ponkotsu comments

In the nhk news they said voter turnout was just over 20%.

They started counting the absentee ballots after the polling stations closed. Absentee voting has become popular in Japan.

PCR tests on asymptomatic volunteers in Tokyo found one positive case out of 103,633 tests during the second week of December. Tokyo is highly safe right now. The "number of tests conducted" doesn't include those surveillance tests.

https://www.fukushihoken.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/iryo/kansen/kensa/kensuu.html

This page has the data link to a file on "the number of PCR tests performed". It can be google translated into English. Scroll down a bit. The data are completed up to 20 Nov where the test number stood 90,159 nationwide. It takes a week to see the completed data as there is a lag for data input of "private tests" in addition to "administrative tests" that is updated promptly.

https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/covid-19/open-data.html

That's 99 severe cases, which stands for the number of patients in ICUs.

The new system is too complicated that it is just not sustainable. I hope they scrap this paper-waster soon and relax the quarantine requirements for all vaccinated travellers.

First, they have to say that they have not relaxed the quarantine requirements in principle. It remains 10-day, if shortest, for all vaccinated incoming travellers, Japanese or non-Japanese, business or non-business.

If you have a corporate sponsor, your sponsor (not you) can apply for a permit that let you move out of the designated premises for your quarantine after Day 3.

To obtain the permit, your corporate sponsor has to apply for it to the sponsor's "governing ministry" (If it is a bank, MoF. If it is a university, MEXT. etc.) and the permit needs to be granted before your travel to Japan. Even if the permit is granted, my SOS will monitor your whereabouts even after Day 3, and basically, you cannot use public transport until Day 10. After Day 10, your sponsor has to submit a concluding report to the governing ministry.

https://corona.go.jp/news/pdf/jimu_flow_image_20211105.pdf

The news is different from Takara Bio's press release that says the company agrees with VLP Therapeutics Japan to provide its facility to produce "self-amplifying (replicon)" mRNA vaccine drug substance.

RIP. The Kawashimas are noble enough in fact. When Tatsuhiko Kawashima was born, his father, Takahiko, was the chief of the Cabinet Office's statistics bureau. Tatsuhiko's grandfather, Shoichiro, was a teacher, but at one point in his career, he was a professor for the Gakushukin and was the headteacher of its elementary school from 1901 to 1903. The Kawashiwas were close to the Imperial family even before the war.

Sorry for them. They are an easy target of abuse with "nihongo jozu desune."

Yes, the Nikkei reported that the quarantine requirements for vaccinated returning residents (if vaccinated with Pfizer, Moderna and AZ) will be shortened to 3 days. The catch is that the daily entry cap is likely to increase only slowly from the current 3500. You need to book early if you plan to travel abroad from Japan this winter.

Very few details emerged for this kind of leak, which means the details have not been decided yet. The news may point to a resumption of "Business Track" with a revised set of conditions. If they keep the current 10- to 14-day quarantine requirements to non-Business Track travellers, the intention may be that they don't want their own nationals to travel abroad for tourism.

The final turnout is usually about 20 to 30% plus the 6 o'clock standing. It will be about 55% in the end.