TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared a monthlong state of emergency for Tokyo and six other prefectures on Tuesday to ramp up defenses against the spread of the coronavirus as the number of infections surges.
But the move came in the form of a stay-at-home request — not an order — and violators will not be penalized.
Abe is following/aping his BFF from Mar-a-lago…BUT at least Abe is wearing a mask unlike someone we know who said he will NOT wear mask!
Right now, I’m counting on some kind of inherent empathy on the part of my fellow citizens because it sure as fuck isnt coming form Trump.
Poor Prime Minister Abe… sitting at his Resolute Desk without a single king, queen, prince or dictator beside him. Ditch the mask, man. Your popularity will soar, your Twitter likes will be through the roof, and all the cool world leaders will flock to your side.
And they’ve fucked this up already. A week ago, Aichi Prefecture, where Nagoya is (fourth largest city in Japan), had the second highest number of identified infections. Yet, Aichi and Osaka/Hyogo (second largest contiguous population) are not on the emergency list.
But the move came in the form of a stay-at-home request — not an order — and violators will not be penalized.
Though this is Japan, a country were even on normal times there is - actually not sure is it social pressure or more like that people could not even consider an alternative, of doing things in way that is considered right and proper. [Stayed there for a year and a bit more, so I think I know at least a little bit of what i am talking about]. Request in Japan may have the same effect that a binding order enforced by fairly plentiful amount of armed troops would have elsewhere.
Saw images from Kyoto last weekend and photographic evidence suggest otherwise - people we cheek-by-jowl on the bridge at Arashiyama for hana-mi. Spoke with my brother-in-law last night and while my elderly in-laws are confined to the house (Nagoya suburb), and the family business has been placed on split AM/PM work shifts, there is little to suggest that this is otherwise being taken seriously on a national scale. Or if it is, the powers-that-be just don’t want to shut down the economy to the extent that we have here.
That was before the declaration though. Well, we’ll see.
