hayneda comments

Now Japan will be like other countries.

Insulation and new air conditioning units will save a lot more money than this.

Also letting people work remotely all summer will help people control their location and avoid those long walks to the station in the heat.

In the US - the trades (air con/hvac, electricians, plumbers, roofers, handyman, etc) are very high profit - 100,000+ a year job @ no college with the individuals who own those companies fabulously rich. Not saying the US is better in any means, but am saying if allowed the free market will fix it.

Supply and demand is always in force. It is just a matter of people being cheap and not wanting to pay market rates. When things get necessary enough, people pay.

https://www.indeed.com/career/truck-driver/salaries

Truck driver ~83,000 USD on average.

Also - DX is a dream to solve labor shortages. Most of what can be done for awhile (booking airplane tickets on your phone), already has been done and commoditized. DX is just a buzzword for some vague notions.

I do agree on the DIY comments - shift of work to the "end consumer" will just continue in the name of self-service. DX is just a way to facilitate that shift. The real labor market will be those employees who are able to handle all of the "self-service" work that get piled on the "Service-providers" around them.

The only reason for a labor shortage is salary is too low, not stable, and has limited upside. Raise salaries and give people opportunities- they will flock to jobs and drive a wonderful service culture to boost quality tourist

This is telling photo. Anything on this topic is only about keeping the public in fear so they obey (continue to).

The whole actual covid thing is pretty boring and not really important in itself I wish the media would just cut the government force fed re-broadcasting by wrapping up coverage of it and it would just disappear.

A lot of more important topics get that treatment and folks just go along with it.

Increasing defense spending = good (given the bad neighborhood)

TAXING the people at some of the highest regressive rates in the world forever is killing what is left of the economy. My visits every couple years Japan is obviously just poorer and poorer - it is so sad.

Instead - spend less somewhere else or just print that Yen. They do it all the time for lesser reasons.

Renal failure is a tough way to go, but this is just another form of suicide by police. In the US - people do it all the time by challenging police until they get shot to death.

But here- it happened in slow motion. Shame on everyone involved.

J-Police are not police in the western sense of the word, as they have to deal with a very different type of individual here as well all by operating in the wonderfully transparent and effective mishmash of Japanese government/business culture (ha). Imagine any Japanese company you ever worked at and then make it the government - nightmare!

Death penalty

I love air cons. We run them at 22-23 all summer 24x7 and that keeps life good.

The whole article smacks of racism.

Finally mass media article spot on

Drop the mask to stop bad air issues around your face and install central aircon/heaters with proper filters and intakes to fix the interior air

covid and flu would have no chance

Hmm I read the.comments here and complete agree this is politics not science. Where I live in the US, Covid is over and has been for over a year. People have collectively learned life is short - so live it full as a member of society - not cower behind a thin cloth or in your house

But it does not matter what we think or believe.

Let’s remember Japanese government can do whatever they want about their borders. It is called sovereignty. We are only temporary guests and one of things we respect about Japan it that it takes its own road (mostly)

So if they want to never fully open their borders again - that is there call and while it seems shortsighted to us, it is what it is Accept it or go somewhere else

Looks fun. Are those masks required or just a habit at this point?

Japan has a right to set whatever border policies it wishes. They need not explain or justify them to us of all people.

That being said, one has to also see they have little or nothing to do with the pandemic. It just a way to achieve other goals and just another example to show Japan’s true stance on and understanding of foreigners. Which again - is their absolute right to hold that position.

The quarantine has zero to do with covid at this point.

It is all politics related to the Japanese historical and bizarre clumsiness in dealing with foreign things. The parallels with pre-Black ship history are striking - Japanese nationals who go overseas are seen as unbelievably tainted and well foreigners... just plain dirty disease carriers.

That being said, it is their country and they can run it like this as they see fit. I think most locals with no overseas connections are pretty happy with these walls.

Just watch, after the Olympics is done and dusted, they will reverse course and drop all of this. It will be the opposite problem, I..e no controls. They only care about the money, never about the people.

This rice is already on a ship to a "nearby" overseas location to be sold on the blackmarket by organized crime to wealthy elites.

Sad for farmer. Not sure a lock would have slowed down these people. Just glad he was not there when the criminal gang rolled up in the truck(s). He could have been killed.

I think the pain here is the group realization among perm resident population that non-Japanese citizen are really are not going to be supported by the Japanese government.

This is despite paying huge taxes and owning property. Those are western concepts of citizenship that are echoes of the now unpopular globalization fad.

Being "Japanese" is legal based. Carry a Japanese passport and the govt. will treat you just fine. Just look at those Japanese persons who lost their passport privileges, they have to get in line for a visa. This is because you have another country that is your legal home It is very black and white - seems people here forgot that.

What we need really is a path to Japanese citizenship that allows dual-citizenship. A concept still not understood in Japan to the bane of a few million people.

I normally don't mind those questions as Japanese do this to each other all the time - so I just play along.

I just answer their questions and then ask question for question personal info? Are you married? Where are your kids now? How much money do you make? Where do you live? What is your historical level within Japanese society? What did you pay for your house/apartment? How did you afford that? etc. It is same thing just in reverse - great conversation starter!

I just wish they would put a real agreement in place between US social security - Japanese pension systems The one they have now is limited to short term expats which is only a small minority.

Also old age pensions are pretty important - it is forced savings for those who cannot get that organized due to low pay/high costs. But instead of adopt the US model, I wish Japan would look to Singapore's.

@shinhiyata - yes - they moved the statue from the top of the stair to the right hand side at ground level a number of years ago. I guess the Art Museum wanted to assert itself. It is easy to find, however, and looks nice where they put it.

Sorry to see people suffer, but the solution here is very simple - turn up the aircon to 19 degrees and stay inside on hot afternoon days. Insulate your homes and use double-pane glass before you complain on the costs.

That is what the rest of the world does and is fine.

This article just adds more detail to the narrative that WHO is a puppet organization for a certain asia communist party led country. WHO failed all of the people who died with their policies and should be just be shut-down and replaced by a global health group which cares for all people.

Feels like shades of 3/11 extremely poor govt disaster mgmt all over again. I hope they get their act together soon - for Japan's sake.

I hope the statue does not get the boot to enaka next.

Trendy and creative for sure, but not reliable from year to year with the increasingly severe weather swings.

Best to start building for the heat like most hot cities around the world do - mega-strong air conditioning everywhere inside, tunnels, tinted glass, real insulation in the buildings, no outside activities during the day, etc.

One day in the near future, the Chinese tourists will quit coming to Japan and it will settle down to normal flows. Japanese businesses dependent on Chinese tourists better realize this is just a temporary bubble and best plan accordingly. I would not want anyone getting too hurt when the music stops.

This system is not aimed the folks who read this site. It is aimed at all of the companies who want to manage visas for all of the new temp manual workers. Otherwise they have to send a local down to immigration every time one of their factory workers needs visa paperwork.

All for immigration, but this is just modern slavery aimed to benefit a few rich companies and not the japanese people.

I don't think the trains are the issue, While pricey, most cities and populations would love to have Tokyo's train & bus system.

The issue is the company's inane "face-time" requirements for everyone strictly all being at the office at the same start time and then staying at the office/nearby pub as late as possible. The result is everyone takes the latest train they can the next day to hit 8:59AM and not a minute earlier. So of course you get the 200% numbers from 7-8:30.

The solution is a combination of Flex time, work from home (full or part), job-sharing, hotel desks at remote centers outside of downtown location co-located near residential centers like Musashi Kosugi or out in Chiba, etc., peak usage charges (not paid for by the firm) anytime over 100%, etc.