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Lower house passes virus bill allowing Abe to declare emergency

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Great photo!

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Is it only me or am I not seeing straight. The title of this article does not match the photo. Looks as though they are laughing at the public during this tragic time we face with this China born virus. Seriously people, what a slap in the face!!!

11 ( +17 / -6 )

Happy to see that the government thinks the death of its people, lose of business and so on is a joke!

11 ( +15 / -4 )

Yeah, it sure looks like they're taking this seriously...

Meanwhile, health officials in the US are now admitting they have screwed up with the lack of testing so far. Will we see Japan do the same? Not a chance.

15 ( +16 / -1 )

I like how Abe and gang are not taking this Corona thing too seriously.

Wonder what the joke was though . . .

16 ( +18 / -2 )

deprived of the opportunity to learn

They have already taken their tests. What will the final 3 weeks of school teach them that they haven't learned all year?

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Remember; these people (thanks to our taxes) are driven everywhere in private cars, are given special treatment and certainly testing would be available to them. They do not need to interact with us commoners, do not need to take the trains, etc.

A photo says a thousand words

18 ( +19 / -1 )

@ bertie

Aso was quoted as saying “the tax payer will foot the bill as usual”

13 ( +14 / -1 )

with this clown car of an administration at the helm of this pandemic for Japan, we are totally screwed. Nuff said

10 ( +11 / -1 )

Emergency powers? So he can do/ pass any Laws he wants with no need to gain public understanding. This is a scary development thus the big smiles.

8 ( +10 / -2 )

Japan will go ahead with the plan to host the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics this summer, Yoshihide Suga, the top Japanese government spokesman, reiterated.

Nobody will be coming from abroad and the Japanese spectators will be too ‘yenless’ to afford it!

Game Over.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Coivid 19 deaths by country

Italy 827

South Korea 66

France 48

Spain 55

USA 38

Japan 16

Nuff said

-19 ( +3 / -22 )

@Cali - is this why Abe is laughing?

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Abe thinks this is all funny? What the hell!

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Democracy? Nah, not for the plebs. Hawhawhaw

4 ( +5 / -1 )

And why is there no "drive up testing?"

https://www.koaa.com/news/national/coronavirus/colorados-first-drive-up-covid-19-testing-facility-opens-in-denver-is-free-of-charge?fbclid=IwAR1-ePFomqhDjwpmQ-obRxs90vygE6lWh_HTziuTBUmUhYuRSAiS75URw2U

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Japan's luckiest rolly polly clown.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

"is this why Abe is laughing?"

Do you know the context of the picture? Is it possible, he smiled because he won the vote and now has the power to fight the virus? The media took thousands of pictures that day. Why did they go with that one? Why are you worried about the photo? Why are you saying nothing about the law that was just passed ?

From the article:

The government has unveiled a series of support measures for parents who need to take time off to care for their children and businesses hit by the viral outbreak.

and

The bill to revise the law on new types of influenza and infectious diseases will temporarily give the prime minister the authority to declare a state of emergency when coronavirus infections spread rapidly across the country and raise fears of a grave impact on people's lives and the economy.

Why are the posters commenting about the photo and not on the above?

-4 ( +6 / -10 )

And why is there no "drive up testing?"

because:

South Korea 7869 cases

Japan 585 cases

that is why.

-6 ( +3 / -9 )

And why this:

South Korea 7869 cases

Japan 585 cases ?

Because:

There is 'drive up testing' in South Korea.

There, fixed if for ya.

10 ( +12 / -2 )

I'm surprised there's a photo of Aso with his eyes open in a diet session.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

Both ruling and opposition party lawmakers say the government should be cautious about declaring an emergency that would suppress people's rights.

Yep. This scares me TBH. I don't trust that the LDP's actions will be balanced and well-considered judging by the trail of maelstrom they have left behind (scandals, bribery, corruption etc)...

They will use this to the advantage of Japan Inc. (ie: themselves!).

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Because:

There is 'drive up testing' in South Korea.

The fact that you have to point this out is a travesty. Shocking the gullibility most people have.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

They have already taken their tests. What will the final 3 weeks of school teach them that they haven't learned all year?

To become evermore jingoistic. Seems like a quip, but it's not. Speaking from experience...

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Why are the posters commenting about the photo and not on the above?

Because it's good to maintain a sense of humor in difficult times.

Even Abe and his cronies know that as you can see from the photo.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

That's what good doctor ordered for Japan - more power to Abe san!

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Italy 827

South Korea 66

France 48

Spain 55

USA 38

Japan 16

Nuff said

Yawn. You make the same post day after day on every article. At the same time you completely ignore all those who bother to offer well considered counter arguments as to why these numbers don't tell the whole story.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

Don’t forget that the Diamond Princess was under the Japanese control so should be counted with Japanese numbers. So, add another 700 to Japan’s total. It is sad that the victims on that ship are not even mentioned anymore.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Russia banned all inbound travel from China back in January, very soon after the outbreak.

Russia has had 28 coronavirus cases (most have now recovered) and 0 deaths as of yesterday.

No deaths and fewer than 30 cases in a country with 145 million people.

Because that country almost immediately closed the door to anyone coming in from the outbreak's source country.

Next time, world, please, be like Russia.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Coivid 19 deaths by country

> Italy 827

> South Korea 66

> France 48

> Spain 55

> USA 38

> Japan 16

> Nuff said

17 plus diamond princess 7 means 34 AND Japan is testing less than other countries meaning that if others have died from flu or pnumonia they may not be counted because they weren't counted as cases when they were alive.

