COVID-19 Coronavirus: situation in Japan

[musicisgood]

April 28, 2020 Tuesday Tokyo time: evening

I mention earlier on one of my post that I'd try to make my updates a bit more international and perhaps more on "what's happening in your front yard" type of post. The reason is because: Chinese updates are rare and Japanese updates are beginning not to be of much of interest these days to what is happening to the outside world. Actually, the events in Japan (somewhat untruthful as far as reporting cases and deaths of the virus ) still hold a lot of weight. I say that because ,well, for those that follow the financial post, I posted about investing in UBE KOSAN in Ube, Yamaguchi Pref a while back. So for you that buy stocks, check them out. I'll post the link here .

www3.nhk.or.jp...

Update

1. Japanese govt. tonight admits "our economy now is worse then the "Great Depression".
If you are reading this, watch now other countries will be following suit. Yes, it is very true. I see it very clearly since
I'm not working at the moment.
2. school not starting until Sept. , well guess what, tonight the politicians with many school board
members are some what in agreement with it.
3. Airline business in Japan is toasted. Asking now for some staff to take 2 days of work off. (not sure if it is paid,
since they get paid monthly
4. People are applying now for 40 to 50 job positions just to find work
5. Employment job opening are down sharply
6. Welfare in Japan is to increase
7. Something about 3400 people lost jobs in one month (couldn't make it out, might have been 340,000 people)
8. Been 3 weeks now since the "State of Emergency" has been declared
9. In Osaka, the governor is insisting that people stay home. Even closed (tried to ) all the Pachinko Parlors. Those that
refused to do so, well, he (the Governor) goes on national TV to give the names that do not close.
10. Hotels are now at 6% occupancy
11. Shinkansen is at 5% accupancy
12. Okinawa has 15000 reservations from the mainland this Golden Week (kind of like 4th of July holiday)
13. Tokyo today 112 tested positive
14. Japan 14000 tested postive
15. Japan 407 have died of the virus
16. Hospital beds are at 80% capacity at the moment
17. There are over 2400 cases of people quarantine at home or as designated hotels throughout Japan
18. There is now talk of schools opening up in September

Other news

1. Hong Kong now restricts 2 visitors to a persons residence (strictly enforced as of today )

2. Taiwan now fines people that are infected and that leave their quarantine area a sum of $35000 bucks. Yes, you read
that right. Serious stuff here people

3. Hong Kong: As at noon today (April 28), public hospitals had reported to the Department of Health the admission of 15 patients (13 male and two female, aged 13 to 92) in the past 24 hours who met the reporting criteria of COVID-19. Appropriate tests have been arranged for the patients. There are 246 patients under isolation currently. So far, 811 patients who had COVID-19 confirmed or probable infections have been discharged upon recovery.

4. China: Diabetes can cause complications such as heart disease and stroke. In 2017, it killed about 843,000 people across China. ( still trying to get update on the death toll in China from the virus )

5. Taiwan: Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Monday (April 27) announced there were no new cases of Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19), with Minister of Health and Welfare and CECC head Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) saying if this trend continues for the next two weeks, the local epidemic could come to an end by June.

6. China accordingly stands at 4700 dead of the virus. ( I don't think that is true by all means ) www.taiwannews.com.tw...

7. Italy: Doctors in northern Italy, one of the world's hardest-hit areas during the pandemic, have reported extraordinarily large numbers of children under age 9 with severe cases of what appears to be Kawasaki disease, more common in parts of Asia.

8. ROME: One of Italy's top public health officials warned yesterday that wearing face masks should not give people a false sense of security against the new coronavirus.Italy and other countries are debating whether people should wear masks outdoors at all times – even while not in a confined space.The Mediterranean country is making the use of face masks mandatory on transport and in stores as it gradually rolls back lockdown measures starting next Monday.

9. Japan: Up to about 8,800 PCR tests were carried out per day in Japan in mid-April. The figure is about four times the number from a month earlier, and is likely to rise.

10. Japan's health ministry has allowed dentists to carry out coronavirus tests when physicians and other qualified health care personnel are not available.

11. Okinawa — U.S. Forces Japan has ordered the approximately 50,000 active-duty service members under its umbrella to maintain a log of daily personal contacts and interactions to track the potential spread of the coronavirus.

