SNA (Tokyo) — The following stories were reported in the last half of February 2020 by the Shingetsu News Agency.

Rolling Coverage: Covid-19

—WHO executive Michael Ryan: “We need to balance the health and welfare of the people on that ship from many nationalities, against the obvious need to prevent any further spread within the Japanese community… I hope Japanese authorities will find the right balance.”

—One of the positive effects of the morbid fear of plague is that it’s forcing companies to think more carefully about letting people work from home, taking pressure off of public transport and probably increasing worker productivity. The technology for it is already here.

—Health Ministry admits that in some of the recent cases of Covid-19 they are unable to trace the route of infection, strongly suggesting that it’s only a matter of time before containment policies will be forced to shift to mitigation, as epidemiologists have predicted.

—Asahi Shinbun on Diamond Princess affair: “The government deserves to be criticized for adopting a misguided policy of not allowing suspected patients to enter Japan. This caused delays in responding properly to the situation on board the ship.”

—Canada will evacuate its citizens from the Diamond Princess “to lighten the burden on the Japanese health-care system.” Although some governments don’t want to say it directly, they’ve clearly lost faith in the Abe government’s handling of the matter.

—One of the few solid arguments in favor of the Shinzo Abe government is that at least it was competent and didn’t embarrass Japan on the international stage. But with Carlos Ghosn, Diamond Princess, etc., even the competence argument is starting to fall away.

—Evacuation of US citizens from the Diamond Princess not off to a great start as it turns out more than forty have already been infected by Covid-19. They will not be allowed to return to the United States at this time.

—Plans for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s April visit to Japan are going forward in spite of the possibility that the Covid-19 crisis may force a cancellation. Officials seem to be leaning toward keeping the visit as planned.

—International Civil Aviation Organization estimates that Japan could lose about US$1.3 billion in tourism revenues in the first quarter of 2020 due to the international flight restrictions associated with the Covid-19 outbreak.

—NTT to call on about 200,000 of its employees to work from home or use staggered hours as a measure to slow the spread of Covid-19. This will include more use video and teleconferencing.

—Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announces in the Diet that the government will begin running television commercials regarding the Covid-19 outbreak, ostensibly as an effort to transmit the “accurate information” which apparently he believes the news media is incapable of doing.

—Progressive political party Reiwa Shinsengumi petitions the Abe government to provide protection and economic support for workers who appropriately call in sick to work as a measure to slow the spread of the Covid-19 infection.

—The Holland America Line Westerdam cruise ship, earlier turned away from visiting Japan, now confirmed to have been carrying the Covid-19 infection, in spite of earlier assurances it did not. After landing in Cambodia, one passenger with a cough tested positive.

—Among the 300+ US citizens evacuated from the Diamond Princess, fourteen of them tested positive for Covid-19 infection, though they were asymptomatic. However, as they were already in transit when the tests came back, they were also evacuated with the others.

—The additional governments now preparing to evacuate their own citizens from the Diamond Princess are Canada, Hong Kong (including Macau), Australia, and Italy.

—The quarantine period for the Diamond Princess is set to end, but will the Abe government really let the passengers land? If one presumes that Covid-19 infections have been occurring since the quarantine started, there’s clearly a problem.

—Very telling is that all the governments evacuating their citizens from the Diamond Princess are imposing a further 14-day quarantine on the passengers once they reach their home countries. This shows how effective the foreign governments think the quarantine has been.

—Hong Kong is sending a team of about thirty officials to coordinate the evacuation of their people stranded aboard the Diamond Princess.

—Taxi drivers may be spreading Covid-19 infection around the Tokyo area. A New Years party for independent taxi drivers held on a river boat on January 18 appears to have been a venue for the spread of the infection to at least 11 people.

—The government of South Korea also decides to evacuate its citizens from the Diamond Princess. In their case they are deploying a presidential jet at the order of President Moon Jae-In.

—Abe Cabinet opts to pretend that Diamond Princess quarantine was a success and to begin releasing passengers from quarantine, with some exceptions.

—Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, again showing his desire to become a leading political modernizer, encourages his ministry bureaucrats to begin teleworking from home and use staggered hours in the office as a measure to slow the spread of Covid-19.

—About 500 mostly elderly passengers are being allowed to disembark from the Diamond Princess as the quarantine period comes to an end. With well over 500 other people confirmed infected, many observers doubt the Abe government contention this policy is safe.

