Tokyo, Osaka consider asking gov't to issue another state of emergency

“Tokyo, Osaka consider asking gov't to issue another state of emergency”.

Pointless, useless....I could go on. Do we want to drive even more businesses under? And the reversion to 8pm bar closures looks seriously like Japan’s “state of emergency” anyway.

The time for studying and considering ended last week. You should have made a decision to request an emergency last week. For heaven's sake take a risk and save people's lives.

Are you done studying the vaccine yet? How about what kind of needles you will use?

Addfwyn, Zoroto

I agree with both of you of what Japan could have or should have done. Sure I would have agreed to all those measures last spring & summer when this began.

Its not possible to go back in time, not possible to put the genie back in the bottle... from now from today.. I absolutely will not support any more SOE's or lock downs. Me and probably tens, hundreds, thousands of others are facing financial ruin in the face.

Sadly its too late for me and others to consider more severe/strict restrictions at this point.

Gaijinjland

I contently brave the train to Tokyo or anywhere else for work, when I have the opportunity. Unfortunately I'm not being afforded the opportunity during SOE's so instead I have face unpayable back rent & utilities. Sure, neither are ideal but I would choose commuting over an empty bank account.

Ah yes, because a new state of emergency will make everything better.

No it won’t, it will just be a pain in the bottom. Once a week I have to go to the city. Usually eat about 9pm. Everything closed 8pm. Why they wanna pick on me?

How about vaccinating more people?

Koike pick up

the phone to Suga...

Well...

quasi-government + quasi-measures

= quasi-results

@catseye97

The best way to limit people in restaurants and trains is to stagger work hours and make every where open longer hours than before. This is why shortening opening hours and reducing train frequency is absolutely daft

An inexhaustible topic for comments.

But..., do they seriously think they will/can bring the number of covid infections in the 20+ million city to double 0?

Maybe so..., ...if they'll use some parts of the scenario from the movie Outbreak. (sarcasm)

Olympics are important so government is going to beat COVID-19 what a joke japan

Olympics are important so government is going to beat COVID-19 what a joke japan

@drluciferToday 11:01 am JST

Didou

To get infected through contact and touch, you need the surface to have the virus on it. Or, it comes from coughing on it or touching it when having the virus on the hands. This is actually uncommon, and most infections go through air and aerosols. Many studies did show that.

How is it uncommon ? thought you would provide even one reason, you gave zilch.

If an infected person person coughs on their hands or touch their mouths and touch

Take what the experts say and go about touching surfaces and things in public, don't be shocked when

Because the chance you touch a surface where the virus is present is just statistically very low, and the chance you get the virus directly through aerosols and from someone when speaking is statistically very high. This is scientifically proven.

 Read the link below, a recent release on the CDC site

 According to a science brief released in early April, your chances of contracting COVID-19 from a surface (called fomite transmission) in an indoor community are low — less than 1 in 10,000.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/more/science-and-research/surface-transmission.html

The goal of a SOE should be to reduce the new cases to zero in order to call it a success. Reducing the new case numbers to a few hundred is a failure. Obviously the measures taken under a SOE are insufficient to stop the spread of the virus. Tokyo and Japan will be under this cloud of cyclic pandemonium for years at the rate they are going.

How about limiting the number of people that enter a store/shop or restaurant? Or limiting the number of people per train car?

"Taking a proactive approach is indispensable in responding" to the spike, Koike said. Proactive? How just being active for a change?

yeah with the SOE the only measure they will take is to close restaurants at 8pm, which is the case already.

will they do it 7pm now? they will ask nicely.

Reduce the trains, even on weekdays, even between 8am-8pm.

Do something different this time!!

But no thats too much money gone...

Gaijinjland

Today 12:38 pm JST

@JDoe, true I am grateful that I still have work and am able to pay bills/ utilities. It still doesn’t mitigate the risk of contracting Covid having to take the rush hour train two times a day. I guess I’m lucky in the sense that I’m in the under 40 bracket and statistically less at risk.

Um... Sorry to break it to you: anyone, any age, anytime is a risk of catching Covid, spreading it to others and potentially be personally responsible for further Covid deaths. So I hope you feel really good about taking the rush hour train instead of working from home!

