Jim comments

Emperor Naruhito, in contrast, expressed “deep remorse” over his country’s wartime actions in a carefully nuanced speech

Courage and respect for emperor Naruhito - very different from our PM who is more worried about local politics and how to win the elections...

@knittyelf

Watch the numbers jump even more next week once Obon ends.

May not happen if the number of tests are limited to around 10,000 to 15,000 range as has been the case so far....

Today number at 4295 - this number is 229 more than last week (last week number was 4066) - this is not a reduction in numbers

Today does not show number of tests done yesterday for todays no of 4295 - expect positivity more than 40%?

By far the highest number reported on Sunday ever since start of pandemic...

Also today, 12 people with the Paralympics were infected, 

On similar news reported 90 people cluster in Hokkaido - where they held Ice Hockey tournament with more than 1000 people gathering together from 26 teams across Japan

Link below of this news -

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210814/p2a/00m/0na/009000c

Why why why? Dont these people learn anything and read any news?

And we have Koike still saying that they are thinking of sending students to attend Paralympics - what the hell is going on here!!!

Also this news at Mainichi shows the real serious cases in Tokyo as per below link news 

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14417765

As per the report Tokyo reports serious cases at 218 as of Aug 11, which only covers people on ECMO ventilators but do not cover people who are in ICU - rest of Japan for people who are in ICU are included as serious cases

If you include ICU people in Tokyo then the real serious cases for Tokyo turns out to be 947 as of Aug 11…

Today number at 5094 - this number is 528 more than last week (last week number was 4566).

Last week Tue number of tests conducted was 13,693 for positive number of 4568, a positivity ratio of 33.3%

Today number of 5094 is as a result of number of tests done yesterday at 10402 - this works out to a positivity rate of 49% - crazy high number again

Like yesterday again the number of tests have reduced by 3,290 - absolutely no reason why the number of tests should be reduced but this is what is actually happening

What good are only "concerns", "urges" etc without any actual actions and decisions?

While the medical experts continue to shout that medical collapse is imminent we have - Disney still open, we have Fuji Rock Festival happening next weekend, we have Awa Odori matsuri right now (Aug 12 - Aug 15) happening in Tokushima (justification from city officials to hold Awa Odori matsuri - "to pass down traditional culture to next generation"

Why is no one taking a stance and cancelling these events? Crying foul and wondering/complaining post facto why the numbers are increasing day by day does not help anyone right?

Oh I forgot, this is Japan - the place which takes the first place in burying their neck in sand to ignore the ground reality

No wonder the things are the way they are presently - sad thing is all medical experts are saying that this is not yet the peak and worse news/updates are going to come in coming days!!!!

The third largest economy in the world and the govt did not do anything to build additional capacity all along knowing this was bound to happen - dont know how its not criminal when residents dont get a hospital bed when required in such place

And here I was told by our great leader that his first priority is taking care of Japanese residents & not the olympics - are you saying I was lied to? How can it happen..,. (Sarcasm!!!!)

The sources said the woman had developed no symptoms and is likely to have been moved to quarantine accommodation.

Typical Japanese way nover to be precise & specific - always keep things ambigious so that no one csn be help respinsible when the shxx hits the fan

Well the same playbook is repeating itself again - shxx indeed has hit the fan but no one will ever take any responsibility here

Biggest irony is the Japanese peoppe themselves will not take responsibility - will not turn out for upcoming elections and the old gaurd who will participate in elections will ensure another win for LDP

No wonder things dont change here - sorry to say but sometimes i feel Japanese people deserve this present state of things due to thier apathy..,,

@nonu6976

On TV they say the tests were around 16,770 (can't recall the exact number), but you say 12,287 - I have no idea who is right.

I use the data on this article itself - first sentence of this article on JT has a link - if you click it shows number of tests done are 12,287 yesterday which results in the positive cases for today

Hope this clarifies

Today number at 5773 - this number is 1,258 more than last week (last week number was 4515).

Last week Tue number of tests conducted was 14,267 for positive number of 4515, a positivity ratio of 31.6%

Today number of 5773 is as a result of number of tests done yesterday at 12,287 - this works out to a positivity rate of 47%  

Like yesterday again the number of tests have reduced by 1,980 - why is this happening when they did more than 600,000 tests during 17 days of Olympics - isnt that capacity not free and available now? During explosive growth of pandemic isnt it natural to increase testing to find true nature of case numbers?

