It may lack the juiciness of the U.K.’s Lockdown Files, but leaks from central Government are giving us here in Japan a glimpse of what went on behind the scenes during the last three years, and it is all rather interesting. The Pravda-like Japan Times has, for once, published an almost readable piece full of interesting snippets about the tensions that existed and power struggles that were played out during our various phases of restrictions. The key takeaway, for me, is that it is not at all clear whether any of the three Prime Ministers who were in office believed in the measures they imposed on us and in some cases were acting in bad faith. Were we just used? It looks like it.
The incumbent PM when the Diamond Princess was in dock at Yokohama in February 2020 and when the first action was taken was the late Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest serving PM who was assassinated last summer. From the leaks, it seems that his priority was to get emergency legislation through that would have allowed Japan’s U.S.-imposed constitution to be bypassed, allowing all kinds of draconian impositions. Abe’s lifetime goal was to revise the pacifist constitution, so his appetite for emergency laws and additional powers sounds alarm bells.
Abe seems to have at least considered vaccine mandates and forced closures of businesses and he worked with the opposition to bring this about – it was around this dismal time that I and another jab refusenik were talking seriously of disappearing into the countryside. But in the end Abe didn’t quite manage it, perhaps because he was mired in scandal and didn’t wield the necessary authority. Firefighting on numerous fronts he resigned, officially due to ill-health, in August 2020.
To be replaced by his Chief of Staff Yoshihide Suga. Suga, known as ‘Abe’s brain’, was a shadowy backroom figure with little charisma and zero media skills. It is fashionable to write Suga off as a complete dud, and with his permanent scowl, salaryman’s comb over and beaten-up suits he did recall one of Harry Enfield’s ‘Old Gits’, but I’ve always had a bit of sympathy for him. He was given a complete hospital pass of an appointment with Covid and the looming Covid-threatened Olympics on his plate. He made no attempt to be likeable or popular – he rather endearingly appeared to fall asleep during the closing ceremony.
I like him even more now as, from the leaks, it appears he was extremely reluctant to impose a state of emergency or to ban spectators from the Olympics and only did so when forced to by others. Whether he was a true Covid sceptic is unclear, but he certainly seemed to realise the dangers of precipitous action. He was apparently sidelined in the school closures programme and had nothing to do with ‘Abenomasks’ (a farcical distribution of low-quality face masks to every citizen) presumably because he supported neither. As PM he introduced a travel programme (‘GoTo Travel’) aimed at getting people moving around the country again. He gave a eulogy to Abe at his funeral and in his list of his predecessor’s achievements said nothing about Covid. It sounds like he did his best.
For which he got no thanks, of course. He acquired a reputation as a procrastinator and was mercilessly criticised for not acting decisively to protect the people from the deadly virus. In the event, the fan-free Olympics was actually a success, but Suga was pushed out anyway. He was blamed for a bed shortage precipitated by the surge in infections, but how real that was is an open question. As a frequent hospital attendee (non-Covid) throughout that period I saw no evidence of stretched resources, though on my last visit I did see disclaimers posted prominently on the walls informing people that they took the vaccine at their own risk. And it’s worth noting that hospital Covid support payments for a secured ICU bed (regardless of whether it is used or not) can run to 3,000 dollars.
Suga’s replacement was Fumio Kishida, a mild-mannered banker supposed to be on the Left of his party. Part of his push for the top job involved the setting up of a new agency for infectious disease management. God knows what it does. Almost as soon as he got the job he closed the border at the first whiff of Omicron so securely that even fully-jabbed nationals couldn’t get in (he had to quickly amend the rules).
He has delayed reopening Japan fully seemingly for as long as possible, conveniently beyond upper house elections. And he was apparently considering allowing restaurants and bars to refuse entry to people without face masks. The Japan Times implies that these were all popular strategic moves to “exploit criticisms against COVID-19 policy failures under Abe and Suga”. In other words, it was all just politics.
In other developments, finally on April 30th all Covid entry requirements were dropped, meaning anyone can hop on a plane and visit without either proof of vaccination or a negative PCR test. I’ve been waiting for this for so long it hardly feels like good news any more – I’m beyond that now. No one else was rejoicing either as the Japanese have been very supportive of the border restrictions and there have been grumbles about the number of foreigners milling about. In much the way the U.K. retains a fascination with the Victorian era, the Japanese still fetishise the Sakoku period of isolation (1639-1853), which forms the setting for most of NHK’s period dramas. Covid allowed a sort of return to those days which many seem to have enjoyed.
