Japan (definitely not) opening to tourism in April 2021 on a trial basis

[railsquid]

14 minutes ago, bill937ca said:

 

2024 Olympics in Tokyo.  🙂

 

 

If that's "Tokyo" as in "Paris", it's fine by me 😄

 

 

[kuro68000]

Things are looking quite bad in Japan now, although nowhere near as bad as the UK of course. The news is reporting that thanks to intervention by Suga vaccination of front line workers should start later this month, but the general population is a little way off yet.

 

Since the Olympics are going ahead presumably there will be an effort to open by the summer. I have airline tickets booked for May but they are flexible. Would rather not change them as closer to the Olympics will be expensive. So fingers crossed. I don't think there is much chance of getting the vaccine in the UK by May but hopefully a clean COVID test is possible.

 

Ganbatte miina-san. I miss my friends and JR!

[NateJ93]

I've never been outside the US before, but I've always wanted to go to Japan and ride the various trains there, sadly "The 'rona" threw a monkey wrench in that plan.

I've been watching various railroad webcams in Japan which is fun, but it's just not the same.

[railsquid]

On 1/8/2021 at 8:24 AM, mojo said:

Since the Olympics are going ahead

 

"Watch this space", as they say.

[bill937ca]

I expect the Tokyo games will be cancelled and another games in the future awarded to Tokyo. Its beyond the IOC's control.

[kuro68000]

They are talking about having them behind closed doors. It will be bad for Japan, they were relying on tourism for a big economic boost.

 

There is some talk of trying to vaccinate the whole population before the games start, which would certainly help. They have enough vaccine on order but it might not come in time, and then there is a logistics of it... 120 million people, so 240 million doses need to be administered. Fortunately if there is one thing Japanese people are good at it's organizing stuff like this.

 

Honestly I'm finding it hard to cope with all the bad news at the moment. It's a long story I won't get into but the way things are going in the UK I probably won't get the vaccine until near the end of the year and will be stuck at home until 2022.

[railsquid]

3 hours ago, mojo said:

They are talking about having them behind closed doors.

 

That's working out well for the Australian Tennis Open...

 

3 hours ago, mojo said:

It will be bad for Japan, they were relying on tourism for a big economic boost.

 

At this point (as a Tokyo-based taxpayer) I'd much rather they just shovel a pile of taxpayers' cash into the Olympic flame bowl and set fire to it before calling the whole thing off, it'd probably work out cheaper than trying to press ahead with the whole rigmarole.

 

3 hours ago, mojo said:

There is some talk of trying to vaccinate the whole population before the games start, which would certainly help.

 

First I've heard of this. But let's be realistic, it's the end of January, the logistics are only just being set up, with the best will in the world, that ain't gonna happen. And six months is such a long time these days, so many unknowns which could pop up, like these exciting new variants.

 

In the meantime, we are starting to hear about interesting logistical issues, such as the planning for medical support at the many Olympic sites (which was based on the medical system not being overloaded with some virus thingy) now being only so much paper, and the plan for the replanning of the plan being thrown into disarray by the current state-of-emergency.

[Tony Galiani]

I do think there is some reason to be cautiously optimistic about the progress of vaccinations.  There are two more pending approval in the USA and I expect more will be available in other countries as well and some of these only require one dose to be administered.

I was skeptical about the plan in the USA to administer 100 million doses in 100 days until I saw what my health system is doing.  They have the process down to a science with a group of staff checking patients in, then to a next station for forms and volunteer tracking sheets, then wait in line, then be handed the vaccine needle then on to one of the staff who actually do the vaccination.  Based on what I saw at one of our sites, the system could vaccinate about 3600 people a day.  And that was just one of our three sites.

 

Of course, there are still a lot of hurdles but I think the situation is gradually improving.  So much so that I have started looking at flights to Germany and Japan for later this year.  Hope springs eternal!

Ciao,

Tony Galiani

[disturbman]

Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.

It's a bit hard to judge, how and when the situation will be normalized enough to allow mass travel again. Vaccination campaigns are tied up by local logistics and by the vaccine contracts each country signed. The UK government, which started vaccination early, announced that every adult should be offered a coronavirus vaccine by September.

IIRC, Japan ordered the bare minimum of vaccine doses. Not even sure it ordered two doses per inhabitants. I would have to find again those charts.

[katoftw]

4 hours ago, railsquid said:

That's working out well for the Australian Tennis Open...

Should have been fine. But the oz govt did not make it a requirement to have a negative pcr test before boarding a plane to oz.

 

Japan does this.  If oz did this, they would have dodged said issues.

 

---

 

I agree with previous ideas just to stop guessing what will happen. The whole situation is a mess. Govenments and their populas don't wanna take ownership and do what needs to be done. So wave after wave keep coming.

 

Vaccines still ain't 100% proven but many need hope, so many are puting 100% trust in them.

 

Just enjoy what you currently have. If you got a job and aint dead. You are doing good. International travel will happens when it happans.