Only here in Japan this reverse logic works where the number of tests reduce like this

On top fo this we can expect the numbers to drop like every weekend till Mon next week?

Koike urged residents to take social and physical distancing more seriously.

Sure makes sense - but then same time you have the govt saying they see no problems in Bach casual stroll at Ginza - was it essential? What was social and physical distancing when he was in Ginza?

Rules for thee but not for me !!!!

Also see this article on Asahi (link below) - “Tokyo doctors fear surge in deaths of virus patients at home”

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14416320

Nationwide as of 4 Aug total of 45,269 patients recovering at home - this has increased 11.3 times from four weeks earlier and grown more than 2.4 times within one week

Within Tokyo as of 11 Aug total of 19,000 patients are asked to recover at home which is a ten times growth over four week 

Of course not all patients recovering at home will be in need of hospital bed immediately but the way Covid works is patient situation takes a turn for the worse suddenly - in these cases if the patient is already in hospital chances of saving that patient is much higher than if the patient is at home - more so if the patient is living alone….

Today number at 4989 - this number is 53 less than last week (last week number was 5042).

Last week Tue number of tests conducted was 15,854 for positive number of 5042 for Wed, a positivity ratio of 31.8%

Today number of 4989 is as a result of number of tests done yesterday at 12,862 - this works out to a positivity rate of 38.7% - very surprising why media is not highlighting this important fact to authorities….

The number of tests has been reduced by 2,992 from last week - both being working days and also after olympics is over there is no reason why the number of tests should be reduced??

Looks like this will be the way forward to reduce/control number of tests so that it can be showed how great our SOE measures are and cases are reducing already - as always media will not question about low testing or increased positivity rates….

Reposting as there is no option to edit once posted with correct data -

Today number at 2612 - this number is 1097 less than last week (last week number was 3709).

Am sure there will be posters highlighting such big drop but keep in mind that yesterday was a national holiday in Japan and hence this low number is result of very low number of tests conducted - total tests conducted yesterday was only at 5088 only.

More important is to keep in mind below facts -

Last week Tues number of tests conducted was 9928 for positive number of 3709, a positivity ratio of 37.4%

Today number of tests is reduced by 4840 from last week (today test no is 5088) and positive no at 2612 - positivity ratio of 51.3%

This is a crazy high positivity ratio by far in any city across the world…..

Dont think this type of news get coverage in global media outlets - one good way to make govt change their behavior is to get these news items out in the world to see how Japan is performing in their response to corona pandemic - public shaming and that too from other countries will make the govt make some very quick decisions as everything here is to project a "good" face to world....

Did we had any option as it was rammed down our throats when 80% residents wanted either a postponement or cancellation?

More of PR stunt, to check the checkbox & clear one more to do item in his list

Another gem of comment from our great leader on yahoo japan news (link below) about controlling the growth in numbers-

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/567bc102da020452706f08b80aa82b84cebeb8b9

Urging young people not to travel back to their home town during Obon as situation is dire and asking them to get vaccinated urgently

Completely out of touch - for folks who can read Japanese suggest read the users comments below this article - very funny responses like "I will ensure my travel to home town is safe & secure". Also "I can guarantee that my travel to home town has no related to increase in positive cases" - completely turning the tables on our leaders comments!!!

Would be interesting to know when IOC officials - Bach, Coates, Coe departed - now that it is over and their bank accounts are filled to the brim I guess they would have been the first ones to leave Japan - of course in their private jets and first class all the way back home???

Tokyo awoke to a huge bill and soaring coronavirus cases on Monday after pulling off a mid-pandemic Olympics that at times looked impossible and had a mixed reception to the end.

Welcome to ground reality - there is a limit to how far one can bury your neck in sand and ignore reality - it will come back to haunt everyone with increased taxes as the hangover of these shiny medals wear off....

