Objective comments

klausdorthToday  07:39 pm JST

Just a minor thought. . Tokyo is not a prefecture, it's Tokyo-to!

Straight from wikipedia:

Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis (Japanese: 東京都, Tōkyō-to), is the de facto capital[note 1][7] and most populous prefecture of Japan.

Tokyo is not technically a city of which is it almost is always described as. The most populated proper CITY in Japan is Yokohama.

Commodore PerryToday  07:16 pm JST

I thought we agree in everything.

It is funny when you don't know someone but you build a picture of them based on their words. I am sure with all of the arguments on this forum, most of us would get along in a pub and the differences in opinion would be just taking shots at each other while laughing about it. Life is short.

@Commodore Perry

Make her stay home. He doesn't deserve to be a representative of the US. Disgraceful.

Totally agree! Even though we have a lot of differences of opinion based on our posts, it is important not to be tribal and acknowledge each other's thoughts, positively or negatively.

@Commodore Perry

High positivity rate again!

What does that even mean? If you are trying to tell us that the number of positive cases is high relative to the number of tests, then I think you are misunderstanding testing in Japan. They only test suspicious cases so that correlation will always result in a "high" percentage. You can't extrapolate this percentage and conclude that it is the amount of infected people in Tokyo. That is absurd.

Based on your assessment you agree on both variables published by the government. So the 386 new cases in the prefecture of TOKYO (12M people) is considered a high positivity rate too?

Answer: it isn't.

There are actually people in Japan that WANT a lockdown. Shocking! My guess is that 95% them are expats. Japan is fine and it is getting better every day. Our lives were never interrupted in the same way as other first-world countries. With the vaccine rollout at an incredible pace, Japan is shaping up great.

@Antiquesaving Infection rate of over 6% consistently.

Infection rate can only be known if massive random testing was present in Japan. Because they only test the symptomatic, this 6% cannot be called the infection rate.

Keep up the 1M per day vaccination drive and protect those who need it. The Olympics is not a deadline. Fortunately it is the young people who are reluctant to take the vaccine. With future waves of infection they will make up the majority of cases and their healthy immune systems can deal with it, statistically.

The number of overall people who went missing last year, including those who do not have dementia, dropped 9,911 to 77,022, the lowest since comparative data became available in 1956.

Definitely would have guessed somewhere in the 100s. This topic sure doesn't get the ink it deserves.

Don't ignore Hokkaido now that there are only 26 daily cases there. This was a bellwether for Covid concern since counting there is lauded for its accuracy. The downward trend is real in most prefectures and a lot has to do with the impressive vaccine numbers over the past month. Yes, Japan was late at getting started but it does not take away from the positive effects we are seeing. Stay positive!

Just don't ask her any questions about their products.

Isn't the whole point of testing athletes, delegates, and officials to uncover cases of Covid? It may be shocking that a small percentage of positive cases arise but is it unexpected? They have protocol in place to deal with this.

This positive news has been ignored over the past month. So many posters have illogically been predicting dire times ahead for Japan. In reality, the vaccination rollout rate is incredibly fast and that is a huge part of why things are getting better. The major vaccine rollout only started in May since most of the general public had no access prior to that.

@Tristis How are things getting worse? A one day increase is not a trend. With impressive daily vaccination numbers going on things will only improve more. That is how it works.

@falseflagsteve You are on point but people don't like good news anymore. How will things get worse when vaccines are on a 30M dose a month pace? Things will only get better, and they are. Don't just focus on Tokyo with its measly 600 cases. Other prefectures that were hit hard just last month (600+), such as Hokkaido, are down to a few dozen cases a day.

Look at how well the vaccine rollout is going in Japan! https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations?country=JPN

This is the sharp spike we like to see!

Roughly 6.7 million doses have been administered to date in a population of 25 million, with only a small fraction of those having received both jabs.

Japan has quadrupled that dosage rollout in only 1 month!

source: https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations?country=JPN

Imagine being banned from leaving your city? Some dark governments out there. Be happy you live in Japan.

Uber Cheats

@pim @TokyoJoe

Here is the link... https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations?country=JPN

it is actually 33 million now

We will all be drinking in bars with friends again soon!

The good news is that Japan has now injected 32.9M doses (most of them in the past month)

With this rapid rate it is easy to say that things will ONLY get better in Japan, and very soon. These low numbers in most prefectures show that good things are coming.

By the time the Olympics are on, bars and izakayas will be in full swing. Numbers will fall even more by then with tens of millions more being vaccinated.

Headline writer had only ONE job! The most amazing stat is in the first line of the article...

*Yu Darvish struck out 11 in six brilliant innings to become *the fastest big leaguer to reach 1,500 for his career

Yu is incredible. Sure miss him and the goat Ohtani playing for the Fighters.

If you don't think things are getting better it is time to check your objective bias level.

Millions and millions of vaccines injected every week. Numbers in prefectures such as Hokkaido, where they are lauded for their accuracy, are down to a measly 29 cases! Sorry to burst your bubble, but Japan is coming out of this.

Why would a self-described man want to play on a woman's football team?

There will be so much vaccine pumping through the Japanese veins by the time the Olympics roll around that infected numbers will continue to drop. The private sector is stepping up big time and already 32M doses have been given which gives a good level of protection. With all of the testing required to participate in the Olympics and the bubble, they will easily control any foreign infections. Let's just be happy things are going in a positive direction.

Shouldn't a group suicide be called a murder suicide?

10000 fans in the Olympic stadium is a bit low. For an outdoor stadium, 20000 seems more reasonable.

Th news keeps stating Australia is lagging in vaccinations. I’ve had my first shot, as have 25% of the population.

Japan has FULLY vaccinated nearly double that of Australia 6.4% to 3.3% or 8M people as opposed to only 841K in Australia.

Hakman ... you are 100% correct. They test daily. They identified an athlete with Corona and dealt with it. That is why the strict measures were put in place.

The news should be focused on how well the system works.

@runner3Today  03:44 pm JST

Hi, I thought you asked why it was taking so long for citizens to get vaccinated NOT why did they start vaccinating so late. Those are two very different questions.

Based on official data, Japan has administered only 2M doses less than Canada, and they have done it in a much shorter time. Within a week, Japan will surpass Canada for number of people vaccinated with their first shot. Remember, Japan has a population 5x greater than Canada. Also, only 60% of the adult population here want to be vaccinated.

The daily testing works. Great.