Henny Penny comments

" the rate of births continues to fall. In 2019, the metric hit 1.4 births per woman, its lowest point since data collection began in 1899."

Bogus claim. The lowest birth rate was in 2005 when it dropped to 1.26. The writer is confusing the birth rate with the number of live births.

What else is new? Nothing is going to change here for another 100 years. Rasism and Xenofobia sadly are deeply rooted in the DNA and also education of the locals...

This claim is itself explicitly racist. You are saying the Japanese have a biological propensity to racism and xenophobia.

This is no better than Ishihara Shintaro saying crime was in the Chinese DNA.

In Japan, approximately 33% of residents are 65 or over.

No, that’s the figure for 60 and over. 65 and over is around 28%.

Japanese consumers purchase more adult diapers than baby diapers.

This is an urban myth. Only one company has made this claim and that company specializes in adult diapers.

an increasingly limited labor force could effectively signal population collapse.

This statement makes no sense whatsoever.

A dismal fertility rate worsens the problem

Fertility rate in Japan is 1.4 (rounded). It is only 1.6 in the European Union. Rate for South Korea is 1.0. Italy is 1.3.

192,250 traveling domestically and 12,674 traveling internationally are still a whole lot of Japanese not staying home, not staying safe, not saving lives.

Not everyone who travels domestically or internationally is Japanese. "Not saving lives" implies you travel, you kill someone.

People have been claiming the same thing about commuting. Hasn't happened yet.

Since it appears that the Japanese government is giving the same amount of money to registered foreign residents as it is giving to Japanese nationals, I expect to see apologies here from all those who made comments slandering Japan and the Japanese.

I also expect all those who made such comments to refuse the payments as an act of contrition and apology to the Japanese people.

The original Japanese says "had there been no measures taken there would have been as many as ...."

Amusing to see criticism of Japanese news media in Japan Today a "newspaper" that has no reporters or working journalists on its staff, a "newspaper" that appears to buy in all of its content from outside sources or summarize what has already appeared in otherwise readily available form elsewhere.

I hope they clearly convey in English what we should not do. I think 5% or more of Tokyo residents are foreigners.

In Tokyo as in Japan as a whole residents with Chinese nationality (PRC and ROC) vastly outnumber foreign nationals from English speaking countries.

At the Japanese university where I worked for 18 years, some departments had male clerical assistants. They served tea and coffee to guests and to faculty members both male and female killing time in the office.

I suspect that the many female news readers on US/UK television are eye candy for a predominantly male audience.

As Educator60 notes there are also news and commentary programs in Japan where women have at least an equal role, sometimes more.

If they had even a modicum of self-respect Abe would have been out ages ago.

Further, it is not for foreign nationals to decide who Japanese should be voting for any more than it is for me as a Japanese citizen to be telling Americans, Brits, Aussies, etc. who they should be voting for.

Japanese politics. Dirty as a manhole cover.

Dunno. I grew up in the Chicago area. Compared to Chicago, politics in Japan are squeaky clean.

"Claiming patients dying in hospital of coronavirus are dying of flu because they haven't been tested for the virus and thus can be said to have died from coronavirus is utterly amoral, and putting the population at risk to protect the reputation of the government."

What evidence is there that this is actually being done? There have in fact been numerous statements that the influenza count is much lower than is typical for this time of year.

There are thousands of hospitals in Japan, many of them private. The idea that there could be a general cover up is absurd.

Koike can talk about "lock down" all she wants, but she does not have the legal authority to order a US/European style lock down. Even if she did, she does not have control over either the military or the police to enforce it.

--Having a clear understanding about Abe's class A war criminal

Kishi was briefly held as a suspect. He was never indicted or tried. Had the US considered him an actual war criminal, he would have been hung.

The quotes in the Wikipedia article come from a book that used a pornographic novel as its primary source.

I spend a number of years reading Japanese sources covering the period when Kishi was in charge of the Manchurian economy. The most typical description of him was that he was a red (that his economic policies were heavily influenced by those of the Soviet Union under Stalin).

The book by Mark Driscoll that supplies most of the quotes about Kishi and sex is one of the silliest things I've ever read. I don't think anyone other than a small number of loony lefties takes it seriously.