12. This may be of interest to you all:
The new symptoms, which the CDC reports could appear 2-14 days after exposure to the virus, are:

Chills
Repeated shaking with chills
Muscle pain
Headache
Sore throat
New loss of taste or smell

13. Its happening folks:
As pork, beef, and chicken plants are being forced to close, even for short periods of time, millions of pounds of meat will disappear from the supply chain," John Tyson, Chairman of the Board of Tyson Foods, wrote in the letter, adding that closures of slaughterhouses mean farmers can't sell their livestock, and that "millions of animals—chickens, pigs, and cattle—will be depopulated because of the closure of our processing facilities."

14. Is this really true:
New figures released by the Office for National Statistics on Tuesday show that a total of 22,351 people died in the UK on the week ending 17 April 2020. This is the most deaths that occurred in any week since statisticians began compiling the figure 27 years ago. Staggeringly the grim statistic is 11,854 more than the five year average.


Will your school children start wearing these to school ? Only in Asia ?

Thanks every one for reading my updates.

 

[Mark of Zorro]

1. Japanese govt. tonight admits "our economy now is worse then the "Great Depression".

And all this primarily to save people who at any other time in history, would have long passed their expiration date.

I am piling up "I told you so" rights quickly. Sad fact: I don't want them. Bragging gives me no pleasure. My joy is solving and preventing problems....and I mean REAL ones, not the imaginary ones people tend to bring up....such as your typical "first world" problem.

But hey, hard lockdowns were popular. And when a thing is popular there is no convincing people they should not have been....cause....pride...or something.

 

[nahadef]

Maybe you'll have the opportunity to make some more great art of your experiences. So not a write off from that perspective. But I'm guessing you mean financially.

I'm getting some stuff done on my own, but I think the next five years is going to be waaaaaaay too heavy with Corona based fiction and non-fiction. 9/11 affected American art, and that was pretty much one city! When the first lockdown happened, I was keeping a little diary, making notes, but as it spread to the west, one of the magazines I worked with just put out a blanket warning: No covid-19 based submissions would be looked at. I was surprised, but the editor was prescient. The covid stuff has already filtered down to the daily funnies in American newspapers.

About a year from now, there will be movies and TV shows tackling the themes, and it's going to be mostly pretty boring.

I think if I wanted to do some personal point of view stuff, it has value, but I think a lot of others will have the market covered, more eloquently than I could.

If you're interested in some good personal snapshots of life under covid-19, Mike Dawson is doing some insightful, nearly daily pieces. He's at mikedawwwson on Instagram.

 

[musicisgood]

Just in from the Embassy


Health Alert – U.S. Embassy Tokyo (April 29, 2020)

Location: Japan


Date: April 29, 2020



Japan continues to experience a steady increase in COVID-19 cases. To reduce the spread of the virus, the Government of Japan has asked residents to avoid crossing prefectural borders for non-essential travel, including during the Golden Week holiday from April 29 to May 6. The U.S. Embassy strongly urges U.S. citizens to comply with all measures under the state of emergency declaration and announced by local officials. In particular, we urge all U.S. citizens to stay at home during the Golden Week holiday period, observe the government's request not to cross prefectural borders, and to limit all non-essential outings. We also recommend using masks or cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain, maintaining at least six feet of distance between yourself and others, and avoiding public transportation during peak hours.

Tokyo Governor Koike has designated the 12-day period from April 25 through May 6 as "stay at home week," explaining that remaining at home to the maximum extent possible during this period will be critical if Japan is going to achieve the government's goal of an 80 percent reduction in people-to-people contact. Mayors of several towns near Tokyo have requested that roads to their towns be blocked in order to prevent tourism during the holiday period, and several roads leading to public beaches in coastal areas have been closed or are restricted. Access to other public recreational facilities such as parks and nature areas have already, or may soon be, prohibited. Several shrines throughout Tokyo are now closed to the public.

Across Japan, prefectural governments are taking similar steps to reduce travel and tourism. Transportation companies are limiting or canceling service, and many recreation sites and facilities have closed. In the current circumstances, road closures and/or alteration in public transportation (bus, rail, air) schedules may occur with little or no notice. The Governor of Okinawa requested a suspension of tourism throughout Okinawa during Golden Week. More than 700 local businesses are cooperating with the governor's request by closing or greatly restricting access. Virtually all tourist destinations are closed, including the Okinawa Churami Aquarium, Shuri Castle Park, and the Okinawa Peace Memorial Park. Public transportation—to include flights, buses, ferries, the Naha Monorail, and taxi and car rental services—are either canceled or operating with substantial reductions in service. A large majority of hotels and restaurants are similarly affected. Please see Regarding Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) | VISIT OKINAWA JAPAN.