Suga was disparately hoping that the strong showing of Japan with record medal haul will shift public opinion in his favor for upcoming elections but recent poll shows his approval ratings at 29% which is lowest ever till date - so that gamble he took has failed for him

Now he will try to prolong elections as much as possible with only hope that vaccinations will help control the spread of corona cases otherwise he is toast - personally still believe LDP will win with Komeito support but lose super majority, Suga will be made a scapegoat, get a fantastic golden/platinum parachute but nothing will change and we will see more of the same.....

Today number at 2884 - this number is 689 more than last week (last week number was 2195).

By far highest number ever on Monday since start of pandemic.

Interesting article on Asahi with revealing data points (link below) - 

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14414269

During 17 days Olympics total of 600,000 tests were conducted for total foreigners population of approx. 75000 while a grand total of 181,115 tests were conducted during the same period in Tokyo for a population of 14 Million (as per the link - https://omatomesan.com/tokyo-covid19/ ) 

During the course of Olympics more than 170,000 more residents were found to be positive across Japan - explosive growth and putting strain on hospitals

Just one example in the article - Yokohama Rosai Hospital - as of 7 Aug, out of 32 covid beds 31 are occupied, Dr Takeshita looking after Covid patients had to leave the hospital and his patients to go to Yokohama stadium for Soccer finals because he was assigned duty - his reasoning?? - “I like soccer and I do not oppose Olympics”

Makes for a sad reading such news and makes one wonder whether we are really living in third largest economy in world or some third world country - nothing has been done to expand the covid bed capacity for last 18 months, when everyone knew that delta variant will impact and positive cases will increase multifold - criminal response from the govt all along with higher priority on Olympics….

Counting the cost of Olympics held during Pandemic - see this latest news at Yahoo Japan (link below)

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/332d43be192a88f3a3d9d8f32438eb36454ef915?tokyo2020

Its raining Olympic Order Merit medals from IOC and Bach - Suga, Koike and Hashimoto to receive gold medals while Muto will get Silver medal. Now that the Olympics are ending today return favor from IOC? Prid Pro Quo much here? You scratch my back and I will return the favor..

Who cares if the Japanese residents suffer and asked to recover at home without access to hospital beds right?

Did the 'bubble' hold?

From Suga, Koike, IOC and Bach point of view - Bubble held perfectly, these were best games ever

From protestors and residents in general who were told that "Zero Risk Olympics" by Bach and Suga repeating "Safe & Secure Olympics" answer would be a big NO!!!

From last week 1008 higher number - by far the highest number recorded on a Sunday since the start of pandemic in Japan

Ofcourse they did this - because they can and no one can challenge them for this

It means more debt for Japan as a nation and more taxes for its residents

It means athletes got to compete for their events for which they trained - but got played by IOC (waiver signing for hear and corona)

It means IOC and Bach can go out from tomorrow to the world and boast how great their legacy is to have conducted such global sports events which brought the world together during pandemic

Worst is - it means the Japanese govt waste its precious time, effort, money on this event which should have been solely focused on preparing and planning to counter corona crisis coupled with vaccination drive - we are now under 5th wave in Japan and 4th SOE - utter failure on this front from the govt to look after health of its residents

Lastly it means due to wrong priorities of govt on hosting the games which consumed precious time and resources away from corona crisis - Japanese residents are facing present miserable and gloomy status where even if they fall sick they are not assured of timely medical attention and officially govt has asked them to stay at home to recover - sad state of affairs all along (these resources could/should have used to ramp up hospital beds capacity over past 18 months, as every other nation did except Japan) - this legacy will remain with Japan - apart from the shiny medal haul which is what will get plastered all over media in coming weeks till election time when LDP will again win

Missed the link for TIME magazine article mentioned above - cannot edit previous post so adding this new one

https://time.com/6088006/japan-olympics-covid-19/

Another news on Asahi about so called "Bubble" for athletes - which has been breached and no more valid - out in open but no action for defaulters

"Akihabara a hot destination despite Olympic ‘bubble’ restrictions"

Link below -

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14413295

Interesting read on TIME magazine about Restaurants defying latest SOE norms and how residents are frustrated about being asked to stay in home but Olympics happening at the same time - link below

Japan's COVID-19 Strategy Relied on Trust. Holding the Olympics Shattered It at the Worst Possible Time

Gives good idea why/how the numbers are increasing and will continue to do so as experts like Omi have said that Tokyo has not yet reached the peak for this 5th wave...