A "Super Spreader" event is when a one-term US president tell his supporters to attend their events WITHOUT masks before and after a vaccine rollout leading to the illness and deaths of 100,000s of people.

Numan...............Do not forget to remind @Nomination that trump and his wife also secretly got vaccinated while telling his supporters to come to the rallies maskless.

That is a "Super Spreader" event for sure!

@Nomination

In probably the most popular park of the most populated city in the World. Attending means that you are expressing your personal freedom to do so. So you can't pick and choose what is a super spreader event and what isn't based on the causes you support and causes you don't.

A "Super Spreader" event is when a one-term US president tell his supporters to attend their events WITHOUT masks before and after a vaccine rollout leading to the illness and deaths of 100,000s of people.

In Yoyogi, the event planners mad sure hands were washed, temperatures checked, and reminded attendees to wear a mask. The people who chose not follow the directions from me personally witnessing was almost all Japanese. The rockabillies were in the park and not the event!

Another example of false equivalency from the conservative right!

@Nomination

In probably the most popular park of the most populated city in the World. Attending means that you are expressing your personal freedom to do so. So you can't pick and choose what is a super spreader event and what isn't based on the causes you support and causes you don't.

A "Super Spreader" event is when a one-term US president tell his supporters to attend their events with mask before and after a vaccine rollout leading to the illness and deaths of 100,000s of people.

In Yoyogi, the event planners mad sure hands were washed, temperatures checked, and reminded attendees to wear a mask. The people who chose not follow the directions from me personally witnessing was almost all Japanese. The rockabillies were in the park and not the event!

Another example of false equivalency from the conservative right!

Measure by government of Japan, Tokyo and Osaka governor had only demanded patience to citizen, what caused this difficult situation or epidemic 4th wave is their incompetence.

@JDoe

I am sympathetic to your situation, but I think you are drawing the wrong conclusion from it. The solution is not to avoid SOEs because of the individual economic impact but to have impactful SOEs that actually do something, backed up by the government.

The government probably feels they don't have to, because of how very toothless the SOEs have been. The correct solution would have been a hard lockdown to start with, government supporting individuals and businesses affected, and then mass vaccinations as soon as humanely possible. I understand that legally Japan can't do a hard lockdown, but that should have been the absolute first thing on the table to amend when this all started going down.

The overall cost to the government would be lower, the cost to the people would have been bearable, and life would already be getting back to normal. I normally love Japan and living here but I have never been more disappointed in how they have handled this. Instead we are trying to "red light, green light" the virus out of existence.

It's amusing that some posters will proudly claim that they have no fear of, say, bears, and will go as far as to punch them... but seem a bit, well, timid about donning a piece of cloth to keep transmission rates low.

@JDoe, true I am grateful that I still have work and am able to pay bills/ utilities. It still doesn’t mitigate the risk of contracting Covid having to take the rush hour train two times a day. I guess I’m lucky in the sense that I’m in the under 40 bracket and statistically less at risk.

@Coffeedeluxe

Glad you are playing your part in keeping safe. Make sure you get plenty of fresh air and exercise and keep fitness levels up. Personally I despise wearing a mask as I find it annoying yet I wear to please my partner and no to make those around me feel uneasy

I went the the convenience store, but they are too expensive there. Waiting for the prices to come down. Yesterday, I was almost tempted to pick up one of the discarded masks in the park, shake it out thoroughly. But my partner told me not to.

Frankly, I'd lay off the caffeine. It's very expensive - just think of the money you could save to purchase non-used drug store goods.

For my part, I encourage folks to mask up. However, I feel a little bad as I have not been wearing a mask for the past few days. My mask wore out to the point it was itchy and it even had a small hole in it. I went the the convenience store, but they are too expensive there. Waiting for the prices to come down. Yesterday, I was almost tempted to pick up one of the discarded masks in the park, shake it out thoroughly. But my partner told me not to.

So yes, I do my best to keep a distance of more than a meter away from others. And if there are more than 5 people in an elevator, I'll step out or cover my mouth if I talk or cough. If the trains are so crowded that there's nowhere I can sit, I'll wait for the next train.

No worries! Will be a buying a package of really good masks next weekend.

