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© KYODOSuga suggests optimism for lifting state of emergency
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Monty
But Tamura said the restrictions on people's lives will not be lifted in one go.
What the hell does that mean?
Mr Kipling
So we've had "considering" then "leaning towards" and now optimism....
I think we can count on the SOE being lifted!
dagon
Suga suggests optimism for lifting state of emergency
The magic eightball says: All signs point to yes! And just in time for the elections!
There is a great comic, absurdist novel yet to be written about Japanese postwar politics and the LDP.
HBJ
Just looking at Suga has drained all the optimism he was trying to convey.
stickman1760
Restrictions will not be lifted in one go
its pretty simple. It means we’re going back to “man-en boshi” for a while first. Quasi measures. Bars and restaurants will be able to serve alcohol, stay open a bit later than 8pm (I know, I know, a lot have not adhered to this but to get govt assistance you had to follow the govt guidelines). Limits on capacity at stadiums, theaters will be eased. In other words they won’t just toss out all the countermeasures at once like they do in the US then see a terrible rebound. Despite what many here think the Japanese for the most part are taking a sensible and cautious approach. Keep those masks on!
Stewart Gale
I trust Suga was immediately taken away to commence his two week quarantine, like his government are ordering everyone else to do.
sf2k
Olympics are gone now, they can say whatever they want now. No one left to impress
Danielsan
Can someone explain why the Japanese people are subject to "state of emergency" as well as travel bans from other countries?
Japan has reported about 3,000 new cases per day, in a population of about 125 million. By contrast the USA, population 330 million reports over 300,000 new cases per day, with few, if any, restrictions on foreign travel and no states of emergency.
Chabbawanga
Just open the bloomin pubs already
bo
Well covid case numbers are well down and vaccine numbers well up, so the plan is working. The more people are vaccinated the better society will be, so yes lift those curbs and let's live
Robert Cikki
Why are official decisions here based on optimism or pessimism and not on the real situation, the voice of experts, calculations, statistics? Or, what about just being realistic or, even being completely stupid, looking at previous developments abroad?
kurisupisu
@Richard Gallagher
Excellent summary!
I remember watching Aso and Abe smirking in the Diet when being quizzed by the opposition on the out of control mass Chinese tourism-people couldn’t hire buses due to mass bookings by overseas groups-they had no answer to the congestion in cities like Kyoto where public transport was impossible to board.
They also had no idea whatsoever to halt the spread of the virus.
It is down to some other fact than ‘governance’ that Japan did not and has not suffered mass fatalities.
Alfie Noakes
It's been widely reported that Tokyo's number are falling because the non-vaccinated have finally got the message and stayed at home during the recent public holidays.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/09/26/national/tokyo-unvaccinated-covid-wave/
As soon as the SOE is lifted the numbers will increase again.
stickman1760
Daniel san look at deaths in US vs deaths in Japan. Answer may be there
Happy Day
Both politics and science says lift the SOE. Multiple tools exist to effectively deal with COVID.
But the allure of mandates and restrictions is not something leaders easily relinquish. Just look at how Australia is abusing its citizens, though that is an extreme example.
Richard Gallagher
The witless fools who contest protocols and inoculation act as a disease vector. The need to assert one's individual 'rights' above the common good is a very 'western' phenomena and reflects gross ignorance of the existent culture. It causes obvious concerns with the lifting of fairly liberal mandates aka the state of emergency. Which, in spite of anecdotal accounts is followed by a majority who tend towards norms of social responsibility.
As for Suga, his Mary Poppins act has worn thin - he fails to hew to science and is no more than a political weathervane - any way the political wind blows, so he goes or whatever is advantageous.
The next six months are crucial to tamping down and reducing the spread of SARSCoV-2. The possibility of a springtime devoid of the virus depends on booster shots and keeping a modicum of protocols in place over the winter. his rests on active government agency.
