HJSLLS comments

The main areas that need to be covered are labor practices, relaxing tax regulations, and easing administrative burdens on foreign firms trying to operate in Japan. Having zones in English is not much of a benefit since companies usually hire local Japanese or foreigners who speak the language. Labor laws that make it hard to terminate low performing employees is problematic and creates for a tight labor market. Heavy tax burdens and VAT is also problematic for growth. The difficulty of contracting and paying vendors outside of Japan is stifling. All Administrative forms and processes need to be brought online and must be simplified (paper forms are antiquated). And the need for face to face meetings for everything slows the pace of business significantly. Teleconferencing must become the new norm.

if these changes can be made, foreign companies will be more likely to start operations in Japan.

@Chabbaeanga

congratulations! Keep them coming. If we can get 10,000 families to have an extra 3 kids each year, we’ll be on our way to recovery.

Although it is Elon’s company, it is the worker’s health. There is a need to recognize reasonable concerns about returning to offices that facilitate COVID infections and resulting long-term side effects. What I see is a draconian mandate to return to the office or else. He exhibits little to no concern for employee health and the health of their families. For a person who tries to solve societal problems, he is quick to disregard employee concerns if it conflicts with his financial interest.

A number of individuals identified the root cause, the working system. But the scope of the root cause needs to be expanded to include social systems. Availability of childcare is essential to allow for two working parents. The demand to work overtime must be rooted out since women will prioritize time with children over daily late hours at work or joining frequent nomikai. The fundamental way in which Japan goes about its work and social order will need to shift in order to allow women to contribute to the workforce without having to make unreasonable sacrifices. I encourage Japan work closely with academic researchers, particularly at MIT, to apply System Dynamics modeling for identifying root cause and policies that drive appropriate countermeasures without introducing unintended consequences.

Yikes! That’s over half a decade invested with no clear view of a future together. I suggest you sit him down and have a make or break conversation about what you two intend to do with your lives. There may be other worries/issues he has about the relationship that have not been raised before. It’s time they be acknowledged and addressed. Of course one question I would have is how is your sex life and has it experienced a noticeable decline along with the drop in affection. Serious problems in relationships typically first manifest in sexual expression, since it is the most intimate and intense form of communication. When there are lingering problems, sex along with affection drops off immediately.

This is why you don’t hold the Olympics while struggling with a national health crisis. The Olympics is competing for healthcare resources from the Covid fight. This should never happen while holding games that could have been postponed or cancelled. Now certain people will become critically ill and potentially die because they were not being allowed hospital care. Suga, where are your priorities?

resources Resources are taken away what I’ve been saying all along — the Olympics is

This is what happens when media coverage shifts from encouraging people to get vaccinated and socially distance to the Olympic Games. Information is the most powerful influencer of behavior in the fight against COVID.

This is what happens when the country’s actions to go forward with the Olympics during a national health emergency sends a clear signal to the population where the country’s true priorities lie. In response, everyone has lowered their priorities around fighting COVID.

In my mathematical modeling of infectious diseases, it is behavior that is the most essential determinant of infectious outcomes. And behavior is shaped by national focus, information and decisions. This record high infectivity rate is a direct reflection of those dynamics.

I beg to differ. They are linked in that Japan should be focusing on containing the viral surge rather than hosting Olympic games during this time.

What disturbs me the most is that, “Suga told the Journal he had defied repeated counsel to cancel the event.” Basically, he’s been ignoring doctors and epidemiologists (his trusted healthcare experts) to hold the games anyway.

"The simplest thing and the easiest thing is to quit," he said. "But the government's job is to tackle challenges."

The government’s first job is to prioritize. The challenge Japan should be focused on is resolving COVID, not hosting a mega-sports event that distracts from solving COVID.

Regardless of how low Japan’s infections may be relative to other nations, Japan is still in a state of emergency and its healthcare system is under stress.

And he cannot compare other major sporting events held in other countries to the size and global magnitude of the Olympics, an event that pulls tens of thousands of athletic teams alone.

Finally, he continues to miss the point that the Olympics is not only a threat to Japan, but that Japan can pose a threat to the athletes, and that the event is a threat to the rest of the world as potentially infected athletes return home.

Bach, it’s called cognitive dissonance. You have sleepless nights because you know you are trying to force a square peg into a round hole, that you’re ignoring the science, that you are making promises you can’t keep, that you are courting disaster by flirting with COVID-19, that you are endangering the world, not just Japan, and that the illness and potential deaths of people will be on your conscience. You have sleepless nights because you know what you are doing is wrong.

But not to worry. You’re going to have many more sleepless nights as the Olympics begin and you won’t be able to contain the virus.

The world needs to see that Japan can follow the science and help bring an end to the Corona virus.

It is amazing that no medical experts have a voice in what is happening. Japan and the IOC have thoroughly muted them throughout the decision making. There must be an international review of this tragic set of events to prevent anything like this from happening without our global medical leaders in charge.

