The mystery of Japan's disappearing COVID crisis

HotAir ^ | October 18, 2021 | Jazz Shaw

[FryingPan101]

Most of the coverage we provided during Japan’s bungled turn hosting the Olympics this summer dealt with the nation’s spiraling COVID infection rates and lagging mass vaccination efforts. But while they limited the in-person attendance of the actual games, the lockdowns and restrictions the government imposed were fairly mild. People were still allowed to go out to bars and restaurants, albeit with modest capacity limits and the streets were far from empty. The Associated Press described the measures as a series of “relatively toothless states of emergency.” That makes this week’s news all the more puzzling to some medical professionals. The COVID crisis across Japan, and particularly in Tokyo, has all but evaporated. In less than two months, Tokyo has gone from reporting more than 6,000 new cases per day to less than 100 this week. And not even the government can explain why.

[Freedom56v2]

Brutal but spot-on ;)

[BeauBo]

Dense Pack Japan: Petri dish for COVID spread.

[Reily]

Bingo ! The best answer !

[joshua c]

i remember the health minister saying they were going with ivermectin then never heard another thing about it.

[sushiman]

“SUSHI - food of the gods.”

I love you - in a non-sexual way ! Best from Kumamoto !

[sushiman]

“Bread is sold in short little loaves of 4 thick to 8 thin slices, no crusts or ends.”

Bread without crust is available but most bread has crust or ends . And a lot of “ sweet “ bread / rolls are sold here . Japanese love sweets .

[Fury]

Re: 44 - No Ivermectin yet distributed to households in Japan. Just two masks to each household? by Abe last year.

[katana]

Interesting. I probably should have written "citizenship" rather than permanent residency as a foreigner. But perhaps even that has become more feasible. And I meant no mass immigration of foreigners disinterested in assimilating, as is happening in Europe and here, would ever be permitted.

My language and cultural instruction in graduate school, intended to equip us to do business in Japan, emphasized how different their "way of thinking" (Nihon-no kangai katawa totemo chigaimas) is from ours, or really any one else's. A foreigner, gaikokujin, will always be such. But useful and respected (and respectful) "strange" (henna-gaikokujin foreigners who can adapt and more or less assimilate were welcome even in my day.

[Wayne07]

Singapore is at 90% vaccinated, and is in the middle of a huge spike.

Singapore has 239 covid deaths for the whole pandemic. The death rate in the US is 50x as high as Singapore. Vaccines aren't perfect, but Singapore is a success story.

[Vigilanteman]

When were you in Japan? How long did you work there?

Japan does have a naturalization process if you really want citizenship. But, other than voting, holding public office and competing at the highest levels of Sumo wrestling, it confers no advantages that permanent residency does not.

The result is that almost all of the naturalized citizens are originally from Korea or China. Westerners are unlikely to want to renounce their ties to the home country, so it is mainly a matter of choice, not any legal discrimination on the part of the Japanese.

There was a notable exception when I lived there. I do not recall the guy's name, but he was a Finn, much beloved by his local community for his work on economic revitalization that he was urged to run for an open seat in the Diet. The only way he could serve was to take citizenship.

The Sumo citizens are far more common though I think they have relaxed those rules considerably as well. It used to be only the Hawaii/Polynesian guys who changed citizenship to compete, but now I see them from many other places as well.

[Vigilanteman]

See my post #36. I think she can get an exception if she has someone meet her at the airport who will drive her to the destination and also agree to quarantine.

Does her mother have a retired relative who could do that?

[katana]

Only traveled there for business, starting in 1982 and the last time in 2014. Graduate business school (AGSIM, aka “Thunderbird”) foci were Marketing and Japanese as the required language proficiency. But traveled and did business practically everywhere, over sixty countries when I finally counted it all up. So I have no direct experience with their immigration processes for permanent residency. Only understand it to be extremely selective, and I have been very interested in hearing your perspective.

[hanamizu]

Does her mother have a retired relative who could do that?

---

She has a brother in Tokyo and one in Kochi, but her mother lives in a small village on Shikoku and of course she has to fly into Tokyo. She’s pretty clever so I imagine she’s already asked the Tokyo brother.

[Steve_Seattle]

"Singapore has 239 covid deaths for the whole pandemic. The death rate in the US is 50x as high as Singapore. Vaccines aren't perfect, but Singapore is a success story."

Belated reply: Singapore had very few cases prior to the vaccines. Last October, they basically had no new cases the whole month; this October, they are averaging 2,500-3,000 new cases a day. Pre-vaccine, they had about 30-35 deaths; post vaccine, they've had about 200.

Singapore probably has a much healthier population than the US, with far less obesity, diabetes, and the other co-morbidities that contribute to most "Covid deaths." They probably have a healthier diet with more of the types of vitamins and healthy fats (e.g., Omegas) that seem to help ward-off Covid.

[Mr Rogers]

The average Japanese man is 5’7 1/2” and 138 lbs. Average American man is 5’10” and 196 lbs. We’re 2.5 inches taller, on average. 60 lbs heavier. And no, we’re not a nation of ripped bodybuilders!

FWIW, during WW2, the average US soldier was 5’7 & 140 lbs.

[cookcounty]

The “iodine” is interesting. Not only Sweden, but Norway, Denmark and Finland have lifted all restrictions, Covid has virtually disappeared. They inject a lot of fish.

[Uber-Eng]

Fury: “Re: 44 - No Ivermectin yet distributed to households in Japan. Just two masks to each household? by Abe last year.”

I ran across this on https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4004828/posts?q=1&;page=251

“— Japan once again proving that COVID and the vaccine are bogus
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/10/update-likely-reason-japans-covid-numbers-way-since-september-started-using-ivermectin-time/
“

Sounds like Japan may have noticed the work done by (state of?) Uttar Pradesh in India. 230 million people, and the government distributed essentially “med kits” with quick test for COVID(SARS-2), Ivermectin and a few other items. They quickly determine if it’s early COVID, administer the drugs, and have a death rate now way lower than a lot of other countries.

https://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3999784/posts?page=39

[Fury]

Japan has a vaccination rate of 67% fully vaccinated - see https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/10/20/business/tokyo-restaurants/

They certainly have some things going for them. America is a nation of fatties, Japan not so much. Also some different dietary habits.

I still wonder if some Asiatic people’s have genotypes that may be more resistant to SARS-CoV-2.