Gov't to use ¥2.17 tril from reserve funds for virus-hit businesses, households

So bars and restaurants get 4 man a day and households can get a loan, what am I missing here?

program providing no-interest loans of up to 200,000 yen per household for three months to the end of June.

Loans? If you are printing money do it properly and distribute by the population as the US is doing right now to stimulate the economy.

Inflation? Japan would have to deal with it either way, considering the amount of money being printed since the beginning of the pandemic... and before that!

2.17 trillion yen in reserve funds

Reserve fund?

Is that like a zillion yen that you have stashed away behind the butsudan and you can magically reach in and pull it out when you want to?

Sound great. I want one!!

Loans? WTF? Loans? People cannot take out a loan. People have been out of a job for over a year and cannot find a new job because businesses are not hiring much at all. A loan? How does that help? This is a slap in the tax payers face. This is the most hurtful and un-helpful way someone could think of. A loan? So what happens when the unemployed cannot pay back the loans? Will you default? This is the most disgusting idea anyone thought of during a pandemic.

What a GREAT idea! Loan the poor to make them even more poor! Such a WONDERFUL amazing idea! Thanks to America for the 10K USD I don't have to pay back!

"As the government, we'll protect jobs, be there for those who keep their business running, and give detailed responses," Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said at a meeting of relevant ministers.

A blatant lie. There have not been guarantees for businesses receiving subsidies that they guarantee jobs, and this has been shown in numerous examples .

And yet these bums are still being voted back into office. With policy ideas like these, who needs enemies?

OK, here’s the deal. Give them 50000 a day and me 10000 a day. That would make all sides happy. But so....40000 for them and for me nothing... Go to hell and suffer well in all eternity!

It would be comedy if it were funny...

A loan!?! What a farce.

A reserve fund? Is this money they'd otherwise have allocated build to a mountain road to nowhere in Tottori, cash set aside to buy some more tetrapods from a cousin of a regional politician, or money they've printed out of thin air after a boozy dinner with the BoJ?

What about hard-hit English schools?

Right businesses get free handouts, and households get loans...

What about hard-hit English schools?

If they are hard hit, they deserve to be shut down! After one year, if you havent figured out that you can make money doing remote classes, your school wasnt worth anything to begin with.

I know a guy who used to work for one, he went online, and now he literally is make twice as much as he was when he was working in a school.

He's good at what he does, and people pay for it! Yours obviously isnt.

And what about non-bar and non-restaurant businesses that have lost income?

What about hard-hit English schools?

My friend will get zero. Me zero. My partners tax is up.

¥200,000 in loans for 3 months!

Right just what we need more debts!

¥50,000 for those with children! What about those whose adult children recently graduated only to have their jobs end because of covid and we are now having to support our adult children, I guess nothing.

Again far to little far to late.

My niece in Canada that graduated but her job was cut has been receiving $2,000 CND a month from the government, not a loan but actually money to keep her fed and a roof over her head.

Reserve fund? Is that like a zillion yen that you have stashed away behind the butsudan and you can magically reach in and pull it out when you want to?

Good point. It's not cash money. It's a number on a ledger that politicians and bureaucrats have determined. When the govt spends money into existence for COVID relief, it enters a debit in the ledger and the number goes down. If the balance runs down, they'll just set a new number.

That's why it is dumb and not worth worrying about.

As much as I realize the numbers aren’t very good I also realize there is very little I can do other than take to usual precautions and hope for the best. Wash hands, mask up and try to stay socially distanced. Anybody got any other bright ideas let us know

I know a guy who used to work for one, he went online, and now he literally is make twice as much as he was when he was working in a school.

Yeah sure, sorry if I find his claim not really believable.

Have you seen his actual income?

Only a fraction of those that were going to English schools will decide to move to online classes, then there is the competition from overseas teachers that are located in countries where it is far far cheaper to live and charge rates lower than anyone living in Japan can possibly live on.

My friend will get zero. Me zero. My partners tax is up.

If you were filing your taxes as a kojin business then you could have possibly qualified for up to ¥1 million from the government but I think it is now to late.

I am not an English teacher but am a kojin business and it took a lot of jumping through hoops and several months but I finally did get at least that much

Loans...I think I'm done with Japan. What an absolute joke this country is.

Yeah sure, sorry if I find his claim not really believable.

3,000 per hour, 30 hours to 40 hours per week, do the math!

We are in the wrong business, should have owned a bar!! LOL

Japan might be safer than other countries but the way its citizens are treated by the government is bordering on the contemptible.

What about hard-hit English schools?

In the post-corona era, I think it is not easy for Chinese people to visit the western countries due to potential hate crimes, while the western people may hesitate to visit China considering sanctions from the western countries. In this situation, Japan may be able to provide the places for Chinese people who want to study English in-person. (+sightseeing) You may be able to have a marketing plan of a few weeks' English conversation lectures in Japan for Chinese people, although I am sorry I can't expect the result.