And that’s not even sufficient or effective. Do you want to know how attentive journalists in foreign media describe the situation? Freely translated, the headline goes: Now the virus grabs for the young and the middle class. Maybe, it’s time to wake up, don’t you think so? And if still not, why?

SOE is very silly and just inconveniences people and businesses. Yes, it’s good that places are quiet so days out or more pleasant but what do they do?

last time in Osaka everywhere was packed before 8pm closing and the trains were full from 8-9pm. This must be more risky than people having more space.

Personally I wish food places and bars would stay open as usual, apart from my evenings I make no change to my lifestyle.

The first s.o.e was largely successful because almost everyone complied because they were scared.

The second less so because less people complied because less people were scared.

Anyone who thinks the third s.o.e will be anything more than a waste of time and money is a fool.

Calls for a lockdown or stronger s.o.e don't understand that most people don't want strong measures.

Medical professionals worldwide (including Japan) are saying the Government has lost control of the virus and that the Olympics should be cancelled as a result.

The opinions now published in the British Medical Journal last week. (Covered by the New York Times yet strangely not JT).

https://www.bmj.com/content/373/bmj.n962

GdTokyo

Today 06:48 am JST

Masked or not, that’s way too many people in too tight an area.

Declare an SOE and cancel the Olympics.

Thank you for your advice! We'll see to it.

Tokyo to ask the government for another State of Emergency in the new panic over the pandemic? How would it affect the imminent Olympics?

It is not going to affect the hosting of the olympics but rather boost it. It would probably last for a month

if started this month will be over by the end of May and in time for the precious Olympics and if past SOE

was any indication, what will likely happen is that tests will be further reduced and a daily progressive reduction in cases to below 200 or 100 will be announced and the SOE will be declared an astounding success and Tokyo seen both domestically and abroad as safe to host the olympics. The Masters Voice " the media" will remind us how sugoi Japan is doing what Brazil, England, France, Germany and many other countries couldn't do without vaccines but just urges.

Dear Japanese government / leadership,

Take a look at that picture and ask yourselves if the message you are giving out is sufficient.

To have that kind of crowd gathering on a Sunday afternoon in the biggest COVID hot spot in the country is pure insanity.

Get your collective backsides into gear please.

@Derek Grebe,

Excellent point! If it's too "dangerous" to be OUTSIDE on a sunny Sunday then why is it ok to get packed onto a train with thousands of other commuters to go to work on Monday?

Can we stop pretending that it's only young people going to izakayas and oyagis in pachinko parlors that are responsible for these endless surges?

Tokyo to ask the government for another State of Emergency in the new panic over the pandemic? How would it affect the imminent Olympics?

go out and enjoy your time, we have just one life

Yeah, which is why it's kind of precious and shouldn't be put in jeopardy by faux science and questionable theories about what governments do or don't want.

And there's no lockdown in Japan.

people are tired being limited, nice weather and warm temperatures are a nice reason to have a pleasant walk and enjoy the sun

the sun is the best ally of human body, that's the reason governments all around the world lockdown people at home, so this virus will never cease

go out and enjoy your time, we have just one life

Didou

To get infected through contact and touch, you need the surface to have the virus on it. Or, it comes from coughing on it or touching it when having the virus on the hands. This is actually uncommon, and most infections go through air and aerosols. Many studies did show that.

How is it uncommon ? thought you would provide even one reason, you gave zilch.

If an infected person person coughs on their hands or touch their mouths and touch

a surface won't the virus be transfered to the surface and later if some one touches that

surface and happens to touch their mouth, eyes or happen to eat without washing their

hands don't you think chances are high the person will be infected.

With the strong aversion to testing here, I take everybody as a suspect carrier and try not

to touch what others have touched without disinfecting. You don't know about the chef that prepares

the food or the waiter or waitress that brings it to your table whether they have touched their mouth or coughed in their hands and touched the culinary with their hands if they are infected.

Take what the experts say and go about touching surfaces and things in public, don't be shocked when

you get infected.

klausdorth: "This way you can examine a max amount of people in a relative short time. But who am I to recommend or say, right?!"

Well, you're certainly not a doctor, that's who, because doctors are already overwhelmed and need more assistance without your annual physical of the masses idea.

