tamanegi comments

At a local city hall in Osaka yesterday I was helping a friend get some tax documents and the only information/guidelines regarding Coronavirus I could see displayed was a poster asking if I visited Wuhan or Hubei province in China in the last two weeks and a phone number to call if I had and was feeling flu like symptoms.

I know @macv The teachers and education department have mostly had an additional 3 week break this Spring to get some rudimentary on line learning or even YouTube lessons up and running. They do it Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore and Jakarta.

A Junior High School teacher my family know said she had been coming to school everyday during the break but spent a lot of the time cleaning and gardening!

Just by way of comparison..

On March 20th Australia was testing 4473 people per day per million head of population and Japan was testing 117 per million.

Australia only has 20-25% of the population of Japan with 13 deaths reported from Covid19 and is at a stage 3 lockdown with stage 4 days away like in New Zealand.

@BruceChatwin Day 11 back on the crowded subway to my incubator office!

Despite the Diamond Princess situation around 30 cruise ships that set sail since then are now in limbo at various locations and unable to berth.

I wonder if there are many locals on them?

Yes it's obvious Japan's dear leaders have been putting the Olympics, the economy and until last week the cherry blossoms before the health and wellbeing of the people.

However the good people of Japan and its media mostly been blissfully complacent as events have unfolded, and at risk of being flamed, a bit smug when South Korea battled it's Coronavirus outbreak last month.

Governor Suzuki in Hokkaido has done his best though.

Fully understand Mr Mori's feelings but sir with due respect...with the Olympics postponed and at almost 83 years of age and having ongoing cancer treatment it might be time to step down if this is a "predicament"

The taxpayers will pay. The cost is already astronomical. Coronavirus aside the price tag blew out from 7 billion to around 30 billion. Did Tokyo lie to the IOC back in 2013?

What about the fishermen in Fukushima!

Friend of mine laughed when I told him that my family had prepped and planned for 6-8 weeks total lockdown. Food, water, rice, cash, medicine, toilet paper, bills paid, games, kids books, etc..

I've been through two earthquakes here. Admittedly there weren't big shortages of goods or public disorder the time but I feel this is different and I'll be stuffed if I'm going to have to stand outside a supermarket at 7am waiting to go in and buy a riceball.

Thank me later.

It's almost like Tokyo and Japan will be the last to find out.

Good post @Wolfpack The Olympics is Abe's only legacy.

He has always been a nationalist not an economist.

I don't of anyone whose lot in life has improved under Abenomics.

But the Tokyo government has urged citizens to refrain from hanami parties given the crisis.

Urged...

Windy and cool in East Osaka today with a few trees beginning to bloom. A lot of families and groups of people out enjoying themselves though at a big park near my place.

"I think an explosive spread can happen anytime in Hyogo Prefecture. Since the number of infected people has also been increasing in Osaka, we have to be on alert," Yoshimura said.

Come again? Based on what?

There is already way too much disruption to many athletes preparation and trials let alone the stress in some cases of their daily life right now.

School kids everywhere today at the big Aeon Mall near me. I was only there for an hour but noticed McDonalds was packed with big groups eating and playing games, game center was busy and public seating areas taken up by more young teens hanging out. Guess they are getting bored with all the time off.

Lived and worked in Japan through the 90s and noughties. Could walk through downtown Osaka somedays and barely see a foreign face let alone hear Chinese or Korean being spoken.

Just how did Japan survive back then with miniscule foreign tourist numbers?

58 new cases in the last 24 hours in Australia, 22 new cases in Japan...?

Bingo!!

"Brush aside" Abe and "Cherry blossom" Koike just got the okay to suspend the games and blame it on those pesky foreign world leaders.

Must be a relief for them as no one expects Japan or Tokyo to know what to do.

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach stressed the Tokyo Olympics will go ahead as planned.

Ridiculous analogy.

Great photo!

"The ministry has also asked local governments to decide which medical institutions will deal with those who need to be hospitalized, receive intensive care or be put on a respirator. The municipalities are also asked to prepare the necessary medical equipment and supplies"

....no words

"Japan begins coronavirus travel restrictions for China, S Korea"

Meanwhile daily new infections are down in both China and South Korea yet continue to increase in Italy, Iran, Germany and the US.

Well better on Hachiko then the used ones thrown on the street, hung on a tree branch or just tossed in the small waterway near my home.

"After smacking his lips on tasty finger-foods and knocking back a few drinks, which in all likelihood resulted in him using the restroom and not properly washing his hands several times"

I'd say that's a given.

The TP games began in Hong Kong and Singapore about a month ago.

"retailers reliant on inbound tourism"

How times change. I've lived in Japan close to three decades and there was a time not that long ago when that statement would be impossible to even imagine.

The Japanese have become cash poor paupers due to non existent wage growth, tax increases and other rising living costs under this PM.

So fire up that yen printing press Mr Abe! I urge you to!

Thanks Educator60!!

My bad.

Just watching the Osaka news. They aren't saying what live house in Osaka or how many people infected. You would think they would be telling people who had been there to self isolate especially if they have symptoms.