Tokyo governor calls for restraint in travel during Obon holidays

Why do people find it so necessary to go out to consume alcohol and other night life activities? The faster people take a break from going to high risk areas/establishments, the sooner we can be more free to do what we want.

Times like these would be a valid excuse to avoid traditions and customs such as Obon and mandatory after-work parties. No matter which side on this pandemic you're on, just be smart and avoid interacting in the public. Being confined at a hospital and potentially dying from a virus should trump the urge to be social and keep up with appearances.

But... but... Go To?!

This photo reminds me of the Cones of Silence from Get Smart.

Absurdist fiction is now reality.

Why do people find it so necessary to go out to consume alcohol and other night life activities?

Imagine being in your early 20s. What else you going to do to meet the opposite gender or do on a date? Not everyone enjoys jogging and the same things you do.

I'd like people to interact with their family over the phone or online

Sure, No problem!

Tell that to my 80s year old parents in law, who live in the deepest Countryside without any internet, that they should go now to the next Docomo Shop, apply for Internet, buy a PC, Tablet or smart phone, learn with 80 years old how to use Teams, Skype, WebeEx whatever to communicate with your children or grandchildren.

And talking on the phone or via Internet is complete annoying thing for older people!

That photo says it all. People are under house arrest and they don't even know it. If you don't fight for what you want you will cry for what you lost.

The eldery people WANT to see their children and grandchildren.

If they want their children and grandchildren to come to visit them, why should we refuse?

Why should we or the gvernement decide what the elderly want?

What gives us the right to decide what the elderly people want?

Of course if they say, please dont come we are scared of the Virus, nobody will go.

The elderly people feel lonely without seeing their children or grandchildren!

There is nothing more worse than to keep the elderly people alone and lonely.

Yesterday some other poster here said that his 90s year old grandmother doesnt care about cancer, heart at'tack or whatever disease she can get.

But she never ever want to be alone or lonely!

That photo is hilarious. Those guys are paying big time yen to have someone to chat with and they have to do it as if they are in a goldfish bowl.

Frankly in some bars I would pay extra not to be annoyed by chatty staff.

@Kumagaijin

100% agree.

Many people thinks that their kind of life is the best and correct life. And they expect that other people live the same (probably boring) lif like themselves.

They don't understand that each person has a different life, a different life story, different life problems, different jobs...

And different opinions and actions how to manage and handle the Corona Sitaution in Japan.

Of course if they say, please dont come we are scared of the Virus, nobody will go.

But how can they tell you that if they don’t have Internet or phones or refuse to use them because it’s too annoying?

@Haaa Nemui

Where did I say that they dont have a phone?

Do you understand that beside smart phones, other phones still exist in this world?

And please read my post clearly before you answer.

I said:

*And talking on the phone or via Internet is complete annoying thing for older people!*

So you can guess that they have a phone.

@Monty

Do you not understand “or refuse to use them”

Also... you are very concerned with respecting their wishes but not their safety. Do you think contracting this virus won’t be annoying for them?

Everybody and also the government said, let us respect the elderly!

I 1000% agree.

So let us respect them and let THEM decide if they want to see their children and grandchildren, or not!

If I tell to my older parents in law, that they can not see their daughter and grandchildren, because, I probably can infect them with the Corona virus, they will laugh out loud and will recommend me to take imediately mental help!

Those goldfish bowls are wild!

KumagaijinToday  06:59 am JST

Why do people find it so necessary to go out to consume alcohol and other night life activities?

Imagine being in your early 20s. What else you going to do to meet the opposite gender or do on a date? Not everyone enjoys jogging and the same things you do.

So your saying that the rest of the country has to continue to alter its life because people don't want to stop visiting bars and hostess clubs and so on? It's just a temporary request. I'm not saying the you need to avoid them for the rest of your life. Just a month or so. This has been going on for about seven months or so. Image if we did a complete shut down for one month back in March or April. Maybe, and I say MAYBE (can't say for sure but ...) we would be where we are today.

And jogging is an alternative to drinking. And I feel so much better.

I am going to the country full of friends and family with open arms. This "panic-demic" will get the best of you if you let the media and your fears control you. Just be smart and responsible and live your life, otherwise you will become a part of the problem. Have a nice holiday!

