atomu comments

Don't worry...4 teams get to qualify.....

Not quite correct. Two teams from each of the two groups go straight through. The two third placed teams will play off with the winner taking an inter-confederation play-off slot. This might be Japan's only hope to make it to Qatar next year.

The Japan V Australia game on Tuesday night in Saitama should be a cracker. Australia will be gunning for their 12th win on the trot and can all but seal a spot in Qatar there.

I always crack up reading the Tokyo centered comments on here. The numbers may be dropping in Tokyo (due to shady practices??), but there are no signs of this happening in Kansai. Most days still have records or near records. There is more to Japan than just Tokyo.

NHK broadcasts Paralympics all day long. I do not watch it. It is too much fanfare.

Then why even bother to comment here? To most of us it is all very inspiring.

This is not as big a deal as some here are making it out to be. The runners and walkers are professionals and will have done a lot of heat acclimation workouts to prepare. So this is nothing new to them. Hell, I have even done marathons in 38 degree heat and high humidity (on Guam, Asia and even in Germany) and survived. It is just a matter of careful preparation and then taking in hydration and good pacing during the race. But there will be some athletes who will over extend for sure. The medical tents will be prepared with IV drips and ice etc.

I am going to the track cycling on Wednesday. Expect there to be less than 1,000 spectators in a stadium that seats 3,600, so with some sensible precautions we should be fine. And the wife and I are both double jabbed.

Well that's a relief.

The numbers aren't being fiddled as such, the MHLW has just "revised" its way of counting cases. That this "revision" has led to a miraculous decrease in numbers, so that Japan is now no longer in Stage 4 of the pandemic is just a coincidence. Medical advisors say that the Olympics should not proceed if Japan is at Stage 4 of the pandemic. Now it's not, so the Olympics can go ahead! Hurrah!

Japan. Fudging numbers since 1868.

@zichi 'What is the name of the town?'

Inecho on the Japan sea coast. It is a beautiful place.

Sad news about a League hero of mine. RIP Bozo.

Meanwhile a good friend in Tokyo with stage 4 terminal lung cancer has to wait until July for her first shot. Priorities.....

Lisbon. For the culture, food, wine and climate.

This is nothing new at all. Seems that most of the posters here are too young to remember, or never used the yellow International Certificates of Vaccination book. In (at least) the '70s and '80s you needed to be vaccinated for diseases like Yellow Fever and get the stamp to prove it in the book before you could travel to certain countries. Every thing old is new again. It is not a big deal.

Way to go Angela!

Was actually supposed to open at the end of July, but was pushed back due to Covid.

Believe it or not, there is still a decent market for luxury hotels in Japan, even now. This hotel will do very well when things return to normal. (or near enough to normal)

Here's a wild idea for the clueless government.

Make the travel agents, airlines and hotels etc waive the cancellation fees. There really shouldn't even be cancellation fees in place during this pandemic anyway.