Back to you.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

The total number of domestic cases has surpassed 1,300, including around 700 from the Diamond Princess cruise ship that...

plus 7 deaths from the diamond princess

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I guess it's good that Abe can actually enforce something instead of just requesting it.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Why are some people insisting that there would be more deaths due to covid19 if there is more testing? Was there an influx of deaths due to unknown causes recently? We need to know if there was, please post the data or a link

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Was there an influx of deaths due to unknown causes recently? 

This is actually a very good question. I'd like to see how many people have died from pneumonia, sepsis and organ failure since January. Is the trend increasing or stable? I'm not suggesting there is an intention cover up, but I believe there is a real possibility that covid deaths have gone unreported. I'm not saying they have, I'm saying it's conceivable. If we don't test, we don't know.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Nippon Kaigi are laughing their "Special" adviser now has emergency powers? Don't need the people's vote to change the constitution. The slide continues. The virus is a convenient excuse to exercise executive power.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Abe is all smiles like a crocodile weighing up a buffalo on the riverbank...mmmmm easily have that...

or in his case 'had that' .

perfect time to pass through a draconian law...

HE SHOULD HAVE SHUT OUT THE CHINESE FLIGHTS AS SOON AS THE VIRUS BROKE OUT!

6 ( +6 / -0 )

@ian

Why are some people insisting that there would be more deaths due to covid19 if there is more testing? Was there an influx of deaths due to unknown causes recently? We need to know if there was, please post the data or a link

The death reason can be anything, because the virus itself is not killing, it's a trigger for a failure of respiratory system or any other parts of your body that have ongoing problem that can be connected thousands of possibilities, it can be simply classified as pneumonia, renal failure or any other thing. Can you classify a death of HIV infected person, without knowing the person has HIV? Bcs HIV is not killing, HIV triggering the failure of the sytem/organs.

Even in Italy, we just learned that in Naples, epilepsy patient's death classified as epilepsy crisis, although she is confirmed that infected with coronavirus and it was trigger for the crisis, to not to inflate region's death count.

We need to know if there was, please post the data or a link

I'm desperately checking for data of this winter's respiratory system related hospital visits, hospitalizations and death to at least to calm my own worries regarding to my family. However there isn't any info regarding to this.

In Turkey, public pressured the government because of their disbelief to them regarding to the covid-19 data's. The government needed to publish all respiratory related hospital visit data by comparing with 2019 winter, after the pressure. However, in here there is no questioning from media or public regarding to this. Even in Erdogan's country, this is how even half-democracy works.

RESULT: None of viruses in the world can kill a person alone in one day, they are triggers for failures that covers 2~5 weeks of period.

Without test, there is no virus that trigger a failure. Since the vulnerable part is already people who are 80+ and with ongoing diseases, you can easily classify the death as natural, so we desperately need that.

After I see how the virus quickly spreading in the developed world, it's apparent that most of the asian countries lied big about the stats & counts like Cambodia, Vietnam and mildly Japan and Thailand.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

RickyC- excellent post mate!

Nippon Kaigi are laughing their "Special" adviser now has emergency powers? Don't need the people's vote to change the constitution. The slide continues. The virus is a convenient excuse to exercise executive power.

That's exactly what I was thinking.

perfect time to pass through a draconian law...

> HE SHOULD HAVE SHUT OUT THE CHINESE FLIGHTS AS SOON AS THE VIRUS BROKE OUT!

Exactly.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@RickyC

If there is no noticeable influx of deaths of any kind then there is no basis at all to the claim that there would have been more deaths due to covid19.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Put another way, we cannot claim more deaths due to something if there is no more deaths to begin with.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@Ian

Put another way, we cannot claim more deaths due to something if there is no more deaths to begin with.

OK, Ian. There is no meaning to discuss with you. I said in the above that we need data desperately to understand the situation, because 100-200 extra elderly death is, if available, is not something that we can understand by smelling the atmosphere, in country that has population of 120 millions.

There are of course no millions of deaths.

You are claiming that there is no irregular amount of that death without knowing the data, that's also speculation.

There is no meaning to have discussions, I answered you with all scientific possibilities, if you have also concerns, please request the data as responsible citizen. Because you are not capable to confirm below in at the moment.

Put another way, we cannot claim more deaths due to something if there is no more deaths to begin with.

Or believe what you want to believe.

Moderator: No more bickering please.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

They're laughing at us...

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Lol I am not claiming anything, I was questioning a claim. And thank you for your efforts in looking for the data.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Japan actually only know that there is spread, but do not know how many or where the spread is occurring.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Coronavirus/Coronavirus-Why-Japan-chose-to-test-fewer-people

Comparing Japan numbers to other nations who are actively testing is comparing apples to oranges. Other countries have higher reported cases and deaths because they are testing and identifying people. Japan is just doing a small samples everywhere.

Annnnd in comes another ban from the pro-government people who suppress any criticisms for the Japanese government, which is vastly irresponsible to the people who will visit Japan believing that there's no coronavirus in Japan.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

OK, will everyone stop focusing so much on Abe’s expression in the photo? I mean, as some of you have admitted, we don’t even know to what he was laughing about. I mean, it could be a joke that all of you guys would find funny for all you know.

And why are some of you guys complaining about the emergency provisions of the law? I mean some of you were first complaining he wasn’t doing enough, now you are implying that now he’s doing too much with this bill? I mean which one is it?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

And plenty of governments around the world already have implemented state of emergency measures. Some of which go even further than this I might add. I mean hey, we got to do something to stop the spread of this virus. It’s not like that they’re doing what they’re doing in China, which is much more draconian than this I might say.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Meanwhile all the playgrounds I pass on my way home from work are full of children and ringing with the sound of joyous adult free play. The students will learn valuable life skills having this extended school holiday and are far less likely to spread or catch a virus outdoors than they are coupled up in cramped classrooms. Enjoy it while it lasts kids.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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