Let me ask you something:

A few days ago, the WHO came out with news.

Actually, I dont care what they say, but lets guess what they said is correct.

They said, there is a possibility that a vaccine or a medical treatment will never be found.

What will you guys do then?

Lock down in your house, never go out, never visit relatives, parents, grandparents for the rest of your life?

No! You will not do that. You will live with the Virus. Exactly in the same way like many other people are doing it already.

Because if you dont do it, you will die. Not from the virus, but from hunger because no money to put food on the table or pay your rent, or from depression...

I cant believe I am reading these comments. Just don't go to your families. You will the virus or will catch one! I think is better to take days off when virus on the low tide, and then go. For now stay home! I dont my prefecture skyrocket in covid-19 cases, due to some stubborn people who insist on going, even is still very dangerous. Look what happened at Miyazaki! Few people was just enough to go from 0 to 100. PLEASE STAY SAFE AND JUST DONT GO. Thank you for your understanding.

Goldfish bowl-like acrylic screens used as part of new social distancing measures and prevention of infection against the coronavirus disease, where male customers sit inside the screens to be entertained by female staff, are installed at Jazz Lounge Encounter in Tokyo's Ginza district on Thursday night. 

The world has gone stark raving mad.

Tokyo governor calls for restraint in travel during Obon holidays

That's gonna negatively impact the travel industry. No worries, all those jobs will come back. Or will they...

Too many people are focused on the PROBLEMS and LIFE INCONVENIENCES and not the SOLUTIONS

About the picture, I hope there's enough staff to disinfect every single one of those cones inside and out after every customer.

Epic photo! It's made my day. I hope it goes in that Covid-19 museum mentioned the other day.

Fear is the only pandemic on the planet.

People should be asking more questions instead of blindly following!

Opinions and rules are changing on a daily bases however, the CORONA Virus has not.

My inlaws, who are in the high risk group because of age and diabetes, told us clearly not to visit them during this summer. Better talk on the phone than at the funeral.

We just go out to parks and open spaces with the kids, and strictly follow all precautions. Going to the office is minimal, and mostly work from home. Hoping that we will be able to go back to normality soon, but it seems it will take more time.

I am against lockdowns, hoping that people are responsible enough to go out with utmost precautions. Unfortunately, covidiots who feel like partying and scream about their rights not to wear masks are making everybody suffer

Must be hard to get out of these bowls after your drunk

my great grandmother in law wants us to visit so we will visit.

It will be a nice couple of days.

Yes, we may pass her the corona virus if we have it, but she’s an adult and wants us to come, and she said she doesn’t have the time left to waste like being afraid .

By now we know a lot about the virus, it's IFR is thought to be about 0.2%. Deaths and serious cases are still way down from their April high.

All viruses mutate to be less deadly to humans not more because they don't want to kill their hosts. If their hosts die they die with them, they'd rather stay hidden.

Don't worry too much and live your life.

Tokyo is always crowded regardless of Obon! Trains, restaurants, malls, amusement centers and coffee shops are overcrowded on a usual day!

I'm with Monty (and actually believe it) - that the possibility of their never being a vaccine is very, very high. Purely my view of course. but the more you read in broadsheet media including comments from those who are involved in developing vaccines lead me to think that way. The only virus we have ever eradicated is Smallpox and that took a 15 year sustained effort by the whole planet, quite literally.

Yes - we do have to protect the elderly quite clearly, but it is also their choice at the end of the day to weigh up the risks.

Corona virus is here to stay so we’ve just got to exercise caution and deal with it! Just wearing a mask is not enough! People are so reckless thinking of masks as hazmat suits! Other strategies need to be implemented simultaneously with mask wearing...

Those are not goldfish bowls in the picture, but a trick of the camera angle. They are actually decorative ceiling ornaments.

Avoiding crowds at this time is still good advice.

If you do travel, use sensible precautions and hygiene.

Corona virus is here to stay

Nah, eventually all the people who are gonna get it will have gotten it.

All the mask wearing and wiping with alcohol is not gonna stop the spread.

I think the mask culture, already prevalent in Japan before the virus from China will stay.