The Government of Hokkaido and the city of Sapporo announced a joint state of emergency for April 20 through May 6, requesting that citizens refrain from non-essential outings, including local outings, travel in and out of Sapporo, and travel between prefectures, especially during Golden Week. They are also requesting that many shopping, entertainment and restaurant facilities close during this time period. Officials at Chitose airport in Sapporo are conducting temperature checks on arriving passengers and asking those with fevers to take appropriate measures. In the Kansai region, virtually all tourist destinations are closed. A list of just some of these closures can be found here: Emergency.

State of Emergency in Japan

Prime Minister Abe has declared a state of emergency covering the entire country that will last at least through May 6. The Prime Minister outlined measures to help prevent the spread of coronavirus and asked people to avoid closed spaces, crowded places, and close-contact settings. According to press reports, the Prime Minister's target of a 70-80 percent reduction in person-to-person contact nationwide is not being met, and he has called on residents to reduce their outings further.

Specific measures taken under the state of emergency will vary by prefecture, as the prefectural governors will issue instructions and requests.

U.S. Mission Japan personnel continue to follow United States and Japanese government recommended practices promoting social distancing and minimizing non-essential travel.

U.S. Mission Japan staff have been advised to avoid public transportation during peak hours, and to follow Government of Japan guidance to refrain from crossing prefectural borders unless absolutely necessary.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently updated their guidance to include six new symptoms of COVID-19. We encourage U.S. citizens to familiarize themselves with the information, which can be found on CDC's website.

Reduction in International Flights

International flights are currently available in Japan, but service continues to diminish. Only six percent of pre-COVID capacity between Japan and the United States (including Guam) remains in service, and further reductions are scheduled. Direct flights between the United States and Japan are currently only available from Tokyo's Narita and Haneda airports. U.S. citizens who wish to return to the United States should make commercial arrangements to do so immediately unless they are prepared to remain abroad for an indefinite period. The U.S. government does not anticipate staging repatriation flights in Japan. U.S. citizens who reside abroad should avoid all international travel.

Suspension of Routine Passport and Citizenship Services

The U.S. Department of State has suspended processing of routine passport and citizenship services. Until further notice, we are only able to issue limited validity emergency passports. Because of this suspension, we are unable to issue Consular Reports of Birth Abroad for infants and children. However, we can document the child's citizenship with an emergency passport and strongly encourage families to apply for such documentation. To request an appointment for an emergency passport, please contact the Embassy or consulate nearest you for assistance.

 

[Mark of Zorro]

Japan continues to experience a steady increase in COVID-19 cases.

A complete lie. Cram it sideways U.S. embassy right along with your "urges".

 

[musicisgood]

A complete lie. Cram it sideways U.S. embassy right along with your "urges".

The only urge I really have is to stay healthy and fit. I've been here all these years and rarely get Embassy emails, but now it seems like it can be 2 times a week.
As you notice, it says "leave immediately" or plan to stay "indefinitely ". That's some serious messages there for us. What lies ahead for us is this "much uncertainty" of our future. GW time will be just a reality what may happen. Roads will be blocked and one will need papers to travel outside of their prefecture. Stay tune for more of them " lies". Sad to say, they do come true.
Oh, and school if possible will start in September and that will come with great restrictions if it ever happens.
You do realize Japan and the world is now in a depression.

 

[Mark of Zorro]

Oh, and school if possible will start in September and that will come with great restrictions if it ever happens.

Utter ridiculous madness. Even I am shocked at how stupid people are being about this.

I might cheer if they had a more intelligent replacement for what passes as "schooling" right now, but they don't.

About the only silver lining I can see is that the nationalist indoctrination of kids is going to slip as they are told fewer lies by teachers.

 

[mdchachi]

Independent antibody tests found about 5% of the Tokyo (not random) sample had been exposed to Covid19.
Article is in Japanese but the Google translate version is quite understandable.

＜新型コロナ＞抗体検査５．９％陽性　市中感染の可能性　都内の希望者２００人調査：東京新聞デジタル

新型コロナウイルスの感染実態を調べるため、感染症に詳しい久住英二医師が東京都内でウイルス抗体検査をしたところ、一般市民の４・８％、医療...

www.tokyo-np.co.jp

 

[Majestic]

Update as of April 30th from NHK. Overall number of new cases continues to be on the decline, with regional variation. The government will announce their decision regarding extension of the State of Emergency on Monday, May 4th. Everyone is expecting them to extend the Emergency for another month. If the numbers for Tokyo remain in the double-digits, the government will find it difficult to justify a another month of stay-at-home, I think. And the citizens of Iwate, where there isn't a single case of Covid19, will not be happy if they have to put up with another month of stay-at-home. So the extension of the emergency may vary by location.