Start vaccines, follow the money, close the small restaurants. Japan has the unfortunate cultural trait of tight living spaces. But why is everyone so panicked when in other countries the infection rate, e.g. 58,000 in the U.S. is so small? I've given up on trying to find reliable information on the ages and location of new infections. I just go about my daily life doing all the protocols. I don't eat in cramped restaurants. My general philosophy is to enjoy life while I can.

Japanese-style "crisis management" seems to be holding meetings that conclude with more meetings being scheduled. This is done to accord participants with more time to change their positions, to avoid any loss of face. It's like a dog chasing its tail.

if mask were the panacea they are touted to be then how come 4,000 or more people get infected, were they not wearing mask ? of course almost all of them wear mask.They talk of the virus being spread through the air and aerosols and the need to wear mask while eating when in reality most people get infected through contact and touch,

 

To get infected through contact and touch, you need the surface to have the virus on it. Or, it comes from coughing on it or touching it when having the virus on the hands. This is actually uncommon, and most infections go through air and aerosols. Many studies did show that.

You know that many do talk without masks in eateries especially. In restaurants, from what I see, nearly nobody wears a mask. I also heard from company employees getting infected in the smoking room.

The frequency of the temperature changes in the beginning of spring is causing people and has always cause people to get the flu.

Being in contact with the influenza virus is what gets people infected. Temperature changes as an important reason is an explanation that requires evidence.

Lockdowns and states of emergency aren't effective in practice which is why they were never used before:

Good science, as in well controlled epidemiological studies with weighted variables that count each country individually instead of pretending the situation in each one was exactly the same (something economists tend to do, not having enough expertise in epidemiology), prove that social distancing measures that can include lockdowns do have an important effect reducing the spreading of the disease giving time for health services to be sufficient and avoid unnecessary deaths, obviously they are not necessary or sufficient depending on the particular situation (especially if they are followed with opposite campaigns like the "go to travel"), but definitely they are not useless.

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

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30785-4/fulltext

https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736(20)32034-1/fulltext

The whole point of course is that lockdowns are not intended to "eradicate" the infection as the second refence misrepresent. There is no point in arguing that lockdowns cannot do something they are not intended to do, that is a strawman fallacy.

It is know by a fact that only full real lockdowns, aka the China way, works.

Because otherwise you create variants sooner or later, or undergo it from a foreign country.

The Brazilian or South African variants are multiple times more contagious than the original virus.

"Caught by surprise", Japanese politicians are helpless.

Please follow the number of serious covid cases, which is never put into the light. It has reached over 720 cases and seriously growing. You need at least two competent persons to take care of each such patient.

Variants hit much more often younger people (40-60). Beware.

And if a earthquake was to happen ?

Leading is anticipating. Did you get it by now ? Japanese politicians are very loved but not for their great humanity.

Are they crazy?? That'll mean asking restaurants to voluntarily close down ONE HOUR earlier than under Manbo! And think about how extremely regrettable it'll be when people still (usually government officials) still go out to open bars anyway and they don't receive any punishment! My gosh... the absolutely chaos it would cause by changing names! And think about the sign companies with all the back-up "Manbo" signs they created for the government to hold up while reading exactly what's on it! TheY'll have to reprint! And think of the poor government! They're going to have to re-memorize the excuses as to why they can't afford more support payments but need to double the budget for the Olympics and defense spending. And let's not even get started on how this might shelve talks bout restarting the GoTo campaign as soon as possible.

klausdorthToday  09:22 am JST

Point is that case numbers are increasing week after week.

Still no (or very little) contact tracing.

Still no (or very little) inoculations.

Still no (or very limited) firm decisions.

All this for the benefit of the Tokyo Olympics and showing the world how great Japan is.

Stop wasting money, help the people who need the help .... that's what your (the government's) job should be!

Call the Games off until next year. By then more people will be vaccinated and well. The benefits and profits will be double. Holding the Games now is asking for trouble. Delay!

They told us there have been no proven cases of spread on the Shinkansen, just how there have only been a handful of cases caused by Go To Travel. /s

There are things that you don't need to be told even by an expert and need to think on your own.

I don't need an expert to tell me that infection is not possible in the plane , shinkansen or trains, I know it is not true because it is a virus and it survives for a even days on surfaces and you can contract it touching the surface and then your face.

