https://www.theage.com.au/sport/japan-counts-cost-of-the-games-we-all-needed-20210806-p58gh7.html
 

I thought about posting this in the Olympic thread, but I felt I should respect the spirit that thread was started in and of those participating. No one has any ill will there and need not be upbraided.

The country I call home has almost skated through this Bradbury like since this started, but the mixed messaging brought about by holding these Games (as well as the greater number of public holidays than usual) is leading to a disaster.

We’ve been lucky in that the nature of Japanese society lends itself to acquiescence to authority and hierarchy. Hence, when people have been told to wear masks and stay home, they’ve done so willingly. It’s never been a culture war issue.

That said, this can also have the reverse effect in this case. Once people get an indication that something is OK to do, they’ll do it with absolute relish.

A good example is that while possessing marijuana will see you cop a 5 year jail sentence, magic mushroom consumption was legal for many years due to a loophole in the local laws (despite their side effects being way rougher than smoking some reefer). There was a wave of bored housewives passing out from them for a period from the seventies onwards (until they were finally banned in 2002). This is also the only place I know of where eating/drinking while walking is deemed poor manners but reading a porn magazine on a train is kosher.

Sadly, Japan very rarely politically sanction the grim faced cadre of elderly company executives masquerading as a political party known as the LDP, so where genuine accountability for the upcoming human disaster coming over the horizon is yet to be determined.

Edited August 6, 20213 yr by Colin B. Flaubert

4 hours ago, Colin B. Flaubert said:

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/japan-counts-cost-of-the-games-we-all-needed-20210806-p58gh7.html
 

I thought about posting this in the Olympic thread, but I felt I should respect the spirit that thread was started in and of those participating. No one has any ill will there and need not be upbraided.

The country I call home has almost skated through this Bradbury like since this started, but the mixed messaging brought about by holding these Games (as well as the greater number of public holidays than usual) is leading to a disaster.

We’ve been lucky in that the nature of Japanese society lends itself to acquiescence to authority and hierarchy. Hence, when people have been told to wear masks and stay home, they’ve done so willingly. It’s never been a culture war issue.

That said, this can also have the reverse effect in this case. Once people get an indication that something is OK to do, they’ll do it with absolute relish.

A good example is that while possessing marijuana will see you cop a 5 year jail sentence, magic mushroom consumption was legal for many years due to a loophole in the local laws (despite their side effects being way rougher than smoking some reefer). There was a wave of bored housewives passing out from them for a period from the seventies onwards (until they were finally banned in 2002). This is also the only place I know of where eating/drinking while walking is deemed poor manners but reading a porn magazine on a train is kosher.

Sadly, Japan very rarely politically sanction the grim faced cadre of elderly company executives masquerading as a political party known as the LDP, so where genuine accountability for the upcoming human disaster coming over the horizon is yet to be determined.

Not that it's my preference but I could quite easily mount a stronger argument that the AFL & NRL seasons should have been called off

Needless to say the risks taken by having any sport at all during Covid are all questionable

This thread should be in the general discussion area of the site anyway

Edited August 7, 20213 yr by Macca

42 minutes ago, Macca said:

I could quite easily mount a stronger argument that the AFL & NRL seasons should have been called off ... but my reasoning would be completely wasted here so I won't bother

Needless to say the risks taken by having any sport at all during Covid are all questionable.  So let's not do anything at all (?)

This thread should be in the general discussion area of the site anyway

Happy to move it (please do so mods if you feel this is the case).

The issues here boil down to a couple of things, and they are particular to here.

Thus far (though we still need to wait until everyone has gone home) there have been no outbreaks linked to the village. For that we are thankful.

However, why it has been a slow rolling disaster boils down to two factors. The first, as has been mentioned, is the extremely conflicting messaging coming from the government. The second is the government of Japan, and how GDP and the defense of private property rights and the economy is the only metric the government judges itself on.

There has never been a comprehensive attempt to get this under control here. We’ve had ‘voluntary shutdowns’ and ‘advisories’ up until now; basic guidelines that aren’t legally enforceable. The messaging with the Olympics has been that we need be careful, but not so careful that we keep the country closed to the extent that we can’t have a good 10k plus people come in for a 2 week sporting tournament.

We now have 15k daily cases, and they are suggesting that the Tokyo metro region alone is looking at recording that by mid August.

Another factor we have to consider here is population density. It’s been a minor miracle considering our age demographics (by 2050, they are predicting that our population could halve unless some type of corrective action is taken, so badly is Japan aging) that there hasn’t been a worse death toll. With a population of 122 million (and a population in Kanto: an area bigger than the entirety of Australia in an area the size of Sydney) , when we were seeing 700 cases a day (with restrictions on testing) that wasn’t bad all things considered. With where we are now, I’m genuinely concerned our health care system will collapse. 

While India, the USA and Brazil differ in terms of affluence, demographics, infrastructure and geography, they are also glaring examples of how messaging  about COVID is paramount. If it fails, then we get mass outbreaks. All of those nations have had leaders who took things lightly and they have witnessed horrific human tolls. 

Team this up with our sclerotic vaccine roll out, and this should have been delayed at best or cancelled at worst.
 

 

Edited August 7, 20213 yr by Colin B. Flaubert
Government not hovering