Major Japanese cities quiet after state of emergency declared

I like the guy on the bottom right. He is on a skateboard. Saw him yesterday too and we both nodded to one another.

"We have employees working from home, but there are tasks that force me to come to the office, such as dealing with documents that need to be signed with a seal," he said.

Welcome to the 21st Century Mr JR Executive!

Not where I live! It is business as usual in Tokyo. My Japanese friends went to the office. The only difference is they can come in at various times to avoid crowds.

Yesterday after the announcement, people in my neighborhood were out like it was the weekend.

You can tell who didn't have to work the next day. There is also this small family owned izakaya in my neighborhood. The guy lives in the residence above his place. Many of the establishments are like this in my neighborhood. It holds about 9-10 people. Like most of the places where I live, they allow indoor smoking. They were busy and filled until 1.

Some medium business closed: Yes!

Large businesses: No, reduced hours!

Mom and Pop businesses: Definitely not!

Tokyo has not announced its plan yet. Koike is still negotiating with the national government and neighboring prefectures. Koike will announce Tokyo plan on 4/10.

Her plan, shown before Abe's emergency declaration, includes closing barbershops and beauty salons, home centers, etc - as opposed to the national government's plan. Hopefully her plan prevails.

I closed my English school in Osaka. But still teaching one day a week out of my home in Nara. That income stoppage will hurt. But I feel it’s a sacrifice for the good considering the situation.

There is absolutely no need to use an "official" seal with most documents. That is the registered one you use with the bank, etc.

If you can use a non registered seal (99% of the time it's ok) then you can just scan it in as a .PNG and electronically affix it to the document and return it via email. We already the do this with documents that would otherwise need to be signed by hand.

There is absolutely no reason to go to the office to sign documents with a seal. That can and should he done electronically.

Japanese companies that force employees to come into affix seal to a couple of documents really need their heads examined.

It seems almost all people listened good to the prime minister Abe last night. It seems no problem while they walk sparsely and try to avoid crowds as much as possible.

I wonder why Aichi isn't one of the prefectures being "locked" down. They have double the cases as Fukuoka and Hokkaido and even more than Hyogo.

It is the right way to go.

Tora it really depends what line of business and what the documents are, some MUST be official seal , change of vehicle registration being one.

Nobuo Toku mentioned in the article at 74 years, feels that he has to go to work?

He should be enjoying his retirement.

Well, how many others are in the same situation and what will happen to them when months later when they do not t have any money to live on?

It's fascinating how there has been a large uptick in people taking up jogging in my area.

In the UK when this virus started rearing its ugly head, we saw the death toll start rising every where in the world, so our government said please stop at home and keep away from people, well that was unheeded, we saw on Face book and other social media that people went to there Holliday homes, went to crowded popular tourist places in the country side, since this has never happened to us, we sort of thought of it as bait of a joke, and its a bit of a mild inconvenience, but as the death toll getting bigger and bigger, and then the UK started getting more cases, we started to panic, and start to take this virus seriously, and the penny dropped when the government ( and rightly so) TOLD every one to stay at home, only key workers are allowed out, unless your going for food and medicine. today, there is a large duel carriage way road near nr me and the noise from it normally is quite load, but today you can hear a pin drop, its silent. I think Japan is at the point where we were 3 weeks ago, and people are just starting to take this seriously, its not until the the death train comes rolling into the major cities, that people will sit up and listen. The knock on affect from this will that there will be reduced bus and train services, as there will be less people traveling so JR will lay staff off as they are not needed, and some will be at home sick, the flip side to this the UK has said that there has been a 50% drop in carbon emissions and pollution in general, also we are expecting a baby boom in 9 months time!! stay safe every body.

"We have employees working from home, but there are tasks that force me to come to the office, such as dealing with documents that need to be signed with a seal," he said."

Well, I'm sure given the extremely advanced and high technology of the "hanko", I'm sure this company also has a carrier pigeon he can send the documents, printed out on fax paper, to be signed and sealed, notifying the signatory of delivery by pager.

Rome is burning and Nero is fiddling and Nero is not just Abe, it's all Japanese.

Social distancing is as important as handwashing, wearing a mask is no substitute.

"I hope this comes to an end quickly so we can go out happily."

But we've just learned how we can save lives from all types of infectious diseases.

Surely we shouldn't put business and leisure ahead of human life.

Lives would be saved if we maintained Social Distancing forever.

Remember these, BB?

Either that or we can stay locked up in our rooms for the next 10 years

Have you ever heard of something called "vaccine"? Seriously, mate. You are just embarrassing yourself?

Looks like you still do not know what a vaccine is.

Quiet, so why are so many people on the streets. A lockdown should always look like this

https://youtu.be/vFZZF39fgWM

I tend to agree with what Brian Wheway said, it is a pity that people have to die for this to be taken seriously. Even here in the early days of the lock down I saw a lot of people (comparatively for a very rural area) walking, biking and driving around who were not local. That has eased off; we have also seen a police car twice which is more than the previous 20 years. But seriously social distancing is the only method to help control the spread of this disease.

