archmiel comments

I totally misread the title, thinking "garbage" was being used as an adjective and was wondering wtf until I read the article.

I haven't been stopped by the police in a while now but over the past two and a half decades I have been stopped a few dozen times. I used to live in a sort-of rundown area in Saitama I would walk to from Nishi-Kawaguchi station and would get stopped all the time but I have been stopped across Saitama and Tokyo.

The funny thing is I am Japanese, I just look foreign. The police almost always took me at my word when I told them this, though. Once in a blue moon I have someone not believe me but my tax "My Number" or health insurance cards have been enough since I don't usually carry my Japanese passport with me.

The checks were far more frequent for me a decade ago but once in a while I still get stopped. My eyes are not good so who knows, it might look like my wide stares or weird squinting sets them off.

I was out voting and in my neck of the woods NHK was there at the exit trying to accost people. Not for filming, either. They asked me which announcer I liked the best (!?). I was confused but it was raining so I didn't stick around longer than I had to.

Every time there is an election my employers urge us all to vote Komeito. They say it is better than the LDP. Yeah...

Although I was kind of hoping this would happen, I still think no matter who I vote for it will just end up being the LDP yet again.

Will they take people from surrounding prefectures? Ones without those vaccine tickets yet? (some of my coworkers around Omiya in Saitama still don't have theirs)

Since I am over 39 I was going to say I am SOL but my first shot was reserved for this weekend anyway so that works out.

Only one week until I can hopefully get my first but I am having a hard time grasping the stats given on the percentage of vaccinated people just because I am self employed and deal with several clients across Saitama and Tokyo (total employees over all in the 4 digit range) and the percentage in my circle is more like 20% one shot 10% two. These will be higher by the end of September since a bunch I know have reservations by then for their first, but it still feels very low.

One of my clients (their staff) still largely does not have their vouchers yet. To make matters worse one of them phoned earlier saying they had a confirmed case and the rest of the staff are being tested so now I may need to be tested myself (though it has been a couple weeks since I was there).

This has not been a good year for me, but I trust others are finding more success.

I was finally able to book in my town from Monday and even though the site was overloaded all day I managed to get reservations for the 1st and 2nd shots in August and September, though with the big warning message supply is not guaranteed so it may all fall apart again. My coworkers the next city over are still waiting for their vouchers but they should arrive in August. Here is to hoping we can get something.

I'm in the 40-49 age group and, in my ward at least, that age group was the last to be able to apply

Same. We can't even apply in this city for another week yet, and my coworkers in the neighboring city still haven't got their vouchers yet.

Still waiting up in Saitama. I finally got my vax coupon but my coworkers in neighboring Omiya are still waiting and were told they would get it end of July or August. I can't book anywhere and am on cancellation waiting lists. No idea what to do. The town office isn't allowing us to make reservations until the end of this month but even then we were told it could be the end of the year or later.

Tested twice over the year. I am self employed and travel across Kanto to meet with several clients 6 days of the week. A few of my clients had a few positive cases (one had 3 people out of a staff of just over 100, another had 5 in a company of about 300). One case turned for the worse and he died from it. A bunch of my friends also got tested but none of them were positive.

I partially agree with realist. I live just north of Itabashi-ku in Saitama. It is pretty rough here with Seiyu and Daiei closing down for hours at a day (we have had regular power outages here) including most local businesses. We can still get things like bread and milk but you have to be quick. If anything, toilet paper and diapers are more scarce. Conbinis are in short supply but places like Kaldi still have lots of stuff. Most anything that isn't milk or break or toilet paper, diapers or batteries is in ample supply, though.

I live right on the border between Tokyo and Saitama and have been getting a double dose of blackouts or mixed up blackout schedules some days for whatever reason/screwup (I was supposed to have a blackout 1-4 or so one day this week and got it 7-10pm). Not usually during the daytime but the late afternoons to evenings have been pretty rough without power. My family isn't as bad off as those as up north though, not by a long shot.

correction, 1700 yen per hour, not month

12000 is most certainly quite a few hours worth of salary for many. Around many of our clients' places, the average salaryman is 300k/month. At 22 or 23 days worked a month, that works out to only 1700 yen or so a month. The managers aren't even breaking 3000 an hour.

Per the request of friends, I am posting my experience.

I have never had a problem getting a credit card in this country. After filing for bankruptcy last year (massive tax messups and loss of a higher paying job the previous year), I had another credit card issued to me not 3 months later (Saison card sent from Mizuho). I have never had a really high paying job, but for some reason credit card companies keep sticking credit card offers in my face (when signing up at Tipness, my company arranged for another one)