Which is not to say there is no resistance. We now have our own version of Andrew Bridgen, sort of. His name is Kazuhiro Haraguchi and he is currently a lower house MP for the opposition CDP and a former minister. He announced on Twitter that after a third dose of the vaccine he immediately fell ill and was shortly after diagnosed with a malignant lymphoma. He has gone through chemo, which cost him his hair, but is apparently recovering. The thing is, you will only have heard about this if you either know the man personally, follow him on Twitter, or subscribe to the Substack of Guy Gin (‘gaijin’ means foreigner in Japanese). This excellent blogger has also reported the death of a one-year-old boy after receiving a vaccination last week and the scandal of the 30 billion dollars the Japanese Government has spent on 882 million vial of vaccines.
May 8th might be interesting. On that day Covid will finally be downgraded to a level 5 condition, on a par with seasonal flu. That ought to mean a grand unmasking with people ripping off their face coverings and dancing gaily in the streets. However, I doubt that will happen and expect many people to keep wearing face masks forever. I suggested to a Japanese friend that only an emotional appeal from the Emperor (“the cause of face masks has taken a turn not necessarily to our advantage” etc.) could induce people to remove them. “That wouldn’t work, they’d keep them on because they’d be afraid no one else would comply,” she said. It may be hopeless.
Throughout the last three years I have pondered which of my two countries was better (or less bad) to live in in terms of the Covid conditions imposed, which country better retained its collective sanity. For much of that time it was definitely Japan: businesses stayed open, there was no heavy-handed police response or campaign of psychological intimidation from behavioural science nutcases. Yes, travel was restricted, and the wretched masks were ubiquitous, but it wasn’t too awful.
But now, on balance, I’d rather be in the U.K. The persistence of the mask madness, the partitions and hand sanitisers that will seemingly never be removed, the public announcements that will never be silenced, and the near total lack of debate or even interest in what went on is even more depressing than the U.K. Even now NHK devote part of every news bulletin to a prefecture-by-prefecture recitation of the utterly meaningless case numbers and talk earnestly (excitedly?) of ninth, 10th, whatever, new waves of infections, and the need for eternal caution. Sixth jabs will be available from May 8th.
NHK has said precisely nothing about the excess deaths (up to 113,000 last year) we are experiencing, while the Japan Times and its Government stenographers ran one piece but placed the blame firmly on the long-term effects of Covid. Neither paid attention to the explosive contribution of respected physician and academic Masanori Fukushima or reported his suit against the Japanese Government for failing to reveal Covid death statistics.
Worst of all is my dread that unlike the U.K., where I think – I hope not naïvely – that a future Government would struggle to reimpose the restrictions of the last three years; in Japan I’m not sure this is true. My guess is that the people here would be perfectly happy to do it all again.
Philip Patrick is a freelance journalist based in Tokyo.
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It was good to see a non- distanced, non-masked crowd at the Edgbaston test.
No doubt there will be a massive death spike to follow in three weeks.
I’m due to die tomorrow, three weeks after the great London demo.
Funny that, I feel great.
Aah but that’s one of the symptoms !
But remember Annie, according to the MSM that march didn’t happen! Can’t blame a Covi increase on that, because that’d mean spilling the beans!
Alas, then, I’m playing into their nasty little hands by not getting ill!
It was good to see but I believe proof of vaccination was required as a trade off. Children who had tickets were denied entry as they haven’t been jabbed yet. Vaccine passports are coming one way or the other.
Odd then that the jab documentation says (and the studies the jab were approved on) makes no claims about lowering the spread of COVID, just that it MAY reduce symptoms if you catch it after 2 jabs…
As Children have the lowest risk of COVID problems it would be much better to exclude the fat and old.
I did wonder, Dave; it seemed too good to be true for Moronland.
Watching the French Open tennis semi final last night. Crucial point in the match and the french curfew was due to come into operation with the players being taken off the court so that the fans could be ushered out of the staduium. If the curfew had been adhered to some of those fans might have rioted. Telephone calls were made and the curfew magically didn’t apply to those fans on Court Phillipe Chatrier. If this was a genuine public health emergency that curfew would have had to be adhered to to the letter (bearing in mind the obvious issue that a curfew isn’t going to stop the spread of a very deadly disease). No doubt Paris will be braced for that death spike.
