CommodoreFlag comments

Have people become less susceptible to hardships?

Probably a few reasons behind it. Better government support, more openness, lots of online support groups.

There was a bump in the numbers for women and young men after the pandemic hit though*

Also when you look back, the 2000s seem to have been a particularly bad time in Japan.

*https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h01283/

Up from last Wednesday (41,193) but not by much.

Excluding last week, it's the lowest Wednesday number since June 29th when we had 23,346 cases.

https://japantoday.com/category/national/Coronavirus-cases-in-Tokyo-soar-to-3-803-nationwide-tally-23-346

The downward trend continues.

Very little cause for concern anymore unless you live in painkiller's parallel universe.

We can expect cases to start rising as tourism increases as many European countries now going into their next wave (ahead of Japan).

Fortunately, only mild symptoms for most but those at risk should be that bit more careful going into winter.

Sadly this has led some people to believe that there are half a million people undergoing active treatment!

They're fully aware - the faux doomer up top included. Also, it's actually pretty funny when you realize that the other guy has been rilling up this comments section for months based on just that translation.

Mixed reaction here. I've been enjoying my domestic trips without the tourist hordes. Being in onsen towns where I'm the only non-Japanese feels like its 1985 again.

Yeah, I know what you mean (except for the 1985 part) but the Covid restrictions had to end at some point.

We had a good run. On the bright side, we have 2 weeks left with two long weekends including this one.

Hopefully Japan will eventually sort out overtourism - I would imagine the locals in Kyoto will have something to say about it after 2 years of solace.

It would appear from the above update that there are fewer and fewer cases of coronavirus in Tokyo. Coincidentally, the number of comments on these daily updates are also decreasing in number.

A step backwards.

I was at a packed out Ultra Japan over the weekend. Little to no mask wearing - outdoors or indoors.

And all I can say is "great". We should be able to enjoy ourselves - especially when numbers drop this low between waves. Really loving that events like Ultra and fireworks celebrations are back this year.

Tokyo reports 8,855 new coronavirus cases

Huge numbers compared to one year ago! :O

And even huger numbers compared to two years ago! :O

But it's a completely different variant. Much milder. Especially when factoring in that most have been infected already or vaccinated.

A welcome development. I didn't get the original booster because for me who had the first two shots and got omicron (btw, I think it's fair to say if you got covid this year it was omicron seeing as 90% of cases in early January were already omicron), I didn't think it was necessary.

I don't really know if I'll get this one yet either - I'm not in an at-risk group and was happy enough with my symptoms. Might have to get it for travel maybe. Regardless, it's good that we'll have it for at-risk groups before the next wave.

@samuraiJack

Cheers. Didn't know we had up to date figures.

Really significant decreases across all of Japan. Especially Okinawa. Most places at or under the 50% level.

Except Aichi and Shiga for whatever reason.

Can we call a wrap to this wave then? And no state of emergency was needed.

Our latest covid bed use rates published today show decreases in bed use in Tokyo, Saitama, and Fukuoka. More beds occupied in Osaka than last week and it's gone from 70% to 90% of beds filled in Okinawa.

Again, I feel like this is the only information that really matters at this stage. Case numbers haven't been a good measure for pandemic severity for a long time now.

*https://www.niid.go.jp/niid/en/2019-ncov-e/11477-covid19-ab96th-en.html

Hearing all these heartrending and harrowing accounts about tourists who cannot surge into Japan despite eased COVID-19 border controls including raising a daily cap on arrivals from 20,000 to 50,000 and the scrapping of negative COVID-19 test requirements, has moved my heart to tears.

Imagine, not being able to go on holidays because you have to apply for a visa which takes five days to be issued in principle with a cost of about 3,000 yen.

There is no end to this injustice.

Thoughts and prayers to all those affected.

Japan should open the country up and let in all the people who don't want to go to Japan anymore

Japan may have kept numbers down earlier on, but that is not so now.

The number of cases doesn't really matter. Deaths and serious cases mattered and Japan kept those low.

Is he also sneering at the tens of thousands of (mostly) low-income Japanese who were financially dependent on the tourism industry

The tourist industry (80% dependent on domestic tourism) is doing pretty good these days. Hotels fully booked during the obon holidays. Look at hotel prices now if you don't believe me. You can keep telling yourselves that foreign tourists are important but that doesn't make it true.

The link for the article he posted is inaccessible. I note, though, that it is written by JETRO, a government-affiliated organisation, so you can bet it has a spin on it towards the government policy.

I read this part and that was actually the first time I sneered in real life.

2019: "Domestic travel including day trips and overnight trips by domestic residents accounts for nearly 80% of tourism".*

So much whining. You guys can spin all the "Oh Japan should be so embarrassed" narratives you want but foreign tourists aren't all that important. If you want to make a good argument that isn't solely based on "me and my hurt feelings and I can't visit the country that I want to :'( ", you could argue that tourism could help with the weak yen or that tourism doesn't pose a significant threat in terms of COVID-19 anymore.

Keeping out tourists was one of the factors that helped Japan achieve the lowest death rate out of the 38 members of the OECD. If you want to rescind border restrictions, you should at least try making good arguments. *https://www.jetro.go.jp/en/invest/attractive_sectors/tourism/overview.html#:~:text=On%20the%20other%20hand%2C%20of,%25%20(See%20Figure%202).

Looks like we're just past the peak for hospitalizations last week*

Week-on-week decreases in use rate of beds in Chiba (significantly), Osaka, and Hokkaido.