Perhaps it is time Japan changed it’s working practices and moved in to the electronic age. This would be a good opportunity!

Rome is burning and Nero is fiddling 

Nero didn’t just fiddle, he blamed an innocent Christian for starting the fire then lit the christians on fire along the streets like street lamps and threw them into the circus to be mauled and eaten by tigers and such.

Blaming everyone is just a tad dangerous.

@Bjorn

Sorry if I wasn't clear. Yes, indeed you will need a registered seal for some official documents. What I am talking about is companies demanding workers come in so they can affix non registered seals to documents that don't require them.

If a registered seal is not necessary, then you can use an electronic one in its place. Printing it as a PDF will even look like it had been affixed by hand. It's that good.

By the way, even banks are moving away from seals. Many accounts be made without seals now.

doing telework now here in Nagoya

It's fascinating how there has been a large uptick in people taking up jogging in my area

indeed!

Sumida River, Tokyo...I went out for my normal jog/walk around 2pm... my goodness! Crowded! Never ever seen so many people out on a week day at that time.

Kids not at school and their families, I can understand as they need a bit of space and exercise and burn off their energy (most were not in groups)

But the sheer number of old people out on the river banks at that time, and joggers... it was like a Hanami event was going on...

Was in my local main station and there were plenty of people coming from work and uni students moving around,,,,

Was in my local main station and there were plenty of people coming from work and uni students moving around,,,,

Absolutely crazy!

Speed

I wonder why Aichi isn't one of the prefectures being "locked" down. They have double the cases as Fukuoka and Hokkaido and even more than Hyogo.

Hideaki Ōmura, the governor of Aichi, told the National Govt. that "we're fine thanks, don't need it". Their choice. I have friends in Aichi who are livid.

It seems that all the declaration did was move the crowds from downtown out to the neighborhoods. Adachi-ku is bustling! I had a cap on my tooth pop off and needed to have it replaced. I was shocked at how many people, including myself, were out. There was a line out the door at McDonald's, mentioned in the article. Tons of trucks and many machine part workshops and warehouses stocking necessities were busy as ever. Perhaps that is the nature of Adachi-ku though. Kind of a blue collar town. I hope we don't pay for it.

I am trying to stay home as much as possible. I canceled my classes and am working on my other job from home.

Watched a bit of the midday / afternoon news shows today. One program had a segment on social distancing. The caster and his guests seemed to think it was hilarious for some reason but they did adopt it in the studio. The main laughs were for New Yorkers avoiding people in the streets, even those with dogs...lots of ehhs and omoshirois.

Did any of you guys see it?

Quieter. Not quiet.

.lots of ehhs and omoshirois.

Did any of you guys see it?

Like every wide show ever. Always lots of shock and surprise at incredibly mundane and normal comments or actions that actually deserve a "sou desuka", or maybe a "honto" at most.

"Ehhhhhhhhh" is easily the most annoying sound emanating from my TV, followed closely by "you can daaaaaaance" from that eyeglass commercial.

People who don't hesitate to go out seem no one gets infected yet around you. If neighbors/friends/family members around you got infected and died, no doubt they would not go out any more for months and cities would be much quieter than before.

Why are the reporters out on the streets interviewing people and asking dumb questions, what do you think about the virus, do you think we can reduce up to 80%? Not if people like you keep going out on the streets. You're supposed to stay isolated including street reporters are you not?

In addition to the joggers, I see a lot of cyclists! UberEats is probably making a killing right now!

Good on you Japan.

Lot more encouraging pictures shown now compared to how people in other countries are reacting in their defiance to social distancing and stay at home mandates.

I count 10 big cities and 8 prefectures had to be declared emergency. One of them is Okinawa where it is dwelling with US military, the biggest number country of affected like as that carrier crews many were affected by this vicious virus.

This is something I don't understand:

Few places are a happier breeding ground for disease than the sardine-tin-like Tokyo trains.

Last weekend was a 48-hour mawkish remembrance of Ken Shimura. I thought this was the social cue to start doing something about this.

We have a non-binding state of emergency. Salarymen are still clustering on trains and gathering in bars.

Yet the death toll of COVID-19 in Japan is apparently only 94:

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

I have heard sirens, but maybe only 10 a day. I haven't met anyone whose life has been affected by the virus.

I have no doubt that this is a catastrophe, but why are the figures so low here, a week after we had to stop pretending the Olympics were still viable?

Are we in a Stalinist bubble, where nothing bad is permitted to occur here, or is the famed Japanese unique intestine at play?

Why are the stats not worse?

""Ehhhhhhhhh" is easily the most annoying sound emanating from my TV,"

Here is an idea: turn off your TV...?