They talk about social distancing yet the trains are packed like sardine they can't tell us the train is not safe because the J-inc foot soldiers have to go and work for the corporate daimyos, Imagine the repercussions

if it was widely revealed alot of infections took place in the trains, J-inc would come to a grinding halt.

if mask were the panacea they are touted to be then how come 4,000 or more people get infected, were they not wearing mask ? of course almost all of them wear mask. They talk of the virus being spread through the air and aerosols and the need to wear mask while eating when in reality most people get infected through contact and touch, and there are places one can get infected, elevator button, escalator handles, ATM machines, Supermarket shopping carts and baskets, Gas pumps, door knobs and handles and most places you can contract it from the very sanitizers that are meant to protect because you have to press with the hands to

dispense. If there is one thing I have learnt from this pandemic and the virus is that the experts are not any better knowledgewise about this virus than me.

Mkre than Suga, koike is a huge disappointment to me.

probably calling for s new SOE while at the same time promising a “ wonderful “ Games.

Surreal

This on-again-off-again affair with the state of emergency is really getting old.

Nice try, but the SOE has been lifted in Tokyo. The festival vendors and planners all adhered to the suggested safety measures. It was the posh mature Japanese citizens not following the rules.

In probably the most popular park of the most populated city in the World. Attending means that you are expressing your personal freedom to do so. So you can't pick and choose what is a super spreader event and what isn't based on the causes you support and causes you don't.

Any one who cannot see through this Charade by now is blind.

Surely you can't still be believing the mantra can you ?

Zoroto Then the answer is yes.

OK fair enough.

Im tired of sacrificing for those are able to telework, those who wont wear masks properly, those who insist on drinking or eating in restaurants next to others, those who insist on traveling or site seeing, or enjoying group karaoke during a pandemic.

I have sacrificed enough the past two lockdowns and at this point I have NO sympathy or empathy for anyone who gets sick with engaging in the above activities.

You said 'short/effective'... but the reality here is that SOE's are not short term and not an effective long term solution. Whats done is done and its not possible to have a 'redo'.

Australia and other countries had effective measures that worked for them.... this is not Australia nor the US.

Shouldn't this have been done long ago? Has the gov't not learned anything? I am just an average joe and I have more common sense than those in charge...get ALL the "leaders" out of here and start fresh...with some young people in charge!

The young are not any better they have been brought up not to think , question and air their own opinions

but to listen to the authorities, they have been taught that the authorities know better as the authorities are

smarter, are graduates of top schools all the while programs requiring intellect are run by comedian some without even a high school certificate. The public is kept dumb by design with a plethora of food programs on T.V.

Lately, the media is really showcasing this ‘surge of humanity’ in Osaka (as depicted above) when we ALL know the numbers and activity are greater in Tokyo.

Done on purpose to distract the general public and the world that cases are low in Tokyo due to the the highly infectious variant wrecking havoc in Osaka not having spread in Tokyo thus making Tokyo safe for the Olympic when even a dumb person knows that genome testing in Tokyo as well as PCR tests have deliberately been below half of Osaka. There is no way on earth that the highly infectious variant is not prevalent in Tokyo as well

with thousands of people travelling between both cities daily. Even where there are strict lockdowns this virus still manages to spread, to think that it doesn't spread in Japan due to some unproven and assumptious reasons is nothing but naivety.

I fully supported the first and second SOE's, I avoid large crowds as much as possible, always wear two masks and I am in favor of cancelling the Olympics completely.

However, I am NOT in favor of any more SOE's or lockdowns. At this point they are pointless and cause almost as much harm as the virus.

"Taking a proactive approach is indispensable in responding" to the spike, Koike said, as the capital reported 543 new COVID-19 cases the same day, surpassing 500 for the sixth consecutive day, with only three months left before the opening of the Tokyo Olympics.

Proactive approach, my big toe. Koike san yo, what happened to the 65,000 tests a day you promised late last

year, Vaccine rollout is at snail pace, testing barely exceeds 7,000 a day, in reality it is on the decrease, contact tracing almost non existent yet this lady is talking with a straight face about proactive action when for over a year now she only postures and pretend she doing something when essentially doing nothing but display placards with Catch phrases seems to have run out of phrases of late. She is just a one trick pony or green snake on green grass. All her tatemae is just to further her political career. Unfortunately the Yoshimoto and Jonnies run media are just too dumb to hold this lady , the bureaucrats and politicians to task.