The Japanese entertainment and bar scene is the most creative that I've seen anywhere in the world. Lucrative too. However in these difficult times stay home and invite a few friends over and provide fresh masks and hand sanitizer.

“Because if you dont do it, you will die. Not from the virus, but from hunger because no money to put food on the table or pay your rent, or from depression...”

Precisely. In any case, Koike has zero credibility

To the people saying that they will travel because their Grandparents said 'if we become infected, it's okay, we're old and don't care about becoming sick' - I have 2 questions for you.

Will you not be taking public transport or going out in public (convenience stores, supermarket etc..) whilst in their town?

If there was an outbreak there(as the cases in Miyazaki went from 0 - 100 in a couple of weeks) are there enough hospitals to care for them?

stop fear mongering

@Kumagaijin

100% agree.

Many people thinks that their kind of life is the best and correct life. And they expect that other people live the same (probably boring) lif like themselves.

They don't understand that each person has a different life, a different life story, different life problems, different jobs...

And different opinions and actions how to manage and handle the Corona Sitaution in Japan.

We need to find a compromise. Sure people need to go out, but we should be clear about which establishments are suitable.

Even during the height of the "state of emergency" here in Tokyo, there were some bars that continued to operate (most not suitable), which is what happens when you force people underground.

Why do people find it so necessary to go out to consume alcohol and other night life activities?

Because they want to enjoy their lives and since they find no joy being sober all the time and going to bed at 9 pm they may as well be dead if they don't have any joy.

If your life has zero risk I suggest you are not living at all!

Besides which Japan has few deaths or even severe cases of Covid 19. So you sit at home bored if you like.

@rhedak

All viruses mutate to be less deadly to humans not more because they don't want to kill their hosts. If their hosts die they die with them, they'd rather stay hidden.

All viruses? Not really.

That’s a theoretical principle based on how evolution generally works but it’s not an absolute.

Ebola? Smallpox? Bubonic Plague? These didn’t become less deadly - we just developed measures to combat them ranging from strict quarantines to vaccines to antibiotics. Please don’t assume the virus will become gentler with time.

We would be staying home, but my husband’s grandmother is dying. She got diagnosed with an agressive form of cancer recently, so now is our only chance to say goodbye. It’s clearly not ideal to be traveling now, but I hope our reason is good enough.

Those plastic cones are amazing! Back home in the States, morons are throwing "corona parties" where people deliberately infect other people, anti-maskers berate and even attack anyone wearing a mask, and practical solutions like these cones would be met with mock and probably violence. We've sunk so low as a people and a nation it'll take decades before anyone respects us again, if ever.. For me it's too much of an embarrassment, I won't ever be returning except for holiday.

That photo is hilarious! Do these people all work for Control?

There is still a large number of people in that restaurant, regardless of having their own little ‘cone of silence’. People have just got to stay home. It’s the only way the spread of this virus will be contained.

@theResident

the possibility of their never being a vaccine is very, very high. Purely my view of course. but the more you read in broadsheet media including comments from those who are involved in developing vaccines lead me to think that way. The only virus we have ever eradicated is Smallpox and that took a 15 year sustained effort by the whole planet, quite literally.

There’s a couple things here mixed together. First, plenty of other viruses have effective enough vaccines (not 100% but say 80-90%) that we are able to control the spread to the point that it becomes almost entirely snuffed out (except when we get pockets of people who aren’t vaccinated, like the religious commune in Mie in 2019 creating an outbreak). So we don’t need a vaccine to eradicate something to do the job. It’s not all or nothing like that.

Experts have suggested that even a partially effective vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 could go a long way to getting us to herd immunity and breaking the transmission chain.

Second, smallpox eradication took 15 years... well, I’d just humbly propose that science, technology, international transportation, etc. have come a loooong way since the 1960-1970s. For example, the SARS-CoV-2 genome was obtained in mere days and now we have over 100 candidate vaccines after just 7 months, some of which have proceeded to Phase III testing. So adjust your “15 years or impossible” time table to account for our improved ability to innovate....

@Serrano

Corona virus is here to stay

Nah, eventually all the people who are gonna get it will have gotten it.

Not all viruses work like that.

