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© Thomson Reuters 2021.Drink up, drink fast, drink alone? Tokyo to ease alcohol curbs
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© Thomson Reuters 2021.
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oldman_13
Everything needs to be eased. Time for recovery now.
YuriOtani
Might as well get drunk at home with your friends.
snowymountainhell
Drink as much as you like, Drink when you want, Drink with whoever and how ever many you the place can hold.
Indeed. There never have been and never will be any strict enforcement. Why try it now?
TokyoJoe
90minute time limit. Which bright spark came up with that.
I remember going for a drink in celts Irish bar in Shinagawa. My friend was an hour late. So after she arrived we had a beer and then when we ordered a second they said your times up and must leave. It was completely empty apart from us and they turfed us out. Utter madness.
Wotscookin
Classic scape goat tactics...
let’s make the “rules” as ridiculous as possible so they’re unenforceable/ people and establishments ignore them.
That way we can pass the blame onto them at a later date.
Do the hustle
Japan will never beat this virus with all this quasi crap. The only countries that have beaten and/or controlled the spread of the virus are the ones who have taken strict measures with hefty penalties. Even with all their quasi restrictions there are still around 10,000 new cases every week.
stickman1760
They could have saved a lot of pain by rolling out the vaccine properly. Looks at the US, pretty much back to business as usual.
dagon
Classic scape goat tactics...
let’s make the “rules” as ridiculous as possible so they’re unenforceable/ people and establishments ignore them.
That way we can pass the blame onto them at a later date.
Welcome to Japan.
This is a classic modus operandi of governance here but it sometimes can be changed under true emergency conditions when the ruling class feel the heat. Unfortunately, this time they were able to pretty much insulate themselves from many of the effects of the pandemic and carry on as usual,keeping high end clubs and steak houses open and carrying on while urging the public to stay home, which is why you do not see much urgency in many of their measures.
Oxycodin
what nice tactic you think a crowded train with no Alchol is going to make a difference?
nonu6976
There are absolutely tons of bars/clubs in Shibuya and izakaya's in Shimbashi and other places openly defying these "restrictions" so enforcement of these is obviously non existent. I don't care much for clubs but I can fully understand why bars/izakaya's are now ignoring the govt - their livelihoods are being destroyed, their life savings are being destroyed and the govt simply doesn't care. I saw an interview on TV about 2 weeks ago where an izakaya owner said after 4 months he was still waiting on his compensation money to be paid. Either pay proper compensation to these places in a prompt manner, or they should be allowed to open until midnight.
Oxycodin
Japan night life style is all about izakaya and getting wasted of course they won’t allow that lively hood to collapse regardless of government rules
anon99999
Monty Python would have a field day with the ridiculous rules invented for the Pandemic. This story yet another example. One can only wonder on the imagination of the “experts” who make this stuff up. And it is not only in Japan this nonsense is happening, Australia for example is a leader in this field.
Eyeblack
Nonsense.
jiji Xx
won't stop those people who want to get drunk and loud from doing so, and in any case, what's wrong with just letting people act sensibly, which most will anyway. I have seen plenty of people being loud, with and without masks, in restaurants in recent times. all the measures are so arbitarary it beggars belief. as 'anon' remarked above, not only Japan by any means. the result of having 'leaders' who haven't got a clue about anything (except riding the gravytrain) my view. oh well.
Speed
They must have a dart board that has random quasi restrictions on it.
theResident
Utter nonsense. More and more places openly defying the restrictions anyway.
theFu
My friends and I meet online to drink alone, but together. It isn't the same, but we each get to enjoy the beverages we prefer. Plus, no worries about driving under influence.
Use this web address: meet.jit.si/dontdrinkalone-jt Jitsi is a free, unlimited, video/voice chat application. 100% F/LOSS. There is a real-world limitation of about 25 people in a room, but if most people disable their video feed, more people can be added.
Just needs a webRTC capable browser - basically any modern popular browser like Chromium, Google-chrome, Brave, Firefox or forks of those.
A few of my technology groups have been using Jitsi about 18 months. It isn't like the paid offers. Jitsi is extremely democratic. If someone shows up and isn't wanted, any existing member can kick that other person out and block them from re-entering without approval.
Don't drink alone.
jeancolmar
This used to be called binge drinking.
Paul
That is what alcoholics do!!!
Tora
I give up. That is what the government wants.
Goodlucktoyou
There is absolutely no evidence corona virus is seriously caused by alcohol.
So basically we have a few options. Work from home and get drunk. Start drinking at 11am. Meet friends after work in front of the combini for cans and fried chicken
Oxycodin
not only that alcoholics has to drink every single day years on
Tokyo-Engr
I take nothing the Government says seriously anymore and care little about their Covid rules.
