are superfluous.

5 ( +12 / -7 )

"We have not been able to curb the movement of people. We urge residents to stay home as (more contagious) coronavirus variants are spreading," a Tokyo metropolitan government official said Thursday.

That's because nobody wants to listen to a bunch of idiots like you guys who say one thing but do another yourselves. Your policies also are highly inconsistent and have no teeth, so this is what happens.

13 ( +13 / -0 )

The blind leading the blind...

11 ( +11 / -0 )

Selfish!

Why are so many people traveling? So selfish and a lack of common sense I would think. Why are you living in a place that you don’t want to be on your vacation? I’m happy to stay in my little town and go surfing on my holidays!

-2 ( +8 / -10 )

No, No, No moderator. Not offensive or vulgar at all. The world must plan ahead. Other countries must plan ahead, and stop all incoming travel from Japan. Your very headline would suggest that Japan is not taking thimgs seriously enough.

12 ( +12 / -0 )

The Japanese Government is a joke..and Japanese news/reporters are even a bigger joke..why put people in hotels if your so called state emergency still has people traveling and moving freely..JOKE...Stop the Olympics and that show the Government you cant bull your way to the games...I am in hotel and I cant order hot food why you may ask..it may cause a fire...true..ordering take out like Pizza causes a fire..get rid of this Japanese stupid government

11 ( +11 / -0 )

Enjoy life. While you can. Go to the beach or mountains or river.

2 ( +7 / -5 )

Somebody said to me the other day that this virus is very intelligent the way it spreads and mutates.

I said, the virus has no intelligence. It is the stupidity of it's human hosts, either innefective politicians or irresponsible people, that allow it to spread and mutate.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

„A wild, traveling citizen appears!“

“J-Gov uses „urging“ !“

“….but it failed!“

“Citizen uses „superspreader“!“

“It’s very effective!”

”J-Gov fainted!”

1 ( +2 / -1 )

自民党(Jiminto)Corona Olympic effect

4 ( +4 / -0 )

This is going to be the biggest wave in Japan. They will call this one a tsunami.

0 ( +6 / -6 )

Shameful behaviour by the Japanese public. They really couldn't give a damn.

I thought people here had more sense, followed the rules etc etc.

-1 ( +9 / -10 )

Kobe White Bar OwnerToday  07:02 am JST

“LudditeToday  06:46 am JST

That photo is horrific. No one should be travelling.”

japanese culture has a way of sucking the joy out of almost everything due to its forced protocol, for lack of a better term. Good for them the people with the marbles to try and enjoy what little time we have “left”. I don’t want to die of corona but I sure as hell ain’t gonna sit at home like a good little sheep doing what this joke of a government request when the ball has been dropped so many times it’s just not funny. If there was a clear plan insight maybe, but the left hand doesn’t know what the right is doing. The only thing they care about is the Olympics and appearances. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again “soft fascism”.Vive la Nihon”. Yes we mask up and are careful, do we buy a word the government say, hell no!!!

So many comments that are on the mark today, as usual, and yours encapsulates just how I happen to feel. I hope everyone enjoys Golden Week and does whatever they can to stay as safe as possible.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Many of us try to take reasonable precautions. However, this is likely to last another year what with the horribly slow vaccine rollout and abysmal testing availability. Is it, then, a reasonable precaution to spend a couple of years between home and work (possibly commuting on overcrowded trains)? All that while the leaders keep talking about holding an international superspreader event?

I've met people with delusional ideas of Japanese immunity and (sigh) superior hygiene. Most of the people I know, however, have been very cooperative. The problem is that we are not machines, but get treated as such. By now, much of the public knows that the J govenment had the resources for an efficient responses but put corporate capital first.

Anyway, anger and frustration aren't antidotes to viral infection. This might turn out to be a grimmer version of what happener after last year's GoTo campaign.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

The Govt will just blunder on until after the Olympics, it is only then that the REAL figures will be made known.