The numbers will go down by the end of April when the weather gets warmer. The frequency of the temperature changes in the beginning of spring is causing people and has always cause people to get the flu. No state of emergency should be called but they know that if they call it before the numbers go down naturally they can say how great of a job they did. As if people want to hide in their houses and bankrupt more small businesses. These politicians are detached from reality. They watch too much TV and consume too much media fear propaganda.

@Nomination

Remember folks, Covid regulations and manners are out the window if the cause is for something you agree with.

Nice try, but the SOE has been lifted in Tokyo. The festival vendors and planners all adhered to the suggested safety measures. It was the posh mature Japanese citizens not following the rules.

Therefore, the public is to blame and the miseducation by their incompetent leaders like the US from 2016-2020.

Id like to ask everyone: If you knew YOU would not be paid, no yen, no income whatsoever for however long, or how many, State of Emergencies would you support and call for it/them?

Would you be eager for full lockdown if you would not receive any income whatsoever and just had to go home and wait?

+yes, - no

Masked or not, that’s way too many people in too tight an area.

I attended Earth Day in Yoyogi park, yesterday.

Remember folks, Covid regulations and manners are out the window if the cause is for something you agree with.

Another weak state of emergency will just prolong the pain and inconvenience for everybody. The measures should have been much stronger from the beginning. Get the vaccines done.

GdTokyoToday  06:48 am JST

Masked or not, that’s way too many people in too tight an area.

Declare an SOE and cancel the Olympics.

It's said that a picture tells a thousand tales.

snowymountainhellToday  06:55 am JST

*Lately, the media is really showcasing this ‘surge of humanity’ in Osaka (as depicted above) when *we ALL know the numbers and activity are greater in Tokyo

And we all know that Tokyo is the larest city on planet Earth, with a population of over 35 million people.

Hold off the Olympics until next year. Don't be dumb like many Americans were last year.

Studying the problem and DO IT. The problem is getting worse as you study it.

Gaijinjland The trains are as crowded as always and I’m probably going to get Covid anyway for having to commute to work 5 days a week.

At least you and seems most that are posting can still go to work & pay your rent/bills. Thats not so bad.

I dont think the cities in Tokyo last weekend was quieter ,following the preventive measure for Tokyo region.

To make Tokyo Olympic successful, we have to stand the coming Golden week under state of emergency or more strict measure for short time.

Im not sure Suga-san has taken current situation seriously or not.

Wow! A plethora of frustration.

@DerekGrebe 7:20am

“You're kidding, right?” For a year, out-of-touch incompetents dithered, waited until things got bad enough, make a display of doing something, took a half-assed half-measure and hoped for the best.” -

@Northern life 8:00am

“...give me a break nobody is listening nobody cares...get rid of these useless politicians I'm sick of paying for them.’ -

@RickySanchez 7:31am

“This all just baffles us...I don't get it. All these politicians ignore to do the right thing? I just don't get it.” -

“ ****I just dont get it! ” appears to be a consistent chant here today!

As predicted, the SOE only slowed the spread of the virus and within a few weeks the new case numbers rose back into the quadruple figures. Another round of SOE will only start the cycle again. This will be a never ending scenario.

Japan is a clean and diligent country. It just seems to coincidence that the Olympics were ready to go, which would benefit Japan, profits from televised events, and get the country back up again. Next minute another Covid19 outbreak,in just the flick of a switch. Stay safe and healthy Japan.

What is the point? People don’t adhere to the lockdowns anyway. At this point I’ve just stopped caring. The trains are as crowded as always and I’m probably going to get Covid anyway for having to commute to work 5 days a week.

I attended Earth Day in Yoyogi park, yesterday. More than half of attendees were not wearing masks. The only cautious people were the vendors and festival staff. These were mostly the posh adults and anyone drunk. Not to mention, the Rockabillies were not wearing masks as they danced or walking back and forth from the station.

I saw more young teenagers to young adults around the festival, park, shrine and Harajuku station wearing masks.

I havnt been infected or personally know anyone thats been infected. Still the 'State of Emergencies' have effectively ruined my life from what it was just over a year ago simply because I cant consistently work or make a living.

