Gov't alcohol ban blunder shows limits in anti-virus measures

".......Combined with the CDC's announcement that you should still wear facemasks when indoors even if you're fully inoculated just shows that we're making it up as we go along. Just hope that we're not making a repeat of the thalidomide disaster......"

It is an absolute sh**show for sure.....but muddying the waters by using Thalidomide as a comparative is wrong too. It's apples and oranges.....thalidomide was a drug.....a chemical that binds to pathways and receptors in our bodies. Disrupting our chemical pathways......The vaccine is not and does not. Vaccines don't work that way, they never have. There is a risk of course, no medication or therapy can be said to be 100% safe, but it's a calculated one. It's not just the wild west.

mRNA technology as means of therapeutic delivery has been studied for decades, this gave them the perfect opportunity to use it. While covid-19 is a novel coronavirus, coronaviruses themselves are not new and have been extensively studied for decades. Due in part to the fact they were identified as a likely zoonotic jump between animals and humans. This means that all the usual early experiments and tests that a new vaccine will go through has already been done. They were able to amend technology and observations and apply them to this one........they weren't starting from the very bottom of the mountain....more like they were starting at stage 5 (Mt Fuji anyone?!) or even a bit higher.

Reading many threads and having many many many conversations, it strikes me that most people just don't understand how vaccines and their own immune systems actually work. People seem to have a distorted image of what a vaccine is, what it does and how it works.

the problem isn't alcohol.....it's a combination of inept vaccination protocols and holding the worlds largest sports event in the middle of a pandemic.

Meanwhile, I'm packed cheek-to-jowl on a train - in Kyushu!

Statistics can be easily manipulated to support your side of the argument, such as the following shows.... namely you're more likely to die if admitted to Hospital if you:ve had 2 jabs, than if not or just 1.

COVID-19: Data shows vaccines reduce risk of hospitalisation and death - but you need to read it with a clear head | UK News | Sky News

Combined with the CDC's announcement that you should still wear facemasks when indoors even if you're fully inoculated just shows that we're making it up as we go along. Just hope that we're not making a repeat of the thalidomide disaster.

You dont need to consume alcohol in order to speak loudly... bunch of local japanese were shouting over the table to each other at a restaurant I went to.. no alcohol there, nor any red faces....

The hesitancy and the hot and cold treatment is the worst thing about this government. Half-baked measures end up making things worse.

Where are the subsidies for loss of business?

That’s right there aren’t any.

People cannot exist without aid!!!

I'm impressed that the Japanese are doing more to ignore the snake oil unscientific approach than Western countries https://academic.oup.com/cesifo/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cesifo/ifab003/6199605

Plenty of research has different conclusions:

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/371/6531/eabd9338

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-020-01009-0

Shameful PM Suga tried to push responsibility of blunder to Nishimura only despite decision as government.

Present LDP regime who dislike monetary compensation to people intend to use frustration of general public against insufficient measures, to revise Constitution.

I wish people would at least keep the Olympics out of this. In essence, the Olympics is not an "in-family" commitment, but an external one. Keeping your external commitments come first unless you don't care how it would effect everything you do in the future.

Seems to me that the recent unwillingness of more and more restaurants to comply is likely driven by a lack of solidarity from other businesses. I've said it here before - it is arguably reasonable to ask EVERYONE to make some sacrifices in order to contain a pandemic. However, it is completely unreasonable to ask only one sector of the economy to do it.

Had Japan Inc got its act together and ensured that sufficient numbers of office workers stayed home (say 50%) then we'd have relatively safe trains and relatively safe offices. There is no reason why the government couldn't have introduced punitive measures on companies who failed to comply - as they have with restaurants. Companies have now had a year and a half to work out how to do this, and largely haven't. So who can blame a restaurant who says "I've been doing my bit for ages - why should I keep closing when offices are open, cafes are open, shops are open, and the Olympics is on?"

@justasking,

So you mean shift the burden to businesses that rent properties? Just asking.

@justaskingToday 12:35 pm JST

The government should have stopped fixed costs such as rents, instead of forcing businesses to carry the burden of the pandemic.