Though we do have increases in Tokyo, Fukuoka, and Okinawa, these will likely start to abate this week.

It does deserve mentioning that Japan has weathered this wave without any state of emergency or restrictions other than border restrictions. This is promising for future waves.

I do think that bed use rates and serious cases should be the main daily headline rather than actual case numbers. By all means, report them too if you want but we've long since moved past the point where case numbers can be used as a measure of concern for COVID-19.

*https://www.niid.go.jp/niid/en/2019-ncov-e/11450-covid19-ab95th-en.html

A "labor shortage" or "low unemployment" is socially good. It boosts wages and creates better working conditions.

This is one of those think tank terms that tries to confuse the general population into believing in things that are against their interests. I much prefer labor shortages to recessions.

cases will reach zero and tourists will still be in travel package programs...sigh

I mean.. Nobody really misses tourists... Except for the hotels and the hospitality sector maybe..

To clarify, I think they should be let in but Kyoto, Asakusa, etc. have all been way better over the past couple of years without the great horde.

@151E

Excellent comment - that paper should be required reading for many people in this comments section.

Notably, the rapid waning in vaccine effectiveness against Omicron infections contrasts with the more durable protection for prior infection against Omicron reinfection

It's a shame that paper doesn't delve any further into protection from vanilla Covid booster versus past protection from omicron. If they're going to create entry restrictions, then both vaccine and previous infection should absolutely be part of any eligibility criteria for entry.

After 6 months, effectiveness was actually negative, meaning the unvaccinated would be better protected at this time!

I'm not quite sure about this part. Possibly it means more unvaccinated in the general population already got the virus without the vaccine and are thus better protected?

High case numbers = high number of full recoveries.

These numbers don't correlate with the actual situation on the ground. I'm just back from a trip to Hokkaido. The fireworks, the matsuris, the obon holiday-goers are all back and the hotels are full and people are having fun. One of the matsuris I went to even had a band competition where the musicians weren't wearing masks - shock horror - as they can't really wear them while playing their instruments.

People have moved on from this and rightly so.

Don't understand how anyone could be so fixated on whatever cases number we have today in 2022.

It might be a record case number but also it would indicate record full recoveries given that so many have already gotten the disease or been vaccinated.

Life goes on.

@Yubaru:

This article is called "Tokyo reports 35,339 coronavirus cases".

Japan needs a complete lock down to eliminate this infection problem.

"In total, 2276 cases of excess mortality were identified. Excess mortality during the four months was more than twice that of COVID-19 deaths confirmed by PCR testing. Countermeasures against COVID-19 should be chosen carefully in light of suicide effects."*

And that was just with a state of emergency. Lockdowns and their effects have also been linked to long covid symptoms and the true toll they've taken on other countries won't be known for many more years - dependency issues with medication, alcoholism, broken families, homelessness, etc.

I don't actually think you're "arguing in good faith" by the way but it should be pointed out for all why this kind of thinking is completely bananas.

*https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jdr/17/1/17_51/_article/-char/ja/

@Yubaru

What goes up must come down eventually and we hit the peak when cases stop rising.

Monday 25th (22,382) to Monday 1st (21,958).

Tuesday 26th (31,593) to Tuesday 2nd (30,842).

Wednesday 27th (34,036) to Wednesday 3rd (38,940).

Thursday 28th (35,406) to Thursday 4th (35,339).

Obviously the Friday figures will be telling but would you not agree that the above data look promising?

So last week's Wednesday figure was apparently reported incorrectly resulting in 5,000 cases being shifted to the next day. Meaning that the 29,036 figure from Wednesday 27th should have been 34,036 cases with the last number from Thursday 28th being 35,406.

Overall looks like we're only slightly down today but it does look like we reached the peak in cases earlier this week.

*https://twitter.com/tosiakic/status/1554740929642504192

Quite a jump in week to week cases: 38,940 today versus 29,036 last Wednesday.

Might mean I was wrong about the current wave ending but let's see what happens tomorrow as last Thursday was also a bit of a high-case outlier at 40,406 cases.

At least it implies that testing limits aren't really an issue.

Over the last 7 days, Japan has had a 35% increase in number of cases compared to the previous seven days (1,403,238 cases vs. 1,038,139 cases) and a 141% increase in number of deaths (700 deaths vs. 291 deaths) compared to the previous seven days .

Deaths follow case numbers. Didn't say anything about that. Over the past two days we've seen week-on-week decreases in case numbers in Tokyo. It's indicative, in my opinion, of the current wave winding down and coincides with models predicting a fall in case in numbers this week.

During the obon holidays we'll get significant fluctuations in case numbers but they'll still overall trend downwards.

Seems that we didn't need restrictions during this wave either.

It's only Tuesday, and Monday is ALWAYS lower.

We're talking about two consecutive week-on-week decreases. Yesterday (21,958), we had fewer cases than the previous Monday (22,387). Today (30,842), we have fewer cases than last Tuesday (31,593).

This wave is winding down. I only wish this horrible summer would do the same.

@Freedom

It's strange that people downvoted your comment when it's both correct and cautious.

Cases are trending downwards this week as has been predicted by several models but some on this comments section don't think they are? Or they don't want them to? What's the story?

I believe that's the highest number yet for a set of Sunday figures.

Better close down this comments board pronto.

Nope. 22,387 cases this time last week*

So actually numbers are falling now and we've gone past the peak.

Just in time for the fireworks.

*https://japantoday.com/category/national/Tokyo-reports-22-387-coronavirus-cases