holyholly comments

My daughter (in Tokyo) is a teacher and has been told go to work even though school won't start till after Golden Week. Point being, F2F, even though there's no reason to even go to work if you aren't teaching. Preparation and meetings can be held online, but I don't even think the school administrators know how to read their e-mail.

That's excellent news, keep up the good work, Australia.

There was an article not long ago where small amusement parks here were re-opening, with a picture of a father and child being scanned prior to entering the premises. I applaud Disney's decision.

"Japan had seen a more gradual rise than the recent surge in much of Europe and the United States."

Direct quote from the article, so I guess Japan is special to Covid-19 than any other country in the world.

Thank you Emperor Abe. That's one new arrow you can sling at us. Can't wait to see your other two.

Japan has said everything is in control. Our numbers are not increasing. Go enjoy hanami and don't panic buy food. That's criminal, imo!

I'm glad Japan has been spared. I will follow Koike's and Abe's "urge", "request" to stay indoors this weekend. I will tie one on from this evening to Sunday night, and reluctantly get out of bed Monday morning to get back to work, commuting on the over-packed trains. The virus will surely have disappeared during my self-isolation. And when I come down with flu-like symptoms, will resist the "urge" to visit a clinic or drug store for treatment after 4 days of a 38 degree fever. Then "reluctantly", will get on a train to seek treatment at my nearest hospital, only to be told that I don't "fit" the criteria to be tested for Covid. I will go to the supermarket and buy toilet paper, masks, and cup ramen on my way home to make myself feel more at peace while waiting for my symptoms to get so bad that I need to call an ambulance.

Thank you Abe. Thank you Koike.

(some country) claims to have zero new infections, (some country) claimed to have slight increase in numbers every since the cruise ship fiasco. The rest of the world has seen exponential increases. Makes my blood boil the government in charge. Only other country to claim zero infections is probably N. Korea. Triple axis of evil? As for supermarkets, just limit 2 per customer and all should be well. During the typhoon last year, shelves were emptied and long lines at the registers...that's panic buying and the same thing is going on here.

Hypothetically, I plan to visit Japan for 3 weeks. I arrive and am requested, even urged to quarantine. I already have planned this trip for some time, so I have a few days in Tokyo, a few days in Osaka, etc. This has been my dream trip for some time. I want to see the sights, enjoy the experience. What harm will it do if I go out with Mr. Holly for a few drinks at an Izakaya in Shimbashi after strolling around Ginza all Sunday afternoon. I don't feel sick, didn't feel sick on the flight here, so why should I stay in the hotel room for 2 weeks? See where I'm going? Ban travel altogether. Most people still think and act like my above scenario, so why do we need to exacerbate the situation with visitors?

@Velius, will we see a marked increase of infections in 1-2 weeks? Without testing, no increase. Easy to fudge the numbers.

Absolutely, what Allan and SimonB said. Instil confidence and people will listen. Every country needs this, not individual countries, and definitely not Chi-WHO unless they mean it for the world's sake. In America, tell all students they can have the largest beach party ever imagined at the taxpayers expense after all of this has blown over, and I'd think more would comply to the quarantine orders.

Not sure what's happening here...countries, especially Japan, still trying to make some money by allowing tourists to continue to enter the country, while other countries have closed their borders. It's pandemic mode...close off all borders as best you can and deal with the problems nationally. I personally think every country with different rules is exacerbating the pandemic.

If the world will be free of Covid by July, then let the games begin. If not, let the world fight this virus. Like Zika virus, some athletes did not go. I imagine if the pandemic continues closer to the opening and the games are still a go, countries/athletes will boycott. People have other things to worry about.

@leighkf, the official money spent is 12b, but unofficially it's almost double.

"In addition, the Japanese government is considering an entry ban on foreign travelers from Iceland and some parts of Italy, Spain and Switzerland, government sources said earlier in the day."

Hey Abe, how did ban "some parts of China" work out for you?

Urge, plead, beg, request...what else? Maybe form a government panel to discuss this and have a public announcement 1 week from today?

smh!

Numbers of infected are climbing in every democratic country around the world. China has claimed the numbers of infected are decreasing, and Japan's numbers are increasing at a snail's pace. Who are you to believe...China and Japan or the world? Japan isn't that much different from China when it comes to the style of government and the way she treat her people.

