- 26 Sep 2015
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I don't normally defend Abe but I think that excluding Tokyo is a perfectly reasonable thing to do. It will greatly reduce the impact of the campaign of course, but it seems OK - for the moment - to encourage people in the relatively unaffected parts of the country to visit each other. Yes, it's 'unfair' to Tokyo, but it has received so much investment, which benefits its residents, over the past few years because of the Olympics at the expense of other regions, that I'm quite happy to sit this one out. Unfortunately the campaign seems to be done through the behemoth travel companies such as JTB, rather than directly through hotel owners, giving it the appearance of Abe doing a favour to his friends.
As for gatherings of up to 5000 people. It much depends on the event. I've been very impressed with the people who run Japan's two main sports - football and baseball - who were cancelling matches as far back as late February when Abe and Koike were pretending everything was OK, and representatives from the two sports got together very early to share ideas. I'm confident that most of the stadiums have the logistics to cope with 5000 people (a tenth of the capacity of FC Tokyo's ground) at a low risk of the virus, and I'd be prepared to go to a match. On the other hand, a nightclub in Roppongi with 200 people could be very high risk.
As for gatherings of up to 5000 people. It much depends on the event. I've been very impressed with the people who run Japan's two main sports - football and baseball - who were cancelling matches as far back as late February when Abe and Koike were pretending everything was OK, and representatives from the two sports got together very early to share ideas. I'm confident that most of the stadiums have the logistics to cope with 5000 people (a tenth of the capacity of FC Tokyo's ground) at a low risk of the virus, and I'd be prepared to go to a match. On the other hand, a nightclub in Roppongi with 200 people could be very high risk.