I'd gladly take some more free money from the government. Free money is exceedingly good!

Its that new stimulus math Jtrikonometry

Thanks to America for the 10K USD I don't have to pay back!

LOL, the most you got was 1400.

"What fourth wave? The 3rd wave hasn't even remotely ended."

LOL at the stats guy again. This guy always makes me laugh with his lack of math skills

Look at the following website:

https://covid19japan.com/

Notice how the wave started around the 28th of Nov and peaked around Jan 7th and now is below the peak. See how it is shaped like a wave and now it is flat. When it is flat the wave is over.

LOL

LOL at the above comments. I guess you forgot to read the following:

Another 217.5 billion yen has been allocated to offer cash handouts of 50,000 yen per child to child-rearing households living in poverty.

LagunaToday  06:34 pm JST

What about hard-hit English schools

I own a language school and haven't been affected at all.

May I ask what the problem is?

No new students? Business contracts canceled?

And regarding online lessons, they are far less profitable.

The economics of Five students in a class verses one-to one-online make it unprofitable.

And private students are likely to pay less for online than in the class.

It's fine for a few weeks but not a long term strategy.

The model only works for large companies who can set up sweatshop classrooms in the Philippines.

He's good at what he does, and people pay for it! Yours obviously isnt.

its not just small eikaiwas though. Teachers at nova and other big schools under under a lot of pressure. Salaries are based on the number of students, but class numbers are being limited because of the virus. There have also been major issues with going online, because these businesses are not as quick to adapt as small eikaiwas.

@chabbawanga

I didn't think about how limiting class sizes affects schools and their teachers. Thanks

Personally my classes have always been limited to a maximum of six for quality of education.

I haven't bothered with social distancing etc either but I guess I am small enough I can fly under the radar on that.

3,000 per hour, 30 hours to 40 hours per week, do the math!

¥3,000 online? Nope,

30~40 hours a week fully booked?

Nope!

That would take some really neat scheduling and amazing students that all somehow want lessons at conveniently the right times not to overlap.

Not saying it is impossible but very improbable privately.

And as I and others pointed out far fewer students will change to online than were going to actual physical locations and the ¥1,000 an hour overseas online teachers charge is way cheaper and not an amount anyone in Japan can live on.

"reserve fund" ? They can print any amount of yen they choose. They can make us all trillionaires, just like in Zimbabwe.

ZorotoToday  10:52 pm JST

I haven't bothered with social distancing etc either but I guess I am small enough I can fly under the radar on that.

And your students don't care? I find that extremely hard to believe

Well it's true, most classes wear masks but some prefer not to. That's all that's different.

And not one student has quit, in fact admission is up.

My son plays football unmasked of course.

my daughter piano again no distancing.

This is the real world, completely removed from what you see on the news.

@himariyamada

The most you got was $1400.

Umm. NO. Try $4200 stimulus check 3, $1800 check 2, and $2900 first stimulus check. $8900. Plus a tax refund ($2600) this year covering ny child who doesn't have a SSN. lol. Seems like I was wrong. It is more than 10k. Oops. I was smart when I got married and all my family members have a SSN..even though my wife is Japanese, and my kids are half.

There are no plastic screens in schools and very few offices.

Social distancing too is nothing more than a slogan

Very few( in my case zero) students are old , frail or obese so are at very low or zero risk of illness

So why would clients demand inconvenient screens or social distancing in an eikaiwa?

¥3,000 online? Nope,

30~40 hours a week fully booked?

Nope!

That would take some really neat scheduling and amazing students that all somehow want lessons at conveniently the right times not to overlap.

Not saying it is impossible but very improbable privately.

And as I and others pointed out far fewer students will change to online than were going to actual physical locations and the ¥1,000 an hour overseas online teachers charge is way cheaper and not an amount anyone in Japan can live on.

Actually..it is very possible to make ¥3000 a hour online. You need to do your research! There is a company that pays $20 USD an hour for each reservation. The Americans that teach for the company are fully booked, sometimes 12 hours a day...just because you don't make that doesn't mean others don't. When I was teaching I was making ¥100,000 a month just working 4 days a month. Find the right company/school, and they pay well. The problem was people come here and settle for ¥250,000 a month teaching. The heck with that..my retirement check I get every month is almost double that!

It’s amazing to me that it is crisis time but the government is talking of spending a couple trillion yen on helping keep small businesses afloat as they deal with the prolonged pandemic impact.

it’s a couple trillion yen though.

This is a lot of money yes, but it’s only 5% of the annual budget deficit that the government has been running for so many years now - even without the pandemic crisis.

I am ok with the pandemic spending, but the typical 40 trillion yen of overspending every year when times are no so bad is simply criminal, inexcusable. It’s not fair that there isn’t an option to opt of of such a crazy arrangement.