@ Ulysses A friend of ours told us of an unfortunate incident earlier this month. A person suspected of Covid went to a clinic in Tokyo and the staff told the person to leave the clinic. Clinic staff were thinking that IF the person is infected with Covid, the clinic would have to be closed down. After the patient left, the staff had a meeting and all agreed to stay "hush-hush" about the incident. That patient later went to a different hospital to get tested and it came back positive for Covid.

Abe should have taken an aggressive approach to this, unlike other countries, like S. Korea. It's gonna bite him hard in the you-know-what.

As for Olympics, I don't think so.

Abe and government will "ask", and "urge" companies to implement the cool-biz fashion.

@letsberealistic

What do you suggest? They've given lots of won to the SK government, yet nothing has changed. How many are still alive? When they are gone, will this issue end?

Now, NK doesn't have the ICBM tech yet. But generally for a reference, I read that an ICBM travelling the distance between the USA and Russia takes around 20-30 minutes. I was shocked at first. Apparently, these things can travel of up around to 6-7 km/s.

Yes, I'm sure it doesn't take a very long for an ICBM to travel from Alaska to Russia.

I just hope their algorithm doesn't inadvertently remove posts. I was trying to post once, "...what is his explanation...", and the AI there said I couldn't post sexual comments (hiS..EXplanation). SMH

“It’s hard for Japanese workers to take a day off so we need to create conditions in which everyone can take a holiday.”

And let's call it, errr, "golden/silver week?"

We got Netflix 2 months ago and were looking forward to watching some Japanese movies. Unfortunately, very few have English subtitles. Has anyone else noticed this? It shouldn't be too hard for Netflix to include more than Japanese subtitles for their movies.

A friend of mine (in Canada, in the late 80s) needed an ambulance after an allergic reaction to nuts. The ambulance fee was 75 CAD. Her parents were upset with the ambulance bill, but they know it saved her life. Here, charging a similar fee would make people think twice before having to call an ambulance.

Had just started to do the laundry in Tokyo and lost all water pressure for about 20 min. I'm wondering if that's normal. Stay safe along the coast everyone!!

Just before 6pm on a Monday evening? The platform would have been crowded with people and not one of them offered any assistance to a blind man with his dog? I'm not really surprised though. I hardly ever see anybody help the disabled, aged or mothers with prams. I make a point of doing it, as should everybody! It's such a selfish society we live in today!

Absolutely, Disillusioned! It was O-bon, so there might have been fewer commuters, but Aoyama-Itchome is a very busy station throughout the day. I always help and ask if disabled/mother's w/ children need help when I'm walking around the city. It's a shame when I see all the able-bodied people walk like they don't see me helping the person. Disgusting!! Something's wrong with people in the city. ; (

Are there any pictures of people without smartphones in their hands these days? smh

I was too drunk and can't remember defense should give the maximum penalty, full stop!! How about a drunk driver who kills? I was too drunk and can't remember shouldn't get you less time than if you weren't drunk.

Mr. Holly put Ad Block "something or other" on our Chrome browser, and surfing without said ads is so much less intrusive. I have never really understood ads, as any products I buy are usually "word of mouth." I can't say everyone buys products like this, though. Big companies should do a 1 month of no-advertising at all and see if their overall sales are any better/worse.

I'm not sure if I can post a link, but for all those wondering where these 53 Navy stores are, I'm guessing right in the link, which comes directly from Old Navy Japan.

http://oldnavy.gap.com/browse/info.do?cid=1045994&mdts=true&mlink=null,11708853,jp_nav&clink=11708853#google-map

I was never good at math, so I'll let someone else do the counting.

Can someone who understands economics please explain to me why falling prices is a bad thing for consumers?

The theory is that if people think that they can get something cheaper by waiting a while for the prices to drop, they will wait for the prices to drop, thereby stifling purchases.

Personally I think that's a load of hooey, not least because if that were true, no one would ever buy anything since they would constantly be waiting for it to get cheaper.

I have always wondered about this, too. Mr. Holly constantly complains about electronics prices being more expensive here than in the U.S. We wait for prices to go down here, but as they never do, we wait for our annual overseas trip to buy electronics. Add another 3% to everything and soon we'll be buying our toilet paper abroad, too. Thanks, Abe.