Some viruses - if you catch and survive it - then confer lifelong immunity more or less. But the existing coronavirus strains capable of infecting humans that are responsible for giving us the common cold do NOT confer lifelong immunity. Our immune systems forget that coronavirus and then people get reinfected again and again over the years. So we can’t assume that “everyone will eventually get it and it’ll be over.”

A few working hypotheses about this now:

There’s evidence showing those who got severely sick from COVID-19 have longer lasting antibodies (consistent with other pathogens, where our immune systems generally tend to remember things that caused severe illness) more so than those who were only mildly ill. Also, as we get older, our immune systems weaken - including the memory cells of the immune system - so it might keep hitting certain parts of the population.

You might think the above point could be bad news for vaccines (like, “if it turns out our body really doesn’t remember COVID19 long-term after all, wouldn’t a vaccine for it be forgotten too?”) but so far, it looks like a higher dose of the vaccine can lead to higher concentrations of antibodies in the blood than if you actually had COVID19. Combined with a course of shots instead of just a 1 time deal it might just work. (Measles, mumps, rubella, hepatits, etc — all vaccines that require booster shot courses.)

this is typical for culture of rather die than "losing face"...

based on this article what Abe says, what Koike says, what doctors and everyone says.

no lock down, but stay home. (keeping OH no matter what)

stay home but Go to trouble is still on...(it's dangerous but not that dangerous apparently no deaths, so what? -sarcasm)

i don't like many things in my country but when it comes to corona, all people who are entitle to make the talk about it go same direction.

i know most of the posters feel safe over no deaths. I think this will change in autumn/winter when cold, fewer, influenza will be actual. I am guessing if this happen most of the posters will go just "ups"

@ divinda

Cone of Silence. Spot on.

But just like Cone of Silence, I doubt this improvised 'solution' won't work either...

Will you not be taking public transport or going out in public (convenience stores, supermarket etc..) whilst in their town

I will be going by car, because society suddenly no longer cares about global warming.

Correction: "I doubt this improvised 'solution' will work either..."

The faster people take a break from going to high risk areas/establishments, the sooner we can be more free to do what we want.

because there are some that think their own personal freedoms are more important the the greater public's safety and well being

I'm very confused.

The government is trying to pay for some of my expenses to travel, but they are also telling me to not travel?

Is Japan just one big contradiction?

Yes! No?

I can think clearly now!

Stay home not happening unless they enforce it by law. Im not a slave. I will go to the beach as I please.

because there are some that think their own personal freedoms are more important the the greater public's safety and well being

@wtfjapan

As was, is and will always be the case.

Three examples cars, plastic and

I imagine you flew here and as I am sure you know, flying is terrible for the environment.

Those cones look like something out of a 1960 SiFi horror film where aliens transform in to humans,, also if you was to have a cigaret inside those cones, would it just fill up with a cloud of smoke? then you would not see anyone!

Holy crap it's cones of silence!

This is serious subject for sure (curbing travel). And yes, we need to do our part.

But. Seriously. Just read this. Is this not ridiculous?

Goldfish bowl-like acrylic screens used as part of new social distancing measures and prevention of infection against the coronavirus disease, where male customers sit inside the screens to be entertained by female staff.

The desire to go to this kind of place is so powerful that you need to become a human lamp shade?

Really?

Whats next? Check your full MOPP mask in at the door for cleaning and cartridge change?

Restraint is a must.

Stay indoors, plenty of rest and consume a lot of Vaitamine C.

Me hears that Tangerines are good for Covid.

We'll all be wearing full body condoms soon!

Is that a snack bar? If so that's just cranking up the weird level. The ones near me I see on the way home from work don't look remotely like that.

@Kay Bow

Bubonic Plague is caused by a bacteria not a virus

There were some early signs that people were taking heed. The bookings website for tickets on shinkansen (bullet trains) from Tokyo to other parts of the country, which normally sell out within minutes of going on sale, showed notable vacancies for the holiday period.

It just shows that a lot more people, are finally getting the message. And I’m not one to normally jump in emergency situations like these, but after this virus spiked again, even I am saying that’s good that people are showing restraint like this.

@kumagaijin I think he was talking about the 20 somethings that we’re going out during this pandemic. I mean I hear you, I made that mistake initially too. But unless he was talking in general, it was people going out like that during this pandemic.