Aaron J comments

Most stories would define “new condo price”. New construction?

Tourism probably peaked in the short term over lunar New Year. Tokyo and surrounding destinations were bustling. International Hotels prices were up 30-50% (JPY) - even in Odawara. I was there for 14 days and it was a sharp contrast to my 2-week visit in late October

We’ll probably see more international tourism outside Tokyo when the weather improves.

It has been my experience too, that most of Japanese friends can’t swim at all.

Yeah.. wow.. that photo. Yikes

Is everyone missing the point? In Japan, having details like this release about the death of a minor is frowned upon - even in the media. I could go a step further and assume that girl was willingly participating in some way. Oh wait, that’s exactly why this is so inappropriate.

Doesn’t seem like a lot considering the amount of animated content being created. The big Voice Actors still reign supreme and still make a ton of money (like actors).

@Fredrik

Fewer people with infections, means fewer deaths with COVID. If the deaths are delayed, that means they are due to COVID.

Well said. These were my first thoughts, exactly.

I realized as I write this that it’s been only a couple weeks short of three years since I started watching these numbers and following these comments on this news site. I’m staying at the same hotel in Tokyo that I was then. I am a little disappointed how few have been actually paying attention and can apply this level of critical thinking.

i wonder what criteria is used to report on these individual tragedies - why one suicide is reported but hundreds not. It would have made more sense if the article went on to explain how common this method is.

Logged in just to agree with @theFu. It wouldn’t mean Japan was ‘like” China though - only that are willing to more flexible and take step towards adapting to China’s culture. Win-win for the two countries, I would think.

I don’t think Japan will ever hit pre-pandemic numbers for International Tourism again. It took years to get that momentum and it was the right place for that time.

@Bob Arrived into HND today from Detroit. The only hold up AT ALL was waiting for luggage.

Depending on time of Day, trains can be impossible with lots of luggage

Flight was same price as 4Q19 and 1Q20 and cheaper than November 2022.

International hotel chains.. woah a lot more expensive in JPY. 50% higher than ever before

The PCR test is more of a risk than a hassle if you look at the time spent traveling, so I got my shots

This is not definitely not a story worthy of the few selected headlines available to an English news source.

@Pukey2 I am very aware the CCP prefers a new name now. I think you give them too much credit

I don’t think it was knee jerk, I think the CCP painted themselves into a corner and needed a way out. With huge outbreaks already looming, and pressure from inside and outside to stop the economic bleeding, an abrupt end with at the request of the world and their own people was perfect for Leadership to save face. Unfortunately, the well being of the people has never been a driver for CCP COVID policy.

Why does everyone assume Mainland China has been sheltered from COVID for 3 years? I’m sure they have had their fair share of cases, strains and deaths already. If you’ve been watching what’s been available on China for the past couple of years. you’d have seen that implementation of zero covid, in practice, has been a rolling wave of super-spreader events. A break out in Beijing/Shanghai/Guandong? OK. lock down a few million people at a time and cage them in still-huge clusters, isolate thousands of close contacts on buses and cram them into shelters, make everyone else gather in huge crowds daily for tests… then report 200 cases…

i’m not saying the CCP intended to spread COVID, I’m just saying they weren’t preventing it’s spread and they weren’t reporting anything.

@bob

aanyone in the filtration business will tell you that specified pore size and filtration capabilities are poorly correlated. First the particles are in droplets. You also have wetting of the filter media throughout it’s 3D structure which creates a non-linear and hydrophilic path for aerosols to travel through - i.el they get caught in other spit.

the real issue is everyone breathes around their masks. The aerosols and viruses travel elsewhere.

I was a visitor in Japan Feb 26 - March 12 2020, and they without a doubt had a different approach than the rest of the world. At the time there was no action being taken in the rest of the world and I had friends asking me to bring masks & (good) hand sanitizer for their personal use, because supply was stretched.

Nearly every storefront had pink isopropyl alcohol in pumps at the door, and everyone wore masks. They collectively shut Tokyo down. None of it was based on guidance from anywhere… and of course they had the Diamond princess docked in Yokohama and the world was watching….

Unfortunately, that was the beginning of the end of my impression of Japan being any sort of leader in COVID prevention/education. But yeah, they were super-quick to put on masks and guidance or not it is still considering the right thing to do.

Got my updated Moderna yesterday morning, i ran a 101F fever all night and am just now recovering (20:00 here). I needed it to get into Japan. I guess it was so I don’t get sick.

Seeing these figures, I recalled an article from Asahi Shimbun from a few months back on decreasing number of children in Japan, In May 2022, they reported than only 11.7% of Japan’s population was under 15 (14.65 Million children)

As of the last US Census, 21.4% of the US population was under 15 (est. 60.3 Million children)

Globally, about 26% of the worlds population is thought to be under 15.

just some some more context for the abuse rates in the article and in the comments

i wrote:

 If it cost 10B yen (8 MMUSD) then maybe the cost is bothering folks

Wait! 10B yen is 80MMUSD. That seems like a lot. Lol

I get it, sort of, but… why so much coverage? If it cost 10B yen (8 MMUSD) then maybe the cost is bothering folks, but it seems like it is just a ambiguous anti Abe/LDP excuse to protest and stir-up mild controversy. Why not protest & cover something with some real controversy?

I have a very strong feeling this is only part of the story.

I speculate the new male doesn’t want to be the mother anymore, and the first father isn’t going to give up his role as father. So yeah, we can speculate all kinds of things..

I think what the posters above are saying is 30/32 C isn’t hotter than usual or that remarkable. It’s regularly that hot here in Michigan (like almost Canada).

Chinese business flew banners advertising Abe assassination sales and eateries posted BOGO drink specials. Chinese state run media immediately posted warnings that the uprise in Japan could be turned on China. China and the majority of the People celebrated his death - and this, not condolences, is what was allowed to be seen without censorship. This is what they are taught. This is the view what their government teaches. They only retracted because the world go to see it. Absolutely repulsive.

Rest in peace Abe-san.

Japanese don’t seem to understand taxes, or maybe it’s audits. Maybe they need…

SOFTWARE?

@ zoroto

they can;t separate tourists and business travelers for much longer. As it is, most business travelers can’t enter without a sponsor. I would never ask a Japanese customer to sponspor me nor would I ever go to Japan to visit just one customer. Add to that I have decade old friends in Japan. After hundreds of days in Tokyo, what am I? Business man or Tourist?

@sheikh yerboaby

I’d also like to know this. Or if there is even an answer to your questions. Seem like the airlines are just selling tickets to fill % of the planes over the very near term, and 3 + weeks out they publish “phantom” schedules that always change.

So far Japan hasn’t ever hit any of the caps that I’m aware of.

Oh, and I hope by now we all understand you can’t make solid conclusions from these numbers except that you can’t draw any solid conclusions. Hats off to those who agreed with this 18 months ago…

peace

Just logged in to say: glad cases are decreasing. @FFS, except that both sides use “naysayers” with often-conflicting meaning, you have been on the right page for a long time.

What matters most is I think Japan is getting up-to-speed with global acceptance of the situation - this is my opinion based mostly on my Japanese friends’ perspectives and very little on Japanese news media which will never catch up.

Mat. I agree 100%. If Veolia’s pulverizing wind turbine blades to make a combustible powder is a breakthrough in recycling, why not this?

burning styrene, being a benzene derivative, not sure how great that is…. but extracting btu’s from conventional thermoplastics seems like a good deal to me.