FULL LOCKDOWN COMING TO YOU ONCE HE’S SENT THE OLD FOLKS BACK TO AMERICA
Certainly by the autumn we will see another lockdown. They will blame it on either a new mutated strain, concerns of vaccine effectivity or simply the fact that the NHS is in such a bad way it will struggle to cope with a typical flu season. Remember this is all supposed to be for a virus which the government and their health advisors told us in March 2020 is a mild illness for most people (and has demonstrably been proven by the vast number of people who have made a full recovery)
and then of course what will exposure to flu do to the double jabbed? will they need to be hospitalised?
3 weeks to flatten the curve! come on – this time we mean it!
All we actually need is three bulldozers to flatten this government, and all the rest.
All these news are so depressingly predictable.
As if somebody, somewhere followed a script or something…
sorry, it’s just “The Science”; or both?
How long will it take before the vast majority of people have had enough of this nonsense
As long as they and their immediate and/or extended families are unaffected – very long indeed. A mix of laziness and plain cowardice.
the day of reckoning will have to come eventually though. The government cannot go on printing money forever. We are already starting to see inflation take off and the money taps are still wide open.
And it will not be pretty when it erupts – I can guarantee.
I remember queueing as a child for basic provisions in a long queue in front of an empty shop, because we knew (from a sympathetic source) that the delivery will be in the next few hours.
Oh, and the galloping annual inflation was around 150% or so if memory serves well. That is what living under dictatorship was.
But that’s exactly what this stinking Government wants.
And Biden wants them opened further
Their brains have been stuffed up their arseholes and they cant find it..
David Icke called this ‘scripted’ from the start…
Ahead of us by a year, David Icke is a good watch/read.
Let us go?
They never will.
But the walls of the prison exist only in the ruins of the zombie mind.
Just walk out,
So true. Everyone needs to just get on with their lives.
In the words of Miriam Carlin as Paddy in the Rag Trade: “EVERYBODY OUT!”
Wow, showing your age there Helena
Montezuma will continue to put off the day of reckoning by keeping us all locked up
Not just happening in Sport. The large Flying Legends Airshow planned for July bit the dust at the end of May after one of the Pig Dictator’s briefings.
“In the light of yesterday’s message (27.05.2021) from our Prime Minister, and the uncertainty surrounding the UK opening fully for business, it is with deep regret and a heavy heart that we must cancel this year’s event. We understand the government’s careful position but cannot safely stay the course in the light of the potential loss and lack of clarity so close to show time.
We sincerely apologise for the disappointing news but the circumstances are truly out of our control”
https://www.flyinglegends.com/flying-legends-2021-cancelled
I will be amazed if all restrictions are lifted on June 21st. My expectation is at best some meaningless tweaks but no practical change. This will continue indefinitely unless or until either a) the general population takes to the streets and starts disrupting infrastructure (blocking roads etc) or b) major businesses disobey government “guidance”. I think the latter is less likely than the former.
I will be amazed if restrictions are not increased on June 21st.
The blocking of roads is due to happen on the 21 June in London. Join ‘We Won’t Move’ on Telegram.
Two guests on Royal Caribbean cruise test positive. All guests were fully vaccinated. You couldn’t make this shit up
“You couldn’t make this shit up” – Oh you could – you definitely could!
Problem is the government and their cronies regularly do.
The problem is that people keep believing this…
It’s mass battered wife syndrome, the state means it this time, honest.
The beatings will continue until morale improves!
Many people are incapable of thinking critically. If Boris Johnson and his advisors stood in one of their briefings and said that the moon is made a cheese, pixies live at the bottom of the garden and that science has proven the tooth fairly does in fact exist 95% of the population would believe them and be found down the bottom of their gardens searching for pixies or pulling their teeth out in the hope of getting a few quid.
Probably just reverse transcriptase writing the RNA pseudo vaccine back into their DNA making them make spike protein forever.
P&O Cruises now have a ‘no jab’ – ‘no board’ policy. Oh and complimentary PCR testing whilst on board. Makes a change I guess from complimentary drinks!
Talk about a back-handed compliment!
Who would want a drink when you can have a PCR test!
Whatever you think about the vaccines, why would stupid b***ers on a cruise consent to tests if they’ve had vaccines?
It makes the stupid seaples feel saaaaaaafer.
why would anybody book a cruise at the moment – unless you are planning to throw yourself overboard- when the threat of a lockdown and travel ban at a moments notice hangs over us
Stop calling him Boris
He’s the Prime Minister of the UK, who has spent the last 15 using the organs of the state to wage war on the British People
He’s a traitor
May I just highlight another little point:
ruling by dictats and bypassing the parliament (not that they are of any use these days anyway) makes him a DICTATOR as well.
A textbook definition of one.