Another factor will be the policies toward foreign tourists, primarily Chinese and Americans. Suga, Abe and their cronies created an infrastructure based on industrial tourism from abroad. Which neglects local economies and does little for so-called regional economies. Domestic tourism is key to the recovery for independent business and local economies. Suga represents the opposite.
A return to an influx of Chinese, headed to drugstores to load-up and over-taxing public space is not a 'vision' for any means of success. The impingement of foreign tourism, Chinese-style, on local and regional cultures generates myriad adverse impacts and a shift towards accommodating a model of behavior and economic interaction that is anti-democratic and undermines what is of value in Japanese culture. One of the primary candidates for prime minister, following Suga advocates such a model.
The contagion, one may recall, arrived from China, on a boat, an airline and a bus via tourists. Winter of 2020, January on a shuttle bus between Tokyo and Osaka, with a side rip to Nara, loaded with tourists from Wuhan, China, spread the virus to the driver and tour guide. Another was a tourist returning from Wuhan. Add to that the Diamond Princess.
Beyond the reduction in tourists from mainland Asia - the cancellation of festivals, concerts and holidays, which are not dependent on foreign tourists, grossly impacted a large sector of the economy. This completely ignored by Suga and the wizards in his cabinet and the current legislature.
Japan, however oddly, without any genuine leadership from Suga or the central government, with a mere pittance of direct aid, in spite of cockamamie events like GoToTravel & the Olympics, has dealt with the virus adequately, which is testament to certain elements of culture. Japan has been ranked 25th in terms of adverse impacts due to SARSCoV-2. Though hospitals were strained, they were never overwhelmed. Failures were at the top, Suga, his cabinet and the ruling party - the inability to purchase and distribute vaccines was an abject failure of the Suga government.
Why would anyone listen to Suga. He is just whistling in the wind.
Sheikh Yerboaby
I was up in Ueno Amyoko yesterday and the street bars were doing a roaring trade....brilliant to enjoy a beer with my lunch.
Sanjinosebleed
Open up and move on!
noriahojanen
Majority of bars are restaurants were not obeying the curbing request. The covid numbers have been falling drastically though human mobility rate has remained high during the SOE. The SOE efficacy is now questioned. Experts/SOE proponents must review and account for the phenomenon. We shouldn't repeat it for the next wave(s).
Following up, more than 2,000 new daily deaths for US in comparison to 21 for Japan yesterday. As for vaccination rates, Japan has already outpaced the US. I prefer cautious reopening on the borders, though.
Todd
State of Emergency?? What State of Emergency?
Nobody has been paying attention to this since the second one.
They tell everybody to stay home and only go out for essentials however Suga still travels the world.
His Cabinet still goes out and Wine & Dine with other companies into the late hours.
They allow their friends to come and go to Japan with no quarantine and they even party with them.
The only reason for the uptick in viruses was the Olympics. Over 850 from the Olympics brought it here and were allowed to roam Japan as they pleased.
factchecker
Funny how the numbers were in the thousands while the sports carnivals were on but in the hundreds either side of it. Japanese passive aggression at it's finest.
Asakaze
From the article: "the number of new cases in Japan has dropped to about 3,000 a day from about 25,000 at one point". Real situation, statistics enough?
Aly Rustom
Well, not exactly blue. He did exactly what he was supposed to do. Preside over the Olympics and take the flak for it while protecting the political blue bloods. He'll be given a VERY nice pension and retire in a lap of luxury from our taxes.
Not bad for a strawberry farmer from Tochigi.
Sheikh Yerboaby
".....As the fifth wave of infections this summer strained the country's medical system and forced many people to recuperate at home...."
It didn't FORCE people to recuperate at home, that's what most people SHOULD be doing!! There's no need for most people to go to the hospital and be kept in. Recovering at home is the NORMAL way.....what a load of old guff.
Asakaze
Not very nice photo. How often these guys iron their suits?
didou
Well, I don’t think so. Why should they stay home ?
The one who rushed for a vaccine were the most scared and were the one who for one and an half year stayed mostly home. And suddenly come out.
I am not vaccinated yet and never stayed home