Its called selling the country a lie, all for the sake of not loosing face.

10 ( +10 / -0 )

Wonderful to see so many travelling to see their friends and loved ones. The conspiracy theorists want you to believe that Covid will devastate the planet without lockdowns and draconian measures. Yet we see a very low death toll compared to many nations without lockdowns. Lockdowns take a terrible toll on people’s mental and physical health and divide nations.

Japan is doing well, all considering, go out and enjoy the lovely weather, I know I will.

-4 ( +9 / -13 )

Cool, good on them! My fam, friends and I will be joining them tomorrow, I'm glad people didn't fall for the fearmongering.

3 ( +10 / -7 )

This is worrying. Too much, too soon. Especially with infection numbers going up.

-4 ( +7 / -11 )

a lot of comments about it being as busy as other working days at hub stations.

That may be true but in this case the people from Tokyo (and probably hard hit places such as Osaka and Nagoya) are going to rural spots.

That is the biggest concern. If people could get tested easily they could make a more informed decision to travel or not. I hope people who would see a positive would cancel. That not being the case, it’s a high risk of spreading to prefectures and small towns that definitely not have capacity to cope with an outbreak.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Difficult to tolerate, but understandable...Better one of the last traveling experiences now than never again. Or do you think, you will stand a 10th or 20th infection wave? You surely won’t.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

Spending the time in the Great Outdoors! Away from crowds, with fresh air and sunshine!

5 ( +8 / -3 )

Pleas to stay home -Carry no bite in this country.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

Heading to Japan! Can't wait to get to the beautiful beaches of Okinawa. This Airplane is full!

-5 ( +5 / -10 )

Regardless of your personal feelings on COVID-19 (i.e. to stay home or not), you have to wonder if the government is so out of touch with reality as to not realize that this would be a product of their half-hearted measures, policies unfairly targeting "fun" establishments, government workers hypocritically enjoy themselves in those "fun" establishments and obsession with looking good to the world for the Olympics.

All these policies have treated the average person unfairly, taken out all the (retail, restaurant, entertainment) joy out of life, yet still put them in danger, i.e. commuting back and forth in a stuffy train to work in a stuffy office.

Basically the government is saying, "you should stay home and work from home or ride the train to go to the office and work but you should not be shopping, you should not be eating, drinking or having any resemblance of fun especially during the times you normally would have fun such as GW. You should listen to what we say not what we do, because our ultimate goal is for the numbers to lower so we look good for the Olympics even it means that YOU sacrifice your enjoyment in life."

10 ( +10 / -0 )

I can see the J news head lines in about 10 days time, " covid 19 infections have shot up in all areas"

5 ( +7 / -2 )

I think that the present and the former governments have been doing great job regarding covid scare/pandemic:

The government did not do any hard lockdowns - so you were not treated as prisoner watching your business being destroyed. The government tells you - avoid nonessential travel etc. So, act sensibly.

The gov. does not punish you. Appreciate it. Going outdoors is not forbidden! And working is a must - otherwise we will destroy the economy.

Sounds horribly? Compare the situation here with that in EU, UK or US.

Yamanaka should focus on his job.

-9 ( +3 / -12 )

Green car Shinkansen space was wide open. We had no issues to get to our destination.

-5 ( +4 / -9 )

They should have made travel illegal like they did here in the UK - this is only going to create a wider spread of the virus in Japan. Like some others have said, the Indians allowed festivals to take place, and they are dying! The Japanese are not immune to the virus, the people and the JGov need to realise this and start taking it seriously

5 ( +10 / -5 )

how about combining two things at once, people at airports with vaccination kiosks?

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Moderna arrived by airport, there are people at the airport.... vaccinate at the airport, yeah?

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Japan will not take seriously the pandemic and will continue to pretend that everything is under control until the end of the Olympics.

Maybe (maybe) after the Olympics governors will wake up.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

"We have not been able to curb the movement of people. We urge residents to stay home as (more contagious) coronavirus variants are spreading,"

Told ya! They could have easily curbed travel by making legislation to ban it. But, they won't, and so they won't curb travel. And if they don't do that, they won't curb the virus.