—Let’s make this note now as a marker for coming developments: Every government evacuating its citizens from the Diamond Princess thinks two more weeks of quarantine off the ship is needed. Only the Abe government insists it isn’t necessary.

—Kentaro Iwata, an infectious diseases expert at Kobe University, says that infection control onboard the Diamond Princess was “completely inadequate” and “chaotic.” He says it was handled entirely unprofessionally with ignorant bureaucrats in charge.

—Shaun Bailey, a conservative candidate for this year’s London mayoral race, urges the International Olympic Committee to dump Tokyo as host for the 2020 Games because of the coronavirus issue, and bring the Olympics to London instead.

—US government makes explicit it doesn’t trust the Abe government’s Diamond Princess quarantine. US citizens released into Japan’s general population from the ship will not be allowed to return to their homes in the United States for two additional weeks.

—Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says people with cold-like symptoms shouldn’t go to work, and he urges more companies to embrace the “effective alternative” of teleworking. There’s no indication yet he’s planning any concrete government policies on the matter.

—With the news that two Diamond Princess passengers have died from Covid-19 infection, the Abe government’s mishandling of the cruise ship quarantine may have just gone from being a stupid policy to criminal negligence, especially if they did it for self-serving motives.

—Kentaro Iwata pulls his viral video because there’s “no need” to continue discussing the failed quarantine of the Diamond Princess. In 24 hours, he was pressured to turn 180 degrees. He has been under attack from rightwingers and maybe the regime.

—National Institute of Infectious Diseases releases report interpreted as broadly supporting the Abe government contention that most of the Diamond Princess Covid-19 infection occurred before the quarantine began.

—An interesting side effect of the Covid-19 infection fears is that they appear to have reduced seasonal influenza infection by more than half in Japan. This is because people are taking much greater care to protect themselves from infection.

—Mainichi Shinbun: Fukuoka City Subway suffered a brief delay this week when a man who was not wearing a face mask coughed. This apparently annoyed another man who was wearing a mask out of Covid-19 infection fears, and he hit the train’s emergency button.

—Lost in Translation: First with the Ghosn Escape and now Diamond Princess, the Abe government suddenly finding a desire to communicate with the outside world amid criticism, and discovering they have no system to translate their views into English… in the year 2020.

—US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issues a travel advisory for Japan over the Covid-19 threat, warning Americans to “practice usual precautions” in Japan.

—After Russia’s introduction of a ban on Chinese visitors due to Covid-19, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova says Russia could introduce the same restrictions on Japanese. She says that such a decision would be based on medical advice and would not be political.

—Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Katsunobu Kato asks the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) to ask its member companies to begin promoting teleworking and the use of staggered hours as a measure to slow the spread of Covid-19.

—NHK: Bureaucrats aren’t subject to Covid-19 infection testing. The 90+ Health Ministry officials who boarded the Diamond Princess to order people around were then excluded from infection screening as they left the ship.

—Tokyo Olympic organizers delay by two or more months training sessions for the roughly 80,000 citizen volunteers. This is the first clear-cut policy impact of Covid-19 on the 2020 Olympics.

—“Journalist” Kaori Arimoto argues that the real mistake the Abe government made with Diamond Princess was to do anything for the passengers of such a pleasure boat: “There was never any reason Japan should have helped them,” she says.

—In the most predictable of predictable events, a passenger who completed her quarantine period on the Diamond Princess and allowed to return back to Japan’s general population has now tested positive for Covid-19. It’s a woman in her 60s in Tochigi Prefecture.

—US Centers for Disease Control upgrades its travel advisory to Level 2 for Japan over the Covid-19 threat, warning Americans to “practice enhanced precautions” in Japan.

—The Abe government is leaking to the Japanese media that it was the US government that asked Japan to carry out the quarantine on board the Diamond Princess, suggesting that the Trump government had opposed a Japanese plan to move the US passengers to Yokota Air Base.

—Health Minister Katsunobu Kato admits that 23 passengers were released from the Diamond Princess cruise ship at the end of the quarantine period without having taken any tests for Covid-19 infection due to “procedural mistakes.”

—They were warned! Japan Communist Party lawmaker Tomoko Tamura pounded government officials in April 2019, warning Japan’s defenses against infectious diseases are underfunded, and this threatened national security and the Olympics.

—Prime Minister Shinzo Abe instructs his government to swiftly draw up a basic policy to combat Covid-19, apparently grasping the idea that he should do so only this weekend. Abe’s slow-witted behavior is kind of mysterious.

—Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Katsunobu Kato backtracking on Diamond Princess quarantine, formerly telling Diet there’s no problem for former passengers to use public transportation, and now asking them to avoid public transportation.

—Israel has banned the entry of all travelers from Japan and South Korea over Covid-19 infection fears. Anyone who has travelled to Japan or South Korea within 14 days also banned. This seems to be the first such travel ban imposed on Japanese over Covid-19.

—Public awareness is spreading that the Japanese government is very poorly equipped to handle any sort disease outbreak such as Covid-19. The basic institutional structures have not been developed in spite of numerous warnings. Bureaucracy has trumped practical expertise.

—Health Minister Katsunobu Kato says it’s “too early” to talk about cancelling the Tokyo Olympics over the Covid-19 threat.

—Abe government’s hastily compiled basic policy on Covid-19 calls for efforts to slow the spread of the infection as much as possible so as to prevent a general epidemic and to give medical institutions more time to prepare for an increase in patients.

—Minister of Health Katsunobu Kato reveals that no fewer than 28 former passengers of the Diamond Princess have developed fevers and other symptoms after being released back into the general population. It’s not yet clear how many of these actually have Covid-19 infection.

—J-League soccer executives announce that they will postpone all official matches scheduled until March 15 as a measure to slow the spread of Covid-19.

—The Abe government says that the next two weeks will be critical in determining whether or not Covid-19 infection spins out of control in Japan. It says people who have mild fevers or cold-like symptoms should just stay home, not infect coworkers and not burden hospitals.

—Fujimiso Hotel in Gamagori city, Aichi, becomes first-known business in Japan to file for bankruptcy, citing the impact of the Covid-19 coronavirus. The hotel depended heavily on inbound travelers from China.

—International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound says that if the coronavirus situation doesn’t improve in the next two or three months, the most likely result is a cancellation of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

—Abe government reportedly preparing to ban entry to Japan from anyone who recently visited Daegu city or its neighboring county of Cheongdo in South Korea’s North Gyeongsang Province as a measure to slow the spread of Covid-19 in Japan.

—Dentsu to allow about 5,000 of its employees to begin teleworking after one employee at its Shiodome headquarters building is confirmed to have been infected by Covid-19.

—There are many hospitals in Japan refusing to treat people they suspect of carrying the Covid-19 infection, telling them to go to other hospitals. Many staff don’t know how to identify Covid-19 patients, and the Abe government hasn’t communicated effectively.

—Prime Minister Shinzo Abe asks that all sporting and cultural events be cancelled across the nation as a measure to slow the spread of Covid-19 infection during this crucial period.

—Reiwa Shinsengumi proposes that the National Diet should suspend its operations as a measure to slow the spread of Covid-19 infection.

—General Secretary of Russian Boxing Federation Umar Kremlev proposes that the Olympics be moved from Japan to Russia due to the coronavirus. “Russia is, of course, the only country that can quickly organize them and has all the conditions.”

—Tokyo Organising Committee CEO Toshiro Muto says the plan is still to go forward with the Tokyo 2020 Olympics despite Covid-19 concerns, and he rejects IOC member Dick Pound’s view that there is a time limit to make a decision.

—Within Japan, Hokkaido is reporting a large number of new Covid-19 infections. Hokkaido Governor Naomichi Suzuki asks all public schools to close until March 4 as a measure to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

—The national deadline for filing personal income taxes in Japan has been extended from March 16 to April 16, due to the impact of the Covid-19 issue.

—Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to request all elementary, junior high, and high schools across Japan to close temporarily, as a measure to slow the spread of Covid-19 infection. The closure to begin from March 2.

—US President Donald Trump on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics: “They’ve spent billions of dollars building one of the most beautiful venues I’ve ever seen. And your prime minister is very proud of it. I hope it’s going to be fine.”

—International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach says that his organization “is fully committed to a successful Olympic Games in Tokyo starting July 24.”

—Prime Minister Shinzo Abe being hit from many sides over his unexpected announcement that all schools should be shut down, which appears to have been a panicked response to poll results which abruptly reversed policies that had just been set.

—Education Ministry bureaucrats now leaking viciously to the Japanese media with quotes like, “Who will take care of the younger elementary school students? Junior high students would not just sit at home all day… school closure cannot possibly be an option.”

—Chiba Mayor Toshihito Kumagai blasts the prime minister’s policy: “This is shocking news. All schools to be closed nationwide until spring vacation. What about the working parents who support society, such as healthcare professionals? This could lead to social collapse.”

—Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea announce a temporary closure in response to Covid-19 infection concerns. The theme parks will be closed at least until March 15, and they will evaluate whether or not to reopen on March 16.

—Hokkaido Governor Naomichi Suzuki declares a state of emergency over Covid-19 infection: “In order to protect yourself and your loved ones, please refrain from going outside this weekend,” he appeals.

—CNN reports that the Trump administration may be preparing travel restrictions on people from Japan and South Korea as a measure to combat Covid-19 infection.

—Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso expresses confidence that the Covid-19 crisis will soon be overcome: “It will calm down in April or May.” Ruling party officials are now hoping that warmer weather will reduce infection and save the 2020 Olympics, though worries are growing.

—Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announces in a national address that his government is compiling an emergency financial package worth over ¥270 billion (US$2.5 billion) for Covid-19 countermeasures, which will be ready in around ten days.

Rolling Coverage: Abe Government Scandals

—Osaka District Court hands former Moritomo Gakuen owner Yasunori Kagoike a five-year prison sentence. He vows to appeal it all the way to the Supreme Court. Junko Kagoike given a suspended sentence. His Abe government and Finance Ministry co-conspirators were never charged.

—Both Nissan and Renault are increasingly in deep trouble, largely attributable to the coup against Carlos Ghosn. Their financials are plummeting and they have no credible strategy or vision to turn things around. They continue to blame Ghosn, but it’s really about them. The whole Nissan-Renault debacle is deeply related to the stupidity of nationalism. In business terms, as Ghosn understood, they needed each other. Nationalists on both sides, but especially Japan, fixated on losing control and the “national interest.” The Golden Goose is dying.

—The opposition caught Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in contradictions in his Diet testimony over the cherry blossom scandal, with the ANA hotel possibly being threatened by the prime minister’s minions. Cornered, Abe demands: “If you say I lied, you should prove it.”

—In the wake of Ghosn Escape, Justice Minister Masako Mori proposes legal “reforms” that are about what most observers expected: They want harsher punishments for bail jumping and use of GPS tracking for some suspects out on bail.

—Justice Minister Masako Mori claims a right to change longstanding interpretations of the law based simply on her “verbal decisions.” In other words, precedents now matter less than the current political priorities of an Abe government effectively unbound by the law.

—Opposition parties mull submitting a “No Confidence” motion against Justice Minister Masako Mori over her defense of the illegal Abe government decision to suspend the mandatory retirement of prosecutor Hiromu Kurokawa, who is favored by the regime.

—AFP: Justice Ministry sending high-level official to Lebanon to give them “a correct understanding” of Japan’s legal system and appeal for Carlos Ghosn to be sent back to Japan. Reform of the hostage justice system isn’t needed; only a “correction” of international views.

—Financial Services Agency fines Nissan Motor ¥2.42 billion (US$22 million) in fines for underreporting its payments to former Chairman Carlos Ghosn and other company executives. This is the second-highest fine the FSA has ever mandated.

Politics

—Yokohama Midori Ward Office admits it cancelled a human rights lecture out of concern that one speaker had an affiliation to the Japan Communist Party. They have apologized after it was pointed that they were violating the Constitution’s protections on political freedom.

—Japan Communist Party leader Kazuo Shii proactively seeks meeting with CDPJ leader Yukio Edano to explain why his party’s views on the Emperor System, etc., should not be an obstacle to political alliance. Shii says the JCP is “in no hurry” and is seeking popular consensus.

—Social Democratic Party also backing away from merger plan with Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. More than seven years into the Abe Era, the political opposition (other than the Japan Communist Party) is unable to make basic decisions or present any coherent strategies.

—Mizuho Fukushima has been elected to return as leader of the Social Democratic Party. She served in the same post from 2003-2013, and was briefly a minister in the Yukio Hatoyama government. She is said to be cautious about any merger with other political parties.

—Back to the drawing board. It seems that the opposition party mergers that have been negotiated over the past months have all quietly failed, and at present no such mergers are really on the cards.

—Japanese Millennials, who have been largely characterized by a political apathy, or perhaps fearfulness, quite unlike their peers in many other developed nations, seem to be finding one issue that they don’t like at all: Moves to raise tuition fees at national universities.

—Public opinion polls have been showing a sharp drop in approval for the Abe Cabinet, mostly due to its poor leadership regarding the Covid-19 issue, but perhaps also due to plummeting economic performance as well.