 I would say that other developed countries are doing a better job at communication and direction. 

How many countries did you survey? Which languages did you check?

We are owed by the nation we live in and pay taxes in for reliable and clear info for not just our sakes but our family. Get it now?

If you have been in Japan for 18 years running your own business, you should be fluent enough in Japanese to use the Japanese language sources that most residents use.

In terms of information in foreign languages, the Japanese government is right to stress Chinese. Japan has more than 800,000 resident Chinese nationals (ROC and PRC). The bulk of foreign visitors to Japan are also Chinese.

People who have Chinese as their first language vastly outnumber any other group including Koreans, about half of whom are born in Japan and have Japanese as their first language.

The NYT article is naive at best.

There is no mention of which specific tests are being used in Korea and Japan. There is more than one way to do a CV test. Proper testing is not simple.

This WHO document shows very clearly that countries are using different tests. Therefore, the simple numbers game in the NYT is irresponsible journalism.

https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/technical-guidance/laboratory-guidance

Japan appears to be using essentially the same guidelines for testing as the US.

Yesterday, when I checked, US sources were saying that there would be the capacity to test 10,000 per day in "about two weeks."

The US population is 3.5x that of Japan. If the US was well prepared as Japan, it should be capable of testing 14,000 per day now. Assuming the tests that Korea is using are reliable and that Korea is the model for how things should be done, on a population adjusted basis the US should be capable of 63,000 tests per day now, not 10,000 per day in a couple of weeks.

The NYT article looks like a disguised excuse for the lack of preparation in the US.

How about "Stay where you are and don't go outside. We'll send a doctor TO you with testing kits to confirm what is going on."

Testing is a complex laboratory procedure that takes two hours and special equipment.

Nevertheless, for Nissan execs, it's useful not only from a face-saving standpoint, but also to hide the fact that they neither have a plan, nor the business sense to formulate one. However, I'm sure they're pretty good at the bowing and meishi exchanging and kissing arse routine - all very important for strategic planning and management!

Have you and the others making similar comments actually looked at the names in Nissan top management?

https://www.nissan-global.com/EN/COMPANY/PROFILE/EXECUTIVE/details.html

Nissan top management has numerous gaijin of various nationalities. Executives with names like Kent O'Hara or Gianluca De Ficchy may not fit your model.

I wonder if the Japanese government to say nothing of the WHO is aware of the immense pool of public health knowledge found among those who write comments here? I'm surprised I'm not seeing recruitment advertisements on this pages from the WHO, the CDC, etc.

Hard to understand why people are wasting time commenting on the sort of pro forma public statements that officials would make in any country under similar circumstances.

The Japanese government should have refused them entry! But they didnt, and this is the best way to keep the rest of the country safe from a potential epidemic!

I don't know how accurate the figures are, but it is being said that the Diamond Princess had 1285 Japanese on board when it left Hong Kong. PRC citizens 470, US 425.

https://twitter.com/AntiChinazi_jp/status/1226757054796156928

Looking at the figures for those taken ill and removed to hospitals, it is clear that there are many Japanese on board.

Turning away a ship with more than one thousand Japanese on board would have been political suicide for the government.

What I find interesting is that I have not seen any numerical breakdown in any major English or Japanese language news source.

That is very odd and very suspicious.

@oldman_13

Thanks for the reference.

https://womensenews.org/2015/10/multiracial-girls-open-up-about-getting-bullied/ 

Gotta luv it when strictly factual posts, especially posts that show Japan is not uniquely evil, get down voted.

There is actually quite a bit of writing in English about the hassles you face growing up haafu in the US or the UK.

I see haafu black kids in my neighborhood. They are always mixed in a group of Japanese kids, laughing and chattering just like the other kids.

My two haafu sons have gone through generic Tokyo schools but report no hassles.

People seem to have forgotten the vitriolic racism directed at Barack Obama, a haafu in Japanese terms.

The real question is, except Apple, is there anything Japan buys from the US?

Apple? Most of their kit is made in China.

As someone else said, Google is your friend. Here is 2018 data.