Do you realize you've just advocated for the government to be allowed to interfere with property rights without a basis in statutory law?

which is too little to cover fixed costs such as rent,

The government should have stopped fixed costs such as rents, instead of forcing businesses to carry the burden of the pandemic.

With the way life has become for the average worker, if you take away the alcohol you will find yourself with a riot on your hands.

Alcohol has become the lubricant that keeps the machine from falling apart.

They're just making it up as the go along.

Gov't blunder

Thats all you really need to see in the article.

That’s all they’ve been doing since the………..beginning of time really.

But most certainly since the pandemic has been going on.

We all know what’s holding Japan back. Until the real cancer is gone, does it really matter?

Nothing will change for the better.

Without a penalty it’s nothing more than an advisory.

"Suga's administration probably gave priority to being portrayed as being strict in dealing with the virus, rather than being effective. It was erratic policymaking and just political grandstanding."

The governments attempt to create positive optics has instead caused negative effects for real people. Meanwhile, the plan to distract us with shiny objects (the Olympics) hasn't worked either.

What will be the next diversion?

Further proof about the ineptness of the government and  bureaucracy here in Japan.

They have had over a year and a half to get something into place, but have failed miserably!

Totally unfair to just target bars and restaurants, what about coffee shops, shopping malls, amusement parks and other crowded businesses.

Small businesses have suffered enough, and paid a very heavy price while waiting on the government to make up it's mind.

Since its first virus emergency last spring that disrupted many social and economic activities, Japan has refrained from going into the kind of hard lockdown some major cities around the world have imposed and has largely relied on the voluntary cooperation of the public and businesses, with steps mainly focused on restricting the operations of eateries.

It has been said many times since the beginning of the pandemic, but the government has has no problem restricting freedom of movement when there is a disaster, visits by VIPs and special events.

The reason the LDP has relied on "the voluntary cooperation of the public and businesses" is they are lazy, entitled and inflexible. Maintaining the status quo for Japan Inc. , going so far as promoting tourism during the pandemic with corporate subsidies was another reason. And not having to distribute broad based compensation to workers and small business was another major reason.

Whatever one thinks of ;partial lockdowns as an effective virus control measure, the fact that bars and restaurants are especially restricted is neither logical nor fair on them

""The blunder by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's administration also exposed the limitations to a request-based approach to getting businesses to restrict their operations a year and a half into the health crisis, they said.""

Instead of Blackmailing businesses how about focusing on VACCINATING the general public and STOP trashing vaccines.

Request-based measures work well when the government has gained public confidence, but the emergency has been repeated as many as four times

You can not gain the public confidence or trust, if you put stupid restrictions, like alcohol ban on them, and at the same time you are holding a sports event and let 1000s of people coming into the country.

If you want to gain the trust of the people, speed up the vaccine roll out.

Make it easier for people who wants to get vaccinated, to get the vaccine. Stop this stupid burocacy which is behind it.

Make things easier for people who wants to get tested, to get the test. Here same, Stop this stupid burocacy which is behind this. And make it free of charge.

If you want the restaurants to be closed, pay them enough compensation money.

Force companies, if their workers want to work from home, to let them work from home. Force this stupid old managers to bring their companies in the 21st century.

Stop nonstop considering and holding hundreds of meaningless meetings until a decision will be made.

Speed Of Action is the keyword during a pandemic.

Then, maybe then, you can get back some trust from the public.

In much of 2020-21, an abbreviated form of the headline suffices;

“Gov't blunders” -

The current government deserves all the scorn, resistance and civil disobedience it gets. While I don’t go out drinking at night, I’m 100% behind the bar owners.

with steps mainly focused on restricting the operations of eateries.

steps? Like the go to eat campaign?

or the short lived telework idea originally for the Olympic period, but was actually, would actually be a positive thing short of a proper lockdown.

The government are not hamstrung by legal issues it’s hamstrung with its total lack of intelligence.

I really feel for restaurant owners who are made the scapegoats again and again. Meanwhile, trains and pachinkos remain as packed as ever as the government turns a blind eye on them. Ridiculous.

The government realized that you cannot forever restrict the right of people to earn a proper living.