tamanegi comments

"We have at this moment, no reason whatsoever to believe that the Olympic Games in Tokyo will not open on the 23rd of July in the Olympic stadium in Tokyo," Bach told Kyodo.

No words..

One day in the job and already confusion abounds.

Is this twat even watching what's happening in Melbourne at present regarding infected overseas arrivals for the Australian Open tennis?

A Japanese gent and his wife living in my apartment building traveled twice to Europe last year. Once to England and once to Spain. I know for a fact they did not self isolate on their return and on one occasion drove to Nagano to deliver souvenirs to extended family members. When we kind of asked them aren't they supposed to stay home upon returning they just said "it's okay, we don't have coronavirus, we wore masks everywhere".

67 players and staff infected with an unknown number of people they may have been in contact with. I am guessing the "top league" has failed to establish a bubble for the players and this is the result.

8.35pm took the dog for a quick walk around my immediate neighborhood and found all four restaurants near here in East Osaka all open and quite busy. Tables of two to six customers unmasked and probably not going home for another hour or so.

RIP Ms Okada and your beautiful daughters.

At this stage of the investigation the police have only said that Mr Kikuchi (who is recovering in hospital) had possession of some flammable liquids in his garage and that they were identified as connected with part of a legitimate business.

He does have more than one restaurant in Melbourne.

I found an article in the Sydney Morning Herald to support what I stated earlier about the Australian women's soccer team.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/unthinkable-to-imagine-matildas-playing-in-tokyo-says-aussie-star-catley-20210109-p56suu.html

Just from an athlete's/participant's perspective I heard an interview with the captain of the Matildas, the Australian women's soccer team, over the weekend and she said the team hasn't played or met together in nearly twelve months, have no "friendly" matches scheduled for Olympic preparation and have more than several players living and playing abroad. Some are in England where the strict lockdown may continue until March. In summary she said the Tokyo Olympics is more or less "unthinkable".

There have been around two dozen cases of the highly contagious English/South African covid strains detected in Japan now according to the J media. These cases look largely or maybe wholly among returnees.

Japan's covid border security policy has been quite hodge-podge of reactivate steps ever since the Diamond Princess berthed last winter.

@Meiyouwenti is correct.

Chinese outbound tourists in Beijing are getting vaccinations for covid now in preparation for tours abroad already permitted by the J govt. I think this was reported in Japan on one of the news sites in late December. The groups are limited in number with strict conditions regarding their movements but they are coming.

Pretty sure there are some Taiwanese groups too going to Okinawa and Kyushu.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man! You've got this Suga sori!

Articles on this website related to Covid19 constantly remind us that Japan's number of infections have been lower than other countries and it's SOEs / lockdowns less severe.

I wonder if there will be much disruption to the Adults Day ceremonies next Monday. Also the Go To Travel campaign resumes on Tuesday for those who had to reorganize trips.

Spare a thought for those dying untreated at home due to coronavirus.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20210106/k10012798701000.html

With zero information on tracing and tracking and informing the public on areas/locations where infected people have spent time in recent days.

It's unbelievable to think that in Sydney a Japanese invention called the QR code is being used to record names and contacts of those visiting clubs, pubs, sports events etc..

People can then be reached later, get themselves tested or Isolate if necessary.

Japanese border closure is only until January 31st.

Isn't the nationwide Go To Travel campaign due to resume and be extended next Tuesday?

Also some Chinese and Taiwanese tourists are making preparations for visiting Japan during the Chinese new year celebrations next month. Will their tours be affected?

In less than 48 hours millions of Kanto folks are going to be back on their daily commute with many criss-crossing the above prefectures and at work again. Not sure what a state of emergency will look like this time around but if they are serious they have to do something about crowded trains and subways.

Good to see the number down by a lot from yesterday. Having ladies advertising pcr testing at super spreader locations will also raise public awareness. Keep well Tokyo!

I know some small companies in Tokyo are scrapping remote work from January 4th. A Japanese mate in Tokyo told me last night. His company said that having staff trying to continually work from home was "mendokusai"

"It remains uncertain whether the Tokyo Olympics will really take place in 2021" according to a "source".

It's not uncertain according to the IOC or Tokyo or the many previous articles here on JT. The summer Olympics and Paralympics will go ahead in some shape or form next year.

PM Suga is doing no better or worse than other Japanese prime ministers of the past few decades. He took the job following the sudden departure of Mr Abe and is doing his best to keep Japan on a steady course. Thankyou for your hard work Mr Suga and I wish you and Japan well in 2021.

Any chance we could have the contact tracing information regarding where these newly infected people have frequented in the days prior to being confirmed positive? God only knows how many additional cases are in Tokyo without further self isolation and prompt testing.

Well done Tokyo. That's a big drop. Hopefully this trend continues throughout Japan.

I can see why the J government still want some foreign students to still have access to Japan. There is a convenience store in my neighborhood now completely staffed with Vietnamese and Chinese part timers except for the Japanese manager.

@AG

Those 40000 tests were mostly in the northern beaches area of Sydney where they now seem to have contained the Covid19 cluster and have good information on community tracing.

The tests are voluntary, free, with results given by smartphone within 12 hours. Good to see so many young people come forward to be tested as picked up many asymptomatic cases.

Pointless waste of time. Nothing will ever change.

Australia. My family can be covid19 tested for free, more readily and have the results within 12 hours.

Also tracing and information of where exactly cases or clusters have occurred is given more clearly and frequently.

And despite some bungles the 14 day quarantine for overseas arrivals is enforced by law.

How is Tokyo tracing these new infections? Would any of these people had contact with others or been to any shops, restaurants etc, in the past week? Shouldn't the Tokyo government be alerting people related to or in contact with these new cases to self isolate or be tested?