We haven't made any rules saying, 'This park is OK, but that other place is off-limits.' We can only remind guardians to be aware of the intent of the school closures.

and making noise

interesting!!!!

Fair enough. The Board of Education shouldn't have any say over what kids do outside of school.

The whole point of closing schools was to slow the spread of the virus. If kids are still getting together to play, go to cram school and sport clubs it renders the school closures pointless.

I like the schools that followed Abe’s closure rule but then turned right around and told their students that they would be allowed in but would have to bring their own lunches. So the schools can say “we’re closed,” with a straight face.

A very typical workaround in safety Japan to “Do This!” Say yes, then do something else. I like it.

Schools are closed here too, but class and class work, is still happening daily. All office jobs have been asked to telecommute. Street traffic is down about 40%.

And the neighborhood kids were all playing on our yard, as usual Sunday. A gang of 10, which is much better than being in school with 500+ other students.

I went to the park with the kids in weekend, it was much more crowded than usually. People are required to refrain from hanami, but it was close to that. You cannot really keep kids closed inside the house for a month

Apparently a senior citizen rang my daughter's school to complain that a group of kids had been spotted in the supermarket. We live near a community center and it is clear that none of the senior clubs are in lockdown. They have been meeting up as normal.

And yet again, further proof that the closures were meaningless. While I have no doubt the people complaining were merely complaining about noise, and not the threat of children catching and spreading the virus, they have a good point about how the kids should not be going to parks and playing if they are not in school in order to avoid being in groups. The Japanese government continually STARTS to do something, often on a whim, but then always leaves it open-ended, and failing to take responsibility.

Japanese people are sooooooo smart.