Japan Covid-19 daily infections hit over 1,000: Tourism and psychological war
Kanako Mita and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
New infections of coronavirus (Covid-19) in Japan broke the daily number of 1,000 for the first time. This is despite the coronavirus entering Japan in the middle of January.
Alarmingly, the prefectures of Aichi, Okinawa, and Osaka reached new highs. Indeed, with U.S. military personnel not being included in Okinawa – and the increase coinciding with the outbreak among the armed forces of America – then this will further create tensions.
New infections of significance include Tokyo 250, Osaka 221, and Aichi with 160. Okinawa also reached a new high of 44. For Tokyo, the figure isn’t so dramatic in recent times because higher numbers of daily infections have occurred. However, Osaka broke 200 for the first time and Aichi reached a new high.
Amazingly, despite new infections increasing prior to the central government focus on a tourism drive, the government actually brought forward to July 22. Therefore, with new high infections being recorded in several prefectures in the last few days – and even remote Sado Island recording its first-ever case – then this is embarrassing for the government.
On July 12, the Modern Tokyo Times warned about the Japanese government “playing dice.” Similarly, the Modern Tokyo Times warned about the need to close the sex entertainment districts and nightlife before the “virus got out of the bag.” However, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike both “played dice.”
Modern Tokyo Times said, “Hence, for the 34 prefectures that escaped the worse, the fear is that outsiders might spread the coronavirus unintentionally. For many, it is a risk too far. Thus it appears that the central government is playing dice by solely focusing on economics.”
Sadly, the losers are ordinary Japanese people – especially workers in areas hit hardest including Tokyo, Osaka, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Chiba – because the psychological impact is enormous. It is true that the death toll remains relatively low when compared with events in Europe, North America, and South America.
Yet, it should be remembered that hikikomori (social withdrawal form society), suicide, work pressure, transportation systems that are jammed-packed, heatstroke in the summer, typhoons, and other negative forces, already equates to enormous stress.
Equally important, for pooper waged people and individuals on contracts, the welfare system isn’t adequate in protecting people on benefits and free housing compared with many European nations. Therefore, the economic and psychological angles happen to be enormous for many hard-working people and individuals who are struggling financially.
https://stopcovid19.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/ – Tokyo Metropolitan Government website for updates about the coronavirus crisis in Tokyo.
https://toyokeizai.net/sp/visual/tko/covid19/en.html – Japan and Tokyo Covid-19 news with more analysis
https://covid19japan.com/ – Japan regional coronavirus statistics
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ World coronavirus statistics
PLEASE DONATE TO HELP MODERN TOKYO TIMES
Modern Tokyo News is part of the Modern Tokyo Times group
DONATIONS to SUPPORT MODERN TOKYO TIMES – please pay PayPal and DONATE to sawakoart@gmail.com
http://moderntokyotimes.com Modern Tokyo Times – International News and Japan News
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/moderntokyotimes/ Modern Tokyo Times is now on PINTEREST
http://sawakoart.com – Sawako Utsumi personal website and Modern Tokyo Times artist
https://moderntokyonews.com Modern Tokyo News – Tokyo News and International News
PLEASE JOIN ON TWITTER
https://twitter.com/MTT_News Modern Tokyo Times
PLEASE JOIN ON FACEBOOK
https://www.facebook.com/moderntokyotimes