It feels like inter-Asia travel will be the first segment of the air travel industry to bounce back. Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Korea have very few, if any, new cases. Japan is massaging the numbers, but so far it looks like it avoided a parabolic rise in cases, and is indeed managing the situation much better than any western nation (maybe except New Zealand). I can see Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong relaxing their current quarantine procedures for travelers from Asian countries. Japan could be added to that list within the month.

There is also an article out of Korea that says they found no evidence of any reinfections. All in all, there is a lot to be positive about.

Tests in recovered patients found false positives, not reinfections, experts say

South Korea’s infectious disease experts said Thursday that dead virus fragments were the likely cause of over 260 people here testing positive again

www.koreaherald.com

 

[Majestic]

Might have been too optimistic...165 new cases of covid19 today in Tokyo alone.

 

[musicisgood]

Might have been too optimistic...165 new cases of covid19 today in Tokyo alone.

Wow!
NHK tonight is one hour long news at 7 pm.
Seems like it is going as planned. More restrictions due to the ups and downs of how the virus is working in the general population.
Any news on how the prisons are doing here?

Thanks for your update.

 

[Lothor]

This is from the BBC's Japan correspondent and verifies some of the anecdotes earlier in this thread about the difficulty of getting a test in Japan.

Coronavirus: Japan's low testing rate raises questions

Japan's relatively low rate of virus testing raises questions about how it has tackled the pandemic.

www.bbc.com

 

[mdchachi]

This is from the BBC's Japan correspondent and verifies some of the anecdotes earlier in this thread about the difficulty of getting a test in Japan.

Coronavirus: Japan's low testing rate raises questions

Japan's relatively low rate of virus testing raises questions about how it has tackled the pandemic.

www.bbc.com

He interviewed quoted the same person who was giving her story on twitter/Facebook that Thomas first posted.

 

[musicisgood]

This is from the BBC's Japan correspondent and verifies some of the anecdotes earlier in this thread about the difficulty of getting a test in Japan.

Coronavirus: Japan's low testing rate raises questions

Japan's relatively low rate of virus testing raises questions about how it has tackled the pandemic.

www.bbc.com

Yes, it is true, they simply are not testing enough due to the fact that space is limited, whether it be hospitals or rented hotel rooms for the sick. Japan is stuck with riding the uncertainty of the unknown that lies ahead of us in our daily life now. One must understand the world will NOT go back to the days of what we called "normal living".
I also want to stress this: Japan can easily become a 3rd world country with-in the next 2 months unless Abe starts granting the 100000 yen monthly payments till the virus is within reasonable control. But common sense says this: this virus has no boundaries, whether it be air borne or people touching one another. This is the main reason that schools shall remain close for the time being. High School kids know not to touch each other, but they do NOT practice staying away from each other.
Getting back to testing: I've always said this since 1975, the politicians have never given any compassion toward the general population. Don't believe me, take that poisoning in Kyushu : Aiding more Minamata victims | The Japan Times
That is how the Japanese govt. works and it is still clear today.
So take the 100000 yen and ****. That is the bottom line of all this.
Also, don't kid yourself, business ties in China are still very strong: Arrivals Narita Airport (NRT)

 

[Lothor]

He interviewed quoted the same person who was giving her story on twitter/Facebook that Thomas first posted.

I noticed that. I think he also expressed concern that it was from social media rather than an established news source, which was why I posted it.

 

[misternada]

Japan can easily become a 3rd world country with-in the next 2 months unless Abe starts granting the 100000 yen monthly payments till the virus is within reasonable control.

I doubt that, Japan is the world 3rd economy, most of Western countries will be all 3rd world countries before Japan is.
As for the grant, of course everybody will takes those 100,000 yen payment per person, but I doubt many people depends on it, and most of it will probably end up at the banks.
Would the government want to boost the economy, it could put he consumption tax back to 5% for a few years, that would give it quite a boost.

 

[johnnyG]

Numbers from this morning's paper. (The pen points at where we are.) I do realize/understand many of the points discussed above, but putting aside japan's response to this and other such things, I'd rather be here than any of the top dozen or so countries, or most states in the US. Eg, I think the chicago metro area, with a few million people, has more cases/deaths than all of japan.