State of Emergencies (SOE) are not a solution and in some ways nearly as harmful as the virus itself. Even tho its a SOE there are still people in stores/malls, cafes, restaurants, pachinko parlors, baseball games etc. yet many others like me are told to go home until the SOE is lifted.

“It’s officially a State of Emergency.”

Okay. That means, what?

Last time it meant banning all incoming foreign visitors at immigration (except established foreign residents).

When they ended the Tokyo SOE in March, they started allowing in "special exemption" foreigners, which mainly meant any foreign athlete or staff involved with the Olympics.

So the question is, will a new SOE again restrict entry to even those "special exemption" foreigners?

If so, then the Olympics are toast.

If not, then its not an "emergency".

Suga: start reducing the number of cases next week. It will show my policies have worked.

Excel officer: Hai, your wish is my command. The world still doesn't know our secret, and you'll be the glorious leader during the best Olympics ever.

I propose 7.30pm c

@AG

This all just baffles us...I don't get it. All these politicians to irrogant to do the right thing? I just don't get it.

I would love to see Tokyo be RESPONSIBLE and test 60k people in one day.

That would only happen the day after the Olympics were cancelled.

Before that happens, the daily average of 3,000 - 6,000 tests in the metropolitan area of Tokyo, of 39 million people, will more likely decrease than increase.

Also, contact tracing remains an illusion, not happening still.

Taking a proactive approach is indispensable in responding.

You're kidding, right? For a year, this shower of out-of-touch incompetents have dithered, waited until things got bad enough that they had to make a display of doing something, then took a half-assed half-measure and hoped for the best.

A procession of apparatchiks marching through Ueno park yesterday advising people enjoying the sunshine to stay home.

I don't see those same goons today advising us not to go to work. J-Inc must be appeased. Sacrifice your fun, citizens, then swarm into your trains like good little drones. The virus doesn't start until 8pm from Monday to Friday.

More half arsed measures is not going to stop or control the new variant. Japan's measures to date is what has brought it to where it is now. Unless it's an emergency or buying groceries, there's no need for anyone to be out. And yes I also agree with the other posts, Tokyo is just as bad if not worse, they're supressing the numbers for the Olympics.

I've had enough of this yo-yo. Vaccinate us NOW

What does that mean though? “It’s officially a State of Emergency.”

Okay. That means, what? They haven’t given details to what that means. People are still being asked to come into work and school. If anything is to change, this stuff has to come from the top down.

Isn't it about time they stopped "considering" and got up off their rear ends and actually DID something?

Ah yes, because a new state of emergency will make everything better.

I would love to see Tokyo be RESPONSIBLE and test 60k people in one day. Then we can see the truth. However the olympics are more important than humanity! Japan MUST have the Olympics to show that they can beat the Virus!, all while numbers keep climbing. I could not be any happier since I left!

*Okite, Nippon! Are these ‘Leaders’? *Look at all the stalling and hesitation:

*- “Tokyo Gov Koike said Sun she might ask the central govt to issue another coronavirus SOE for the capital to deal with a recent spike... surpassing 500 for the 6th consecutive day... "I have instructed sr. metro govt officials to study countermeasures, while considering (the possible option of) requesting an SOE.” -*

*- “Osaka Gov Yoshimura is expected to decide possibly this week whether to ask the central govt for a reissuance of anSOE for the pref.’ -*

Stop all the ‘posturing’ and make some effective decisions!

Shouldn't this have been done long ago? Has the gov't not learned anything? I am just an average joe and I have more common sense than those in charge...get ALL the "leaders" out of here and start fresh...with some young people in charge!

how about a pseudo-emergency or semi-emergency?

Lately, the media is really showcasing this ‘surge of humanity’ in Osaka (as depicted above) when we ALL know the numbers and activity are greater in Tokyo.

Masked or not, that’s way too many people in too tight an area.

Declare an SOE and cancel the Olympics.

But, I thought the pandemic in Japan was a thing of the past and the Olympics were moving forward.

[ sarcasm ]

The Japanese Government insisted that everything will be fine.

I'm so surprised that this is simply not the case.

"Tokyo, Osaka consider asking gov't to issue another state of emergency"