It’s funny how Western countries are using States of Emergency to rule by diktat in the same fashion as the dictatorships they used to berate for doing this very thing.
Precisely!
So it stands to reason then that Iraq or Iran or Syria (to name just a few) should send an army to invade us and their air forces to bomb all our major cities to the ground in a bid to ‘liberate’ us.
Absolutely. They should also start a search for the well known war criminal: certain Anthony Blair, but then that may be very tricky indeed, since nobody heard of the man since he left the world stage.
With respect, that’s not a little point. That the fat pig dictator has basically ignored parliament says it all. We should have been warned that he would do this when he prorogued parliament. As for our MPs, apart from certain brave individuals, they might as well go to hell, that’s all they are good for.
Just to be clear: I deliberately used “little”, but then you know it.
Ruling by dictat for more than a few months (even if we accept “the emergency”) laids their intentions very bare indeed.
That, in my opinion is the biggest point of all: a lack of even a shred of legitimacy.
yes, funny that, the MASSIVe MSM uproar when he prorogued parliament, for a few weeks, and then when he sidelines parliament in all but name for more than 15 months and…. nothing
He’s Kim Jong Johnson, Boris Corbyn, Jeremy Johnson etc….
I think you do Corbyn a discredit mentioning him above. At least he was honest about who he is and I suspect is actually a full blown lockdown sceptic like his brother.
Too long – make it kim jongson (they doesn’t deserve to be capitalised either).
Once again Johnson = cock, see the Big Lebowski, the Coen Bros. finest
I hate people calling this fucking fraud bastard “Boris”. That’s a stage name and Alexander De Piffel can go fuck himself with a traffic cone, sideways.
“It will now be a pleasant surprise if Boris comes out on Monday…”
No, it will be a pleasant surprise if FatFuck is arrested and thrown in jail on Monday for crimes against humanity.
There’s nothing pleasant about having him as PM, whatever he says or does.
Yes, there is nothing pleasant about the great fat communist turd.
We have the Euro championships starting this weekend with the govt ensuring that the games at Wembley will not be subject to any additional covid restrictions and this will be going on for approx. a month. Meanwhile at Edgbaston there is a test match happening (as Rick below mentions) in which there are no visible signs of any restrictions beyond a small fan reduction.
And the govt plan telling the country that they must lockdown for an extra month while all this continues? Good luck with that±
For whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad….
And yet the cult followers will refuse to connect the dots, despite the lies and all the inconsistencies and contradictions in plain sight.
Way back in wintertime, the time for colds and flu, the players in the 6 nations in scrums, playing,grasping, all were mask free,allowing the dots to be joined up but it passed the public by.
but is is very convenient timing – get the masses distracted with beer and football and the cricket – not to mention wall to wall tennis on the telly and they won’t NOTICE that we didn’t give them freedom day. And sadly, from what I can see, the bulk of people seem to be so dumb this plan will actually work.
Arrest Johnson.
I wonder how many people – globally – you would need to “remove” for this whole charade to end? Not that I’m endorsing such behaviour, of course.
Follow “ze money”
Less than a thousand. In the UK alone you’d only need to remove less than ten.
The spike protein might be a good little helper in that!
I keep thinking of Libya and how Gaddafi ended up: completely off-topic of course!
Just seen that our local church is planning a ‘Back to normal’ event on July 4th. Is this due to divine wisdom or wishful thinking? Sadly I can’t help thinking that it might be the latter if the doomsayers on SAGE get their way. Seems a long time ago that we were just ‘flattening the curve’. Now is the time that SAGE should be flattened!
One of the Methodist churches here is a fucking jab centre!!
Perfect symbol of the madness we have descended into
The Methodists follow money. In many areas they helped refugees gain settlement using government money.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-06-houston-methodist-workers-covid-vaccines.html
I hope those fired for refusing to risk the experimental jabs picket the hospital.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-06-accounts-effect-behavior-covid-cases.html
Modellers try to explain away obvious surge of death after vaccination (by adding another variable and a bit more curve fitting correlation explains causation drivel).
Too bad Texas engaged in Neanderthal thinking.
I’m identifying as a Neanderthal.
I went to Neanderthal once.It’s a nice place for a Sunday stroll.
Hee hee – I have seen it suggested that Homo Sapiens virtually eliminated the Neanderthals because they didn’t know how to lie.
46% of those ‘who died with the Indian variant’ had been ‘vaccinated’
Going well isn’t it
How many had ADE, I wonder!?