The top export categories (2-digit HS) in 2018 were: mineral fuels ($9.1 billion), machinery ($8.2 billion), optical and medical instruments ($7.5 billion), aircraft ($6.5 billion), and electrical machinery ($4.8 billion).

U.S. total exports of agricultural products to Japan totaled $13 billion in 2018, our 3rd largest agricultural export market. Leading domestic export categories include: corn ($2.8 billion), beef & beef products ($2.1 billion), pork & pork products ($1.6 billion), soybeans ($927 million), and wheat ($717 million).

U.S. exports of services to Japan were an estimated $45.2 billion in 2018, 1.7% ($790 million) less than 2017, but 13.7% greater than 2008 levels. Leading services exports from the U.S. to Japan were in the travel, transport, and intellectual property (industrial processes) sectors.

https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/japan-korea-apec/japan

Anything but women. They'd rather drag some random fellow in off the street than support gender equality in the Imperial Family ... Such bs.

Having a queen (actually more than one over the years) did not produce gender equality even within the British aristocracy. Outside of the monarchy, the rule is still primogeniture. Having two female prime ministers has not given Britain gender equality in politics. Parliament is still 66% male. Top corporate positions are even more heavily male.

Since imperial succession is based on hereditary principles, having a female emperor would not mean that every little girl in Japan could dream that she might become emperor.

Far more important to get signage in Chinese correct. Japan has more than 800 thousand residents with Chinese nationality. Chinese nationals are the largest component in foreign tourists to Japan.

Further, there is no one English language. British English is quite different from American English. How many Americans would know that "mind the gap" means "watch your step" when it is used in train announcements? Australia has many expressions that would be incomprehensible to most speakers of American English and many Brits as well. Just between Britain and Ireland, there are differences.

Just goes to show how a man who saved a Japan icon is now hounded after a miss calculation by inept prosecutors, who jumped the gun from a secret internal report containing no evidence just innuendo from Nissan.

The only people I know who describe Nissan as an icon are foreigners. If there is a Japanese auto company that is an icon, it is Toyota.

Doing something good 18 years ago does not preclude the possibility that you later turn out to be a bit crooked.

Ghosn paid a one million dollar fine in the US and was banned from corporate positions for 10 years. Nissan was fined 15 million dollars. The US Securities and Exchange Commission charges were only part of those brought against him in Japan.

US authorities have proven that they will go after Japanese companies and executives of Japanese companies without any cooperation from Japanese authorities whatsoever.

You might also consider the fact that even Renault has not said, "We want him back. We can't function without him." I can read just enough French to know that he was intensely disliked within Renault. French trade unionists have said they were quite happy to see him get busted in Japan.

Japanese criticize other Japanese for being un-Japanese. A really biting criticism in Japanese is 日本人らしくない - you're not acting like a (real) Japanese.

Those Japanese particularly living in the city like Tokyo are cold

That's my experience for big cities everywhere. If someone starts chatting to me on the Underground or a bus in London, it is creepy. If they do it in Sheffield, it is perfectly natural.

It's also age related. Elderly people in Tokyo will strike up a conversation with me at a bus stop. Young people don't.

I don't think it is an unreasonable assumption that someone with an American sounding name and with an American parent can't speak at least some English. 

Indeed, and since he is 30 now, that means his childhood experiences in school would be from 24 to 16 years previous.

I have two haafu sons, one 19, one 16. Neither has reported any hassles although if I am around, people tend to assume they can speak English. When I say in Japanese, "We are all Japanese" or I chime in with a comment in Japanese, people switch to Japanese.

I spent 10 years in Britain as an invisible gaijin. Instead of asking you whether you like natto, Brits, ask "Do you really like bitter?" (Bitter is British beer served at room temperature.) I've even been complimented on my ability to speak English, possibly because some Brits (and Japanese) think I am eastern European. I've also had Brits try to pick fights with me in pubs when they hear my Chicago accent.

Further, there were times when I was told very explicitly that my allegedly American ideas were not suited to British culture.

When I see negative comments about Japan here, I always wonder how many of those making such comments have any experience living as a gaijin in a country other than Japan. Even in the US, I've been hassled because of my strong Chicago area accent.