SaikoPhysco comments

Sure.... you can bet a few Turkish politicians were well compensated by the Japanese Government in order to get this done.

They only changed the criteria because they're still unable to do a high volume of testing. 20,000 tests a day... at that rate it would take almost 17 years to test everyone in Japan. Heck, by that time Japan's population will have dropped by around 10 million.... so I revise my estimate to 13 years.

It would align Japan's school calendar with much of the rest of the world. Germany, France, the UK and USA all have school year's starting around September. Germany starts in August but not that different. It would make it a lot easier for Japanese students to study abroad timing wise. Also, with a longer summer vacation it might decrease the concentration of summer travel since it would be spread out over a longer time. And... students from abroad would have it much easier too. I thinks it is a fantastic idea.

When Covid-19 initially became news over two months ago we saw a lot of news out of S. Korea regarding it here in Japan. But now that S. Korea is doing a great job of keeping the numbers down the Japanese media for some reason never reports about it. The Japanese hate to be shown up by the S. Koreans.... to the point that even if they could learn from them they will not copy them.

Hate to say it.... but it is mainly the uneducated and narrow minded people that react to issues and act in a racist way. The USA does not have a total monopoly on just plain Dumb and Ignorant people... everywhere you go they exist. Darvish is frustrated because the President of the USA, a Dumb and Ignorant person himself, it stirring up the pot against Asians overall. You'd think, the leader of a Nation like the USA, would do his best to keep racist remarks and ideas out of his agenda. Sadly.... he's an idiot and uses Race for political gain with little thought of the consequences.

Maybe this is the time for the "hikkikomori" to shine.... with their help and instruction I'm sure we all can get through a Quarintine / Lockdown.

Since Japan is not massively testing for the virus.... we need to lock the country down until after golden week. Only absolutely necessary stores, businesses and institutions should be open. The pain we bear now will bear dividends later.

A child crying for attention.

We need testing. We need to identify those that are the walking spreaders of the virus. At this point the only people they're identifying seem to be those that have become visibly ill from the virus. When will massive testing begin?

The newest catch word "overshoot". They've been using this word like it is some sort of justification to do practically nothing. But when you're fighting something.... isn't it better to "overshoot" and solve the problem? They say they've been making calculated moves in order to save the economy and Olympics, when actually they were woefully unprepared in the first place. Look at the number of people Hospitalized and the number of people found with the virus. To me the telling ratio would be the number of people hospitalized versus the number infected. Does anyone have that figure.... can't find it?

This is Japan.... the crap won't hit the fan. Hardly anyone ever questions the Government and its actions. You want to know why South Korea has done a great job containing this virus? Because in S. Korea, if the Government didn't do everything it could, it would absolutely hit the fan. They'd be protesting up and down the country. I often think the S. Korean's are protest crazy.... but in this case, it has served them well.

In the news they were saying that many of the new cases were from Japanese returning from overseas trips. Why were they letting people back in without testing them first? It is not like they didn't know about this weeks ago. They only have themselves to blame. S. Korea has done a much better job than Japan at containing this virus. They went out and tested massively right away.... Japan, there are no figures on how many people have been tested.... because so very few have and it would be embarrassing to admit it.

I've seen plenty of used Mah Jong games for sale at those 2nd hand stores.... myself, I bought a Cribbage Board. If the internet were to go down it will back to manual style "analog", type games.

The day after the Olympics were postponed, for some reason the number of cases skyrocketed. Hmmmm.

It is all part of being Japanese.... you're expected to take one for the team sometimes. It is all for the overall survival of the race in a harmonious manner.

Good to see things are getting back to normal.

Yes... and most voting Americans voted for Trump, so you can see how wrong these people can be.

We need millions of test kits, everyone does. The only way to identify and isolate this is with massive testing.

Great timing for that.

Japan should ban all unnecessary travel abroad. It should require all those coming to Japan to be tested before they can leave the airport. It should ban all unnecessary travel out of one's area in Japan unless tested first. Only shipping, delivery and grocery stores should be open. They need to go hard on this if they want to beat it.

One "silver lining", kids.... they're out and about playing everywhere in my area. It appears they have loads of time on their hands and are enjoying themselves. It reminds me of when I was young in the USA and enjoyed long summers... loads of free time with nothing to do other than get inventive and try to find something fun to do that did not cost money. I'm happy the kids are having this freedom and are enjoying themselves.

So when asked about what he thought regarding the Olympics.... "Maybe they postpone it for a year", was the answer. Never occurred to him to say "well that is a decision for Japan to make". He is so used to adding his "two cents" regarding everything, without really thinking anything through, that he just naturally answered the question.

He'll probably borrow even more money to do it. Softbank is in debt up to its ears... this is a publicity ploy more than anything.

Ultimately Kelly's bank accounts and assets should be his proof. Although.... one line made me wonder, not sure if it was a direct quote though. He said "I did not do anything wrong in Japan". Which, of course makes me wonder if he did anything wrong outside of Japan.

What a kind and benevolent company Takeda is.

The Fukushima disaster was man made as much as it was the result of a natural forces. I don't know about you but I lose a lot of respect for Japan when they try to whitewash anything negative about them and their country.

If you're that clueless that you can't find information.... then you probably shouldn't be here. And.... far too many people believe they should be "spoon fed" on the governments dime. Again... those people shouldn't be here either.

So the question is.... will the Government throw tax money to needy businesses or will they let things take a more natural course? Everyone talks about "change". Getting away from the "lifetime employment" system and go more for "merit" based. The same goes for any business that is given money to survive. It is the same as "lifetime employment". For every company that goes out of business it opens up more opportunity for existing and new businesses. But that is not how it works in Japan.... instead they'll draw up a nice "Stimulus Package".... one that includes some "presents" and they'll dole out the cash to keep things on an even keel. A very well managed economy that is surviving mainly by writing "rubber checks". Just issue a few Trillion JGBs.

Damn..... glad I stocked up on cheap cotton towels from the local Fitness Center. Might have to do it the "old way". You know, all the old homes in the USA, one's built before 1950, used to have big two basin sinks in the basement or elsewhere.... they were mainly used to do the laundry washboard style, with cotton diapers included.

And that is just the tourism portion of this virus. We are already seeing very low patronage at Restaurants and Bars in Tokyo.... places were the regular "Taro" would go. The numbers there could prove quite devastating and will hurt the overall economy.