 

[Majestic]

I'd rather be here than any of the top dozen or so countries, or most states in the US

Yeah - that gets a big agree from me. I have a lot of questions about the Japanese approach, but we're not sequestered in our homes, there isn't a police presence enforcing any lockdown, and the shops are well-stocked and doing a good business. I even found a supply of masks today.

The bad news; Tokyo with another 160 new cases of covid19 today. We're back to treading water. I wonder where these cases are coming from. If they are clusters from nursing homes or hospitals, or some other institution, we might not need to be so nervous about them. If it is just 160 random people...it makes me slightly anxious. Sunday and Monday we can expect small numbers again due to the way the numbers are reported. Tough to sort this out when the numbers are all over the place.

 

[Majestic]

Trend as of yesterday, from NHK's recently revamped covid19 website.

 

[johnnyG]

 

[bentenmusume]

I do realize/understand many of the points discussed above, but putting aside japan's response to this and other such things, I'd rather be here than any of the top dozen or so countries, or most states in the US. Eg, I think the chicago metro area, with a few million people, has more cases/deaths than all of japan.

Agreed 120%. I also appreciate the levity of the comic.

The bad news; Tokyo with another 160 new cases of covid19 today. We're back to treading water. I wonder where these cases are coming from. If they are clusters from nursing homes or hospitals, or some other institution, we might not need to be so nervous about them. If it is just 160 random people...it makes me slightly anxious.

Personally, I try not overreact to the daily numbers precisely because there are so many variables. I agree that it would be more reassuring if we knew that these were all medical facility clusters, but that does seem to be the recent trend, and either way, treading water (especially if testing is increasing) is much better than an exponential explosion of new cases.

There is also the gradually emerging news from antibody tests around the world that there is a chance that the disease is _far_ more infectious and _far_ less fatal than the common knowledge has been thus far. I would not be surprised if there is a gradual acceptance that the disease will not completely go away, but that it makes more sense to take necessary precautions and be circumspect while restarting society to some degree rather than continuing this complete shutdown of all "non-essential" services and throwing literally 20-30% percent of young, healthy, working populations of nations into uncertainty and/or abject poverty in the hopes of avoiding even 1 or 2 additional infections.

We shall see, though, I suppose.

 

[musicisgood]

I'll stick to what I say. Japan can easily turn into a 3rd world country by the end of June. The 100000 yen must continue, that will allow people to buy food and pay for upkeep both mental and physical way of life.
High unemployment leads to mental dysfunction and that is a fact. That is how society breaks down and you'll see it now by the end of May upon the very young that are restricted to a life of less freedom that they once had. Keep in mind, high unemployment is here to stay.
If you go to a donki hotei shop on a Saturday and see the shelves on what people are buying recently, it shows the mentality of herd thinking. People are actually reading the labels now to at which country the food comes from.
Its all a chain reaction. This is the main reason why testing is limited here and in Okinawa. Has very little to do with people working now (we are past that stage), it now has to do with civil disobedience that will arrive by this summer and ... like I said, many are trying to flee the large cities now. How do I know, just by the license plates here in Yamaguchi. So many from out of town and this has nothing to do with GW either.

 

[mdchachi]

I'll stick to what I say. Japan can easily turn into a 3rd world country by the end of June.

That's highly unlikely. Especially within two months. How are you defining 3rd world country?

Keep in mind, high unemployment is here to stay.

I also don't think this is true either given that there aren't enough people of working age. Quality of jobs may be going down though.

 

[misternada]

If you go to a donki hotei shop on a Saturday and see the shelves on what people are buying recently, it shows the mentality of herd thinking. People are actually reading the labels now to at which country the food comes from.

For what I know they always read the label, that's why you can sell a onion from Japan twice the price of one from China.
Also since the Fukishima disaster I think people start paying attention from which prefecture the products come from, I know we do.

Also it seems there are speculation for some product, people expect high demands for something they will run to the store and buy all the stock to sell it online for a profit,
other people seeing this also buy as much as they can fearing that the product will run out, I don't think it is specific to Japan.

I think the situation in Japan is quite okay for example for the masks we had a box, actually two, one adult size and one children size, we did not run out, and my wife just was able to buy a box a few days ago don't think a lot of people run out of mask here like in some other countries.

Oh, and we did not run out of toilet paper either, situation is under control !

 

[johnnyG]

Isn't it the US that seems more like a 3rd world country these days?

• protestors with assault weapons on the steps of gov't buildings ( = vigilante "democracy")

• megalomaniac leader encouraging that to sustain his power

• something like 20% unemployed, maybe an equal number without health care

• worst corona virus situation in the world