Gov't scraps plan to imprison disobedient virus patients; penalties pared down

a sensible move ..i hope that japan scraps all unnecessary and rigid laws as well.

Good call!

I wish they introduced penalties for certain politicians who visited Ginza hostess club during SOE.

But I guess a bow and an apology would have to be sufficient, as per usual.

Under the state of emergency, the government has urged people to stay at home as much as possible and asked bars and restaurants to cut opening hours. Firms are being encouraged to adopt remote working, while attendance at large events is being capped.

Emergency means, it’s urging people not really demanding.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan did, however, agree on fines to penalize uncooperative COVID-19 patients as well as restaurants and bars that refuse to comply with orders for shorter operating hours, albeit lower penalties than the government had sought

A typical technique of carpet negotiation: offering an unreasonably high price to close a deal in the middle range. The ruling LDP wasn't serious about prison terms. Compromise is art of politics.

It's yet good to have got the legislation through smoothly without delays or disruptions. Bigger challenges are still ahead.

The government had sought to introduce a prison sentence of up to one year or a maximum fine of 1 million yen for people who refuse to be hospitalized after testing positive for the coronavirus, and a fine of up to 500,000 yen for those who do not cooperate with epidemiological surveys by health authorities.

The LDP and CDPJ decided to reduce the fines to a maximum of 500,000 yen for COVID-19 patients resisting hospitalization and 300,000 yen for those who fail to participate in epidemiological surveys.

The government had likewise been planning to slap fines of up to 500,000 yen on restaurants and bars that do not cooperate with orders to shorten their operating hours under a state of emergency and up to 300,000 yen on those in a situation categorized as just below a state of emergency.

So they constitutionally cannot mandate a shutdown but police will enter offending businesses and slap them with fines? Surely enforcement will be 100% fair and above board...

Police: We don't patrol in those exclusive spots around Ginza and Azabu...

Dumbarse politicians, as usual after all the meetings Nothing just a vague thing that's unworkable. I'm so glad I pay so much tax for for there Saleries.

And for heavens sake let's not treat the people like the adults they are! Calling them "disobedient" sounds like they are being a bunch of condescending arses!

Better fine companies who refuse to send their staff into home office and also better fine the mask deniers.

make it a criminal offense for COVID-19 patients to refuse hospitalization

If you a seriously sick, nobody will refuse to go to hospital...it is opposite, if you are seriously sick you WANT to go to hospital, because you need help.

If you are infected, but show only light symptoms, why should you go to hospital? What treatment do you get there?

You can recover at home.

Like I said in my upper post:

Better fine companies who refuse to send their staff into home office and also better fine the mask deniers.

The ruling LDP wasn't serious about prison terms

Yes they were. The Nippon Kaigi boys got all excited thinking it was 1935 again.

Obviously it has to be scrapped...if there is no more room in hospitals...I guess the "Go to Prison" campaign has came to end! Now time to bolster "Go to Grave"!

 Calling them "disobedient" sounds like they are being a bunch of condescending arses!

Not condescending - though that’s a good term to describe the do-as-we-say-not-as-we-do politicians. Folk who refuse to isolate when they know they are infected are self-centered plonkers. And potentially dangerous.

Heavy fines, certainly, not imprisonment; current inmates do not deserve to be exposed to the virus.

Heavy fines, certainly, not imprisonment; current inmates do not deserve to be exposed to the virus.

No chance of that. The Japanese penal system is obsessed with solitsry confinement.

This is the people's own reality show about inept lawmakers bumbling their way through political life and mucking up everyone else's.

Why scrape the plan? It was a great plan. The brain power it took to come up with this plan was amazing! Prison is a great way to solve most problems. I wonder if they will reconsider? ; ^ 0

Resisting hospitalization? Last I heard, 15,000 infected people couldn't get a hospital bed. And some have died after being told to stay at home. Try punishing them.

Sorry, but penalizing isn’t really a working anti-virus strategy, it’s more an indicator for having none.

Had to be scrapped or most of the stubborn old boys in nagatacho wud be looking at doing time somewhere along the line.

BUT I'll be that the foreigners who break quarantine will still get deported...

This is the people's own reality show about inept lawmakers bumbling their way through political life and mucking up everyone else's.

Welcome to the LDP

Resisting hospitalization? Last I heard, 15,000 infected people couldn't get a hospital bed. And some have died after being told to stay at home. Try punishing them.

Common sense is NOT the LDP's forte.

Why would they want to put an infected person in a close quarters prison?

If they want to control this, target the businesses that open . . . . . and have instant fines for the customers that are patronising them.

Why would they want to put an infected person in a close quarters prison?