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

Wow this pandemic is never going to end , people literally do not care at all .

2 ( +6 / -4 )

How about a "Go to nowhere" campaign? Where transportation, highway fees, etc. get a nice extra charge so people find more expensive to travel during the state of emergency? Either people stay home or there is an extra amount of cash to support the hospitals treating covid patients.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Almost like people have had enough of all this nonsense and are not scared anymore. Shocker!

1 ( +5 / -4 )

Sitting in our hotel room now and checked out the news. People moving and traveling everywhere and that is the way it should be. Wear a mask and wash the hands.

-2 ( +5 / -7 )

If predictions are right then around May 14th should see the biggest daily numbers in Tokyo. Let’s see.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

@Thunderbird2

very glad we didn’t go own the U.K. route here. U.K. with half the population has 15 times the deaths, despite 3 draconian lockdowns. Many fined for going out, rich not effected by the fins of course. A divided nation with half the population vaccinated still in fear of another lockdown. That’s not what we want

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

I just don't see the appeal of travelling as things stand: Always wearing a mask, worried about people being too close, coughing on me, washing hands far more often than usual, crap vaccination program in place...

That's not really a holiday or the true holiday mood.

I honestly don't understand the logic of those deciding to travel at this time..same as the ridiculous Go To Travel thing, and packing into restaurants before 8pm.

I feel it just delays life getting back to normal for people that aren't so selfish.

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

By the way, I'd absolutely love to travel with my wife and little daughter, but it just doesn't feel right or safe at the moment.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

@ John Noun, living in fear of such a mini threat is harmful to you and possibly your loved ones too. Please check how few have been hospitalised and died compared to population. You will see this is not an an Armageddon type virus. Life is to enjoy not exist in fear. Take sensible precautions and enjoy fun times outside with your loved ones.

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

People should really look at what's happening in India before they decide to cram together and travel. I know that we're all eager to get things back to normal, but we won't get there until we can get the virus under control. It's time to think of the other person now instead of ourselves.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

false

Tell that to the 3 million who have died so far...

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Tell that to the 3 million who have died so far...

No one falls for that silliness anymore. Anyone with a brain knows the avg age of a supposed Covid death is exactly that of the overall life expectancy.

Ordinary citizens see the reality, largely dismiss the many hypochondriacs out there, and like the people in the above photo are getting on living their lives while the losers continue to embarrass themselves on a daily basis.

Its wonderful to see.

-5 ( +3 / -8 )

They should have made travel illegal like they did here in the UK

how about no.

How about a "Go to nowhere" campaign? Where transportation, highway fees, etc. get a nice extra charge so people find more expensive to travel during the state of emergency?

how about another no.

fearmongering is done. this thing lasted long enough. for those who are scared and want to stay home, great, by all means...

for the rest of us, we will live and enjoy life. no more telling us what to do or not to do.

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

@thomasgoodtimes

Yes, you've hit the nail on the head.

Terribly selfish from the Japanese.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

@ Thomas Goodtime

I understand what you are saying and indeed the government here are being useless at dealing with this and give contradictory messages with their Go To then SOE’s. I will continue to carry on as I am unless the situation became much worse. I cannot see that happening with the way Japanese are, with almost all wearing masks and generally people are more distanced in their lives, not including public transport of course. If a mutant strain appeared that was more deadly I would change my behaviour accordingly.

I decided to look at how things are in Japan only, I have no concern about India, U.K. or anywhere else, not because I don’t care but because each nation is different and how the virus effects each nation is different.

if we began to see mass deaths I’m sure the public attitude would change as would my own

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

In the UK anybody who wants to self test can do so.

I feel perfectly safe here with the curve flattening to almost nothing.

Japan is so way behind that it is like watching paint dry...