If they honestly believed Covid is a serious enough health risk which requires closure of businesses and destroying people economically they absolutely would not hold the Olympics. Postpone the games and I will take them seriously.
It’s really a bunch of 牛の糞 at this point.
jeancolmar
No joke. Binging and drinking alone is not healthy. Consider the solitary drinker going out on the street. What if he has to barf? He'll take off his mask. Then he'll barf all over the place.
Nice state of emergency that.
Today's Asahi Shimbun has something more sober to say in its editorial:
Blacklabel
so I can drink "alone" and the person sitting next to me can drink "alone".
But neither of us can drink sitting next to someone we know that we live together with?
Who comes up with this stuff?
moonbloom
"Ordinary citizens suffer restrictions, while those in power can do exactly what they want. Can we call this democracy?"
Yeah well until you and other Japanese people do something all you can do is ask rhetorical questions.
Gaijinjland
I’m confused. All the places I’ve had lunch at already serve alcohol
Antiquesaving
The more announcements/rules/requests like these are made the more this clowns how gets deeper into the absurd than it already was.
Everytime we think this cannot get any more absurd the government or IOC come out and out do themselves with something even more absurd!
My friends and family in my home country and other countries around the world are following the events here and are in complete disbelief.
They once had the belief that Japan was an organised logical well developed country, but now their views are of a incompetent, cold uncaring leadership and incompetence to the point of being criminal.
If this was a Monty Python movie it would be a flop as it would be so stupid and unbelievable even as a Monty Python joke.
falseflagsteve
I enjoy partaking in the odd tipple with my partner occasionally. We like to drink responsibly. As someone mentioned, will this not encourage binge drinking and possibly encourage people to have bad drinking habits? We both agree this idea is absolutely daft.
buchailldana
I was in the hub in Nagoya and when I went to the restroom I stopped to say hello to a friend.
The manager ran over and told us we were to stop as it's not allowed to talk to people you didn't come in with.
Madness.
Is there a point in going to a pubif you can't talk to people?
serendipitous1
tokyo joe
If someone is late by 60 minutes for a 90-minute time limit then, yes, that person would only have 30 minutes. Pretty obvious! Otherwise you could have a friend turn up every 60 minutes and extend the session forever!
blvtzpk
You talk to your ‘old feller’ in the restroom? ;)
Blacklabel
Say hello to my little friend? Couldn’t resist.
yeah so I’m heading out again tonight let’s see how many more places are ignoring the restrictions compared to last week (about 1/4th)
shogun36
Oh look, complicated rules. Oh Japan, when will you just keep it simple? Or even enforce said rules?
John
people drink, they lose their inhibitions, they say what they really think about this "pandemic"
lucabrasi
So folk will be visiting a dozen bars or so over the course of a night, spending a quarter of an hour in each place.
Sounds like a normal Saturday night in Leeds or Halifax….
blvtzpk
@ lucabrasi
Indeed!
Given the current circumstances, it could end up like the pub crawl in the film At The World’s End!
Antiquesaving
But they can't they have to first focus on the Olympics.
Koike came out of her hole to show for a photo op as they start vaccinating the Olympics workers.
Now that must be really important.
The rest is of little value until the games are over.
Mat
Completely ridiculous.
Most places dont follow the 'rules' anyway. This is security theatre and the government should be ashamed announcing this stuff.
Slickdrifter
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I like millions of others have we ever seen a person ever fail, who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to our simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves.
Remember that we deal with alcohol – cunning, baffling, powerful! Without help it is too much for us.
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Soulmaster
You can’t make up this stuff. Beats any Monty Python comedy.
heimsendi
I love how Japan manages to keep what's supposed to be fun (amusement parks, alcohol and so on) during the pandemic but sucks all the fun out of it.
Yes, you can drink. Alone. Between 11 a.m and 7 p.m.
So basically, yes, you can be a very sad alcoholic. Just keep on buying, that's all we ask.
Hiroshi13
Bars and izakayas have already been shuttered for months while restaurants were restricted from selling booze for at least the last two. If the government's alcohol ban really worked why are there still so many new daily cases?
Zaphod
Goodlucktoyou
Well, our government seems to think so. Of course, the virus only cares about alcohol during government-designated hourse
Right. Lock yourself in your stuffy room, avoid sunshine, fresh air, and social contact, and get drunk. Way to be healthy.... according to "science" apparently.
Strangerland
What? No they don't.
They do think, based on the science, that drinking establishments are where the virus spreads rapidly due to people getting drunk and not socially distancing or wearing masks.