—The record-high FY2020 ¥102.66 trillion (US$942 billion) national budget passes the House of Representatives.

International

—Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi calls on Iran to return to the terms of 2015 Iran nuclear deal, but makes no such call to the United States, which is the party that ripped up the international accord.

—MSDF destroyer Takanami has begun its “information-gathering” mission in the Gulf of Oman.

—It seems Russia finds it easier to deal with Toshimitsu Motegi than with Taro Kono. A Russian government source says, “Motegi can have a more practical discussion than Kono.” Kono is thought to have stuck closely to Japanese principles, while Motegi is focused on finding a compromise.

—Pew survey finds 25% of Japanese have favorable opinion of Russia, but there is an age divide: “half of those ages 18 to 29 have a favorable opinion of Russia, compared with only 16% of those ages 50 and older.” 68% of Japanese have no confidence in Putin.

—Meeting with the working group on constitutional revision, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed full support for a clause to ban territorial concessions. However, in possible consideration of Japan, he did say that this should not hinder work on border demarcation.

—California State Assembly set to approve a formal apology over the unconstitutional internment of ethnic Japanese during the Pacific War, one of the worst decisions of the FDR Era.

—Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has invited US President Donald Trump to attend the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Trump says he will try to make the time if he can.

—Japan and Australia are negotiating a Reciprocal Access Agreement (Status of Forces Agreement) which make it easier for the two countries’ militaries to be deployed into the others’ territory. Currently, Japan has SOFAs only with the United States and the United Nations.

Economy

—Japan’s GDP reportedly dropped by a 1.6% rate in the last quarter of 2019, the second-worst quarter in the Shinzo Abe Era. Those two big declines were both preceded by similar events: hiking the rate of the national consumption tax.

—Japan is likely in the midst of a deep economic recession. With GDP plummeting an annualized -6.3% in the last quarter of 2019, based on the consumption tax hike, and now the disruption of Covid-19, this is almost certainly the worst period in many years.

—Stock Markets: So far in 2020 the Dow Jones Industrial Average has declined from 28,868 to 25,766 (down 10.7%); and the Nikkei from 23,204 to 21,142 (down 8.9%). On Thursday the Dow suffered its largest single-day point loss in history. Covid-19 fears are the biggest factor.

—TEPCO says that a lack of special plastic overcoats related to supply disruptions from China means that those working to contain radiation at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant may soon begin to be forced to wear ordinary plastic raincoats as a substitute.

—EasyCard, the most widely used stored value card in Taiwan, signs an agreement with Bank of the Ryukyus to launch EasyCard payment services in Japan. Initially, it will be valid at about 4,000 stores in Japan.

—Battle between the Fair Trade Commission and Rakuten is heating up as the FTC is seeking a court order to force Rakuten to suspend its plan to make retailers pay the cost of free shipping to online customers. The FTC believes this could be an unfair trade practice.

GreenTech

—Finance Minister Taro Aso slams the brakes on moves toward digital currency, suggesting that it remains too vulnerable to risks such as money laundering. Aso says that a clearer international regulatory framework should be a prerequisite for China’s digital yuan.

—Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi to enter talks with the Finance Ministry and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to review export conditions for coal-fired power plants. This is an attempt to address international criticism of the Abe government’s climate policies.

—Fujitsu has announced that it was granted Japan’s first private 5G radio station provisional license by the Kanto Bureau of Telecommunications.

—Vietnam has decided to scale back construction of coal-fired power plants from a planned 50% of electricity generation by 2025 to 37%. The Abe government and Japanese banks are one the main enablers of coal power in Vietnam, damaging global climate efforts against CO2.

—Verisk Maplecroft, a risk advisory firm, finds that Asian cities at particularly high risk from rising sea levels, especially Guangzhou, Dongguan, Tokyo, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City, and Shanghai. Abe government’s weak climate policies may help put parts of Tokyo under water.

Society

—Jiji Press poll finds that most Japanese have no interest in physically attending any Tokyo 2020 Olympic events. A combined 36.7% either say they definitely (9.2%) or maybe (27.4%) want to show up in person. The Olympics, too, may struggle in the digital age.

—Chitetsu Watanabe, recognized less than two weeks ago as the world’s oldest man, has died at age 112.

—Fourteen plaintiffs sue Japan in the Tokyo District Court over allegedly having a double standard when it comes to child abductions by one parent. They argue that Japan’s practices violate both the Constitution and Japan’s commitments under the Hague Abduction Convention.

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