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Kuriisupisu

Please do t use the U.K. as any example. 150000 deaths, country divided, food banks and poverty. We don’t need to emulate that here and I’m British BTW

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

Steve- I think the vast majority of Japanese have the same outlook as you. Take sensible precautions, but that doesn't mean you go into hiding. We've had over a year to assess how to deal with it.

Frankly, COVID's impact in Japan has not matched the headlines and rhetoric. Japan's mortality rate went down last year!

0 ( +2 / -2 )

@ Thomas Goodtime

The U.K. poverty rate was 22% in 2020. A sad but true fact caused by decades of neglect of the poor by the ruling classes

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

chikv Apr. 30  05:21 pm JST

How about a "Go to nowhere" campaign? Where transportation, highway fees, etc. get a nice extra charge so people find more expensive to travel during the state of emergency? Either people stay home or there is an extra amount of cash to support the hospitals treating covid patients.

That's a pretty authoritarian approach. Feel free to stay home and let people make up their own minds. Or even better, put your money where your mouth is and donate some of your own money to hospitals etc. if you think they need more resources.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

There are ignorant people and do care about others. Very sad.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Can't wait to see the jump in COVID cases come mid-May. This is what the Japanese govt. gets by simply "requesting" people to stay at home. This latest SoE is about as effective as putting a fish on a bicycle - people don't feel the sense of urgency and caution anymore and would rather go about living their lives then to spend what is possibly their only weeklong break twiddling their thumbs at home. I wonder what it'll take for the government to actually rewrite some of constitution and enforce a proper lockdown - when a new mutant strain more powerful than all the current mutant strains combined start dropping people like flies on the street?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Countless Japanese (and others) are ignoring Governors' pleas to stay home and some 300 people per day are going against their pledges to self-quarantine.

Meanwhile, back at the Olympics--

"Diving and volleyball on Saturday became the first Olympic test events to include international athletes since such competitions resumed last month, as both got under way under close supervision in Tokyo."

[Break].

"We're not allowed out of our rooms, where you have to stay... - no outdoor air, no human interaction," said U.S. women's diver Sarah Bacon. "But we've been making it work." (Says the brave girl.)

Look, with no ill intent meant, this pandemic is Japan's pandemic. What people here do or don't do will determine how the pandemic will turn out. Japan in this way is like every other country fighting the pandemic.

What excuses do people have to travel or discard the quarantine? Grandma is lonely. Boyfriend wants to see girlfriend. We'll be extra careful (yeah). We want to be free. And good old unspoken rule: This doesn't apply to us.

What I am describing is not unique to Japan. The situation was infinitely worse in the U.S. under Trump. The anti-maskers of the U.S. are fortunately not here. Here in Japan everyone wears masks too many Japanese people lack the not difficult disciple the Governors and others are asking for.

This is OUR pandemic. The virus takes all comes, nationality notwithstanding.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

For "disciple" read "discipline."

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I'm a Japanese citizen; I've lived here in Japan most of my life. But I have never understood the impulse to do what one thinks everyone else is doing, all at the same time. Even before COVID, my idea of a pleasant GW was to stay close to home...That having been said, I must add that I also don't understand those who can't say a good word about Suga (or any other LDP politician) and then turn around and call for authoritarian measures to keep people in line...I am old and out of shape and venture forth only when necessary, and yet I am also skeptical about much of what we're told. The fact is that elsewhere, particularly in America, "big-government" types are clearly taking advantage of the COVID crisis (if that is what it is) in order to promote their paternalistic/control-freak agenda. More people have died of drug overdoses in the disaster area that is San Francisco than of COVID. What is the government doing about the mentally ill sleeping on the streets, with their needles and human waste? Worse than nothing...Its stock response to every question: Blame Trump and wear a mask--forever...I'm not terribly confident in Japanese politicians, especially when I think about the ongoing Olympics scam. But 日本はまだいいほうですよ。

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Good Lord some of you people would just love to have the gov't walk all over you, and you'd like others to as well.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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