“As usual, the doom-mongers around the Prime Minister are winning”
I am sick of the repeated attempts by authors ATL to convince us that Johnson is essentially on our side.
Yes, Kim Jong Johnson is a doom-monger.
Absolutely. Have a look at Johnson’s speech to the UN in 2019 to get an idea of just what he is all about. Quite happy supporting totalitarianism so its easy the libertarian bs spouted above the line is just disinfo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf4YEyh7erE
Agreed. I’ll admit it; I even campaigned for the guy to become leader of the Conservative Party. If you wound the clock back two years and told me I would consider him up there as one of the biggest traitors this country has ever seen, I would never have believed you.
Betrayed is an understatement.
Totally agree. He is in charge. The buck stops with him. If he really doesn’t agree with what’s going on but he doesn’t have the balls to say so he is unfit to be PM.
To recap, Great Fat Communist Fraud Kim Jong Johnson has reverted to his totalitarian instincts again.
Having already lowered expectations by insisting on a glacial exit from lockdown, he has decided to dash them completely and permanently.
And the great fat communist is a doom-monger.
“You can check out any time you like but you can never leave.” No words have ever been more eloquently written. It was like they saw the future…
Sorry this is slightly off topic but does anyone else appreciate the irony of Boris Johnson flying the short distance from London to Cornwall and all the various other world leaders flying to the UK (for discussions that could easily have been had over a Zoom call) to preach to us all that we need to be more green and that we shouldn’t fly or have cars, or heating in our homes or any enjoyment whatsoever……
That is not off-topic at all – that shows precisely how much they despise us.
Yeah it feels as though they are laughing at us. They see us as their possessions to be controlled and governed in a similar way a farmer views his sheep and cattle.
‘Irony’? Hmm, more like platinumy!
Just Say NO
Not a suprise I’m afraid. I good friend called me today to say a friend of hers was trying to get a licence as a wedding venue commencing on 21st June and was told they could not do so. The police told them they had been informed by the Govt that the lockdown was to be extended by a further two weeks and so they could not do so until 5th July earliest. On further enquiry they were told this decision would not be reversed. Obviously anecdotal, but I am not inclined to disbelieve it.
Guess it would be pointless for us to make any bets that it will be only two weeks.
We know it will not.
They will loosen for the school holiday 7 weeks and start again in Sep. The framework Bunter set up was made for it.
He will open the weddings up but nothing else on Monday. Last straw for me, they are getting no more tax. All earnings over 12.5k are going to be under the radar. Another delay and the NI will go as well. A months council tax has been stopped as the bins haven’t been emptied for 3 weeks. Time for action, beyond ignoring muzzle orders.
Not so sure about the weddings. Maybe they’d already realised that the thought had crossed the mind of at least one of us (#waves) that we could hold loads of social events with unlimited numbers all perfectly officially – ie by calling them weddings. After all – pagan handfastings, I gather, traditionally last for a year and a day and I’m sure we could do variable length marriages to suit. My turn to “get married” (apparently LOL) first and I’ll make it for a week?/few weeks?/few months? and I’m sure we could find a few other people willing to ostensibly get “married” if it was only for a short period of time/ostensibly/if need be…
That’s one of the things that gets me – ie that there are some of us General Public in the know (because they’ve been slipped the info. as to what to plan for unofficially) – and the rest of us General Public are treated like some other category and deemed to be still in a position we are supposed to be told lies too for a more extended period.
Despite it being expected. It’s still really upsetting. What was that leak from a few weeks ago ? About the Government’s plans and made up variant of concern. Ultimately 6 months becomes 7 and 6 is actually already 16 months. Longest pandemic in history now ?
We are still going to be closed when the EU will already be open. Is Johnson that fucking thick ? Surely, unless it really is a plan to wreck society, he can’t remain popular now ?
Upsetting? Mildly. It’s a shame for people working in sectors directly affected by whatever might have changed – they deserve to try and earn a living.
But the covid madness was never going to end on 21st June because the narrative, the Big Lie, is still firmly entrenched.
“EU already be open” Doubtful. What makes you think the madness will end there any more than here?
As to the PM’s popularity, they did OK in the recent elections, and the alternatives from the opposition and his own party are worse.
This war will last decades.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/15241170/boris-johnson-june-lockdown-delay/ now 19th July
FT now repeating the Sun story. Its 19 July.
https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/uk-extend-lockdown-one-month-indian-variant-spooks-country-vaccine-scramble
This was a deliberate play. “Let them set up events, take the pressure off for a bit, then at almost the last minute ramp up the fear again and restrict them – just because we can”.