Because it makes no difference. Most prisioners in Japan are in solitary cells. Naughty prisioners (eg. Toothbrush at wrong angel are kept in solitary confinement for 6 months, sometimes illegally longer).

Considering the fact that several government leaders were recently outed for their own criminal behavior violating their own pandemic rules by going out to dinner enmasse, followed by a night at hostess bars, it makes sense to not send anyone to jail now.

CYA much?

Can't imprison people when the Government itself is violating its own rules. They literally went out as groups to host bars during the pandemic and during the state of Emergency. The same types of establishments that they are blaming for the spread of the virus.

They did not include forced PCR testing. Good. Also send all the covid patients to prison now everyone in prison has the virus

A positive test, which some experts say some are 50-60% accurate, some even only 10%, means you have to be imprisioned in an understaffed ward full of infectious Covid19 patients, or pay money and carry on life as normal?

great to be rich.

Actions must be taken.

In the age of Biden, it’s nice to see governments backing off from executive actions that favor or punish people just for trying to live their lives.

When the government elite are dining at restaurants and drinking late at night at hostess bars, it's totally hypocritical to punish and fine restaurant and bar owners for staying open late.

Pot. Kettle. Black.

Are we in some Communist nation that they were trying to impose those strict rules???

300,000 yen for those who fail to participate in epidemiological surveys.

So getting some people to get tested is also a problem

I guess time will tell if reducing the penalties is a good or bad thing although, the penalties are still pretty hefty. Hopefully, it will be strictly managed and they will dish these fines out to offenders.

Yeah, because its a well known fact that the best thing to do with people carrying a highly infectious virus is to...erm...put them in small, cramped, shared prison cells.

Who on earth was the 'brains' behind this initial decision?

It was a ludicrously pointless idea in the first place - were they planning to start rounding up the 15,000 people recently reported to want hospital treatment, but who couldn't get it because there aren't enough beds?

@Allan

Not true. Your info wrong. 4 to a cell. Regimented hours and work. They even goose step. Very close together

@Allan

Not true. Your info wrong. 4 to a cell. Regimented hours and work. They even goose step. Very close together

This is so typical of the state of leadership here. No clue on how to lead from the front, nada. True leadership calls for high level communication, judgment, courage, caring, boldness and firmness of action; you know the things that we all naturally admire in people in the real world.

Here we have the illustrious leaders coming up, a year too late, of ways to come down the hardest on people. Inspirational stuff guys, as usual.

I thought there's not enough hospital beds?

It was completely non sensical anyhow since there are 15000 people currently waiting for hospital beds. How out of touch to reality are they! They should be paying people are bonus for not wanting to go to hospital when they are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms that do not warrant being in hospital, which would clog the hospital system to a standstill. However on the other hand they should be ensuring these people are self quarantining not going about life as normal spreading the virus. Jail sentence for that could be warranted.

Good that they struck that off but i do wonder where are the people who were crying murder about people not wearing masks, leisure travelling or eatilng out.

Refusing to be hospitalized when already diagnosed positive is certainly more dangerous

After another news article regarding Suga lawmakers going to host clubs the imprisonment is scraped.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/japan-pm-apologises-lawmakers-night-045215004.html

Now there is only a fine. What about the previous discussion about the possiblity to revoke a foreigners resident states? There is no mention about that.

Unfortunately this article has been removed from Japantoday.

Disobeyed? How about helping those that do obeying common scence.

I wish they introduced penalties for certain politicians who visited Ginza hostess club during SOE.

I'm guessing this is the reason the penalties have been reduced.

As usual, no balls to do anything.

They had to scrap it otherwise many of these politicians would end up in prison for breaking corona rules. Like these doing dinner parties or visiting hostess clubs when telling to everyone else "stay home"

appears even a blind pig finds the occassional truffle.

A blind pig would have no trouble finding truffles seeing they use smell to do it not sight.

The expression is even a blind squirrel occasionally finds a nut.

But we get the point.

Good thing you decided.

Thankfully, Japanese people have dignity and rights not to be herded.

People elsewhere, better get used to this new life under their big governments and big techs.

I know China have been like this for decades, now they are very successful at exporting this new way of life to the west :)

Note that they left the fines on the table.

It is very foolish to jail a COVID-positive person, unless you intend to kill large numbers of other prisoners in the jail or prison. I think that someone realized the natural consequences of such a step. It isn't that the opposition parties convinced the LDP about anything.

How could the politicos harshly punish the people of Japan for doing such a tremendous job of keeping the virus in check?

And how could they not wish to cover themselves for their own public faux pas?

So, the next time they go to eat steak or get red-eyed at a flop joint the public will just sigh and look the other and the status quo will go on being as skewed as ever.

But the thing is, what are getting away with in private that the public doesn’t hear about?