Recent articles continue to frame the threat as foreigners potentially bringing the virus to Japan. This framing is inappropriately and limited in scope. The proper way to frame the threat is: 1. Olympic visitors potentially spreading the virus outside the Olympic Village (regardless of nationality); 2. those outside the Olympic Village spreading the virus to those in the Olympic Village; and 3. those in the Olympic Village spreading the virus to others in the Olympic Village. Threats 2 and 3 are particularly concerning because infections can spread to those who will carry it back to countries all around the world, making the Olympics the global super-spreader event we all feared.

The tragedy is that the IOC has been on a campaign to downplay threats to Japanese (playing into the xenophobic theme) but has also conveniently ignored threats to the rest of the world, particularly in light of newer more infectious COVID variants. This is a complete breakdown of scientific risk assessment for a global pandemic.

Is this monitoring mandatory? If so, that is very intrusive and in violation of many international privacy guidelines. It would be best if athletes simply took a moratorium from looking at social media during the games. Messages there can serve as major distractions, good or bad.

@JeffLee

The population decline is not something to celebrate. Japan is on a death spiral to a population crash, where the fecundity rate is below the replacement rate. With this uncontrollable decline, Japan’s economy will invariably suffer and the society with not have enough young, working adults to maintain a robust society.

All of these assurances that the games can be held safely are clearly not true. The games have not even started and infections are already a problem with arriving athletes. If mitigation planning is so thorough, why are we seeing cracks in the system so early? The fact is, the games cannot be made safe because the Olympics is by definition a “super-spreader” event, even among the athletes. And this can lead to new variants seeping into the general population and spreading to other countries as athletes return home.

Looks like the TOC is listening to the beverage companies. How about listening to the medical experts?!

This is what I mean when I say the Olympics Games are draining resources from the COVID fight, particularly among the senior government leaders. Their time is being preoccupied with Olympics planning when it should be completely focused on containing COVID-19. And to attempt both at the same time has now put the governor out of pocket for a week when Tokyo needs its governor to make critical decisions about COVID and rolling out vaccines.

The Olympic Games have already distracted officials and taken critical resources from the fight. And it will only get worse as the games approach and take place.

Already, we are seeing infections which can easy spread within the Olympic Village. This is not going to end well. Shut… It… Down!

At what point will athletes withdraw from the Olympics due to insufficient coaches and support crew allowed to attend? Now teams must scramble to figure out who will do what. This turning more into a nightmare than an inspiring event the Olympics was designed to be. This should have been cancelled months ago.

Payne is completely missing the point. The Olympic planning itself is already hurting Japan by diverting critical resources away from fighting the pandemic. He is only emphasizing the fear around viral spread during the games but is not factoring in the current state of Japan’s vaccination program, over stressed healthcare system, and shortage of doctors — all completing for resources, focus and attention from Japan’s leadership.

Now the sponsors are weighing in. The optics for them are worrying and could backfire on their brands if local and global sentiment grows increasingly against holding the Olympics during Japan’s national emergency. Each day, sponsors will be calculating whether to stay, withdraw or attempt the craft an appropriate message so as to avoid a serious backlash or boycott of their products.

Basically Payne is saying the IOC has evolved into an organization that has learned to ignore societies regardless of the threats to a nation.

Is that what the Olympic Games have become? — a tone deaf marketing machine?

For as altruistic as this seems, the optics are strange. Japan doesn’t appear to have its priorities in order. It’s vaccination program is limping along, it’s moving forward with holding the Olympics, an event that is already diverting critical resources from an effective Covid response, hospitals are near breaking point, and healthcare professionals are under intense stress while essentially being ignored. As all of this is happening, Japan decides to donate vaccines to another country. Japan’s domestic response needs to be organized first. Then donating will make more sense.

The damage is already being done and will only become more acute as the Olympic Games take place. Critical resources are already being diverted from hospitals where they are needed. The time and attention of government leaders are already being split between the vaccination program and the Olympics. And money is being spent on extensive logistics to accommodate tens of thousands of athletes and their teams, including lodging, food, media, marketing, etc., where that money could be spent enhancing logistics to accelerate the vaccination rollout.

As the athletic teams arrive and games take place, the resource drain will become even worse, pushing hospitals to the brink of collapse and stressing Japan’s healthcare workers to breaking points. Scheduling the Olympics without a contingency plan in place to ensure a rapid COVID recovery remained the highest priority was a mistake in planning. And to allow the IOC to dictate the terms of Japan during a national emergency reveals a serious weakness in Japan’s ability to protect its own citizens in the face of gaiatsu.

Osaka-San is smart. She is defining she own path and rules.

Danielsan is perfectly right. We watch tennis players compete to see who is the best tennis player. That is what makes the sport. The public is being fooled into believing live press conferences are a requirement of the game, where reporters are unregulated and free to ask ridiculous questions designed to invoke fear, anger, doubt and rejection. And many of these questions may have nothing to do with tennis. The press can ask if she is a “real Japanese”, why don’t you speak Japanese, what’s going on with your love life, etc. If the French Open were so concerned with players’ mental and emotional health, maybe the committee should pre-screen the questions the press asks. And no, the other athletes do not need to attend the press conferences either. Sometimes it’s good to know when to break the rules when the rules are illogical.

So many people want to judge Osaka-san. You can only judge if you can remotely play tennis at her level. If not, sit down. Osaka-san can do whatever the hell she wants.

The coming collapse.