[kuro68000]

21 hours ago, disturbman said:

IIRC, Japan ordered the bare minimum of vaccine doses. Not even sure it ordered two doses per inhabitants. I would have to find again those charts.

 

Apparently they have enough secured for 72 million people to be vaccinated. Children probably won't get the vaccine at all so it sounds like they are close to being able to do nearly all adults. They are testing the Moderna vaccine as well which will provide additional doses.

 

The bad news is that they will probably only be able to do the over 65s by July. Projections are for herd immunity by October, too late for the games.

 

23 hours ago, railsquid said:

At this point (as a Tokyo-based taxpayer) I'd much rather they just shovel a pile of taxpayers' cash into the Olympic flame bowl and set fire to it before calling the whole thing off, it'd probably work out cheaper than trying to press ahead with the whole rigmarole.

 

I think a lot of companies were relying on it to advertise and sell products, especially things like new TVs as people upgrade to 4k and 8k.

 

The alternative that has been suggested is to abandon it and then try again for 2032, hoping that sympathy helps the bid along.

[bikkuri bahn]

Quote

Children probably won't get the vaccine at all 

Yes, only those 16 years and above will get vaccinated. 

[railsquid]

Because the vaccine isn't (yet) available for children.

[disturbman]

Because they are the less at risk.

[railsquid]

Tokyo Olympics: definitely going ahead unless cancelled again?

 

 

[Tony Galiani]

There is hope.  I just saw our system's tracking of new infections among employees.  From the start of the vaccination process, the infection rate drop is significant among our employees.  The graph line looks like this:  \  

We were all pleasantly surprised  - actually I was sort of shocked when I saw the graph - the change is quite dramatic.  Obviously a long way to go but with the likelihood of additional vaccines getting approval soon the situation seems to be improving so I am cautiously optimistic.

Ciao,

Tony

[katoftw]

What company? What country? Which vaccine?

[Tony Galiani]

Duke.  USA. Pfizer.

I realize this doesn't apply across the board but it is a big step in the right direction.  Just seeing the drop in new cases within the system in the last month has been a big morale boost.

Ciao,

Tony Galiani

[katoftw]

Early days. So not much real world data to access yet. So good to hear the details. Thanks for answering.

Edited February 3, 2021 by katoftw

[Kanpai Keith]

On 1/23/2021 at 11:49 PM, NateJ93 said:

I've never been outside the US before, but I've always wanted to go to Japan and ride the various trains there, sadly "The 'rona" threw a monkey wrench in that plan.

I've been watching various railroad webcams in Japan which is fun, but it's just not the same.

Japan is amazing, so diverse. But the people, wow.  I’m British and have travelled a reasonable amount of the world and never have I felt more comfortable in another country.  Can’t wait to return.

[railsquid]

For some of us it would be nice to be able to get out of Japan...

 

Meanwhile the Olympics comedy gold continues: Tokyo 2020 chief pressed to resign after saying women talked too much at meetings

[kuro68000]

They are now saying that it's a question of how they will host the Olympics, not if. That's some good news.

 

The ban on visiting Japan has been extended for a month, no surprise. I'm glad they are renewing it month after month though. Unfortunately everyone is locked in to the UK at the moment, can't leave.

[NateJ93]

7 hours ago, Kanpai Keith said:

Japan is amazing, so diverse. But the people, wow.  I’m British and have travelled a reasonable amount of the world and never have I felt more comfortable in another country.  Can’t wait to return.

I have a friend who is recently ex-army and he told me so many stories of when he was stationed in Camp Zama (Not sure where that is though), he speaks near-fluent Japanese and loved telling me about all the wonderful people and places he saw.

Back when me and another friend were in high school, his family hosted a Japanese exchange student who was super fun to hang out with, I even remember my friend and me trying to teach her some American slang terms (And yes, I'm not gonna lie, I did kinda have a crush on her).

I once had another friend whos wife was Japanese and she was one of the sweetest souls ever, spoke perfect English, always had a smile, and a heck of a good cook.

My only reservations on going to Japan are 1: I only know a few basic words and phrases in Japanese (And even then I'm not very good), and 2: I've never been on an airplane before and I'm well and truly scared to (Like B.A. Baracus levels of scared).

All in all, If this whole circus of madness ends, I'll definitely make a concerted effort to go.

[Kanpai Keith]

@NateJ93 About the only word of Japanese I speak is Kanpai!  Seriously language was not an issue.  Railway signs are all in English.  Everyone was keen to practice their English. It helps to have any addresses you may need written in Japanese. They only issues we had were with taxi drivers, most of whom are quite old and have not had the benefit of learning an additional language.

 

we flew ANA very good airline, couple of hours in a bar before you fly and all will be well 🥴

[railsquid]

38 minutes ago, NateJ93 said:

I have a friend who is recently ex-army and he told me so many stories of when he was stationed in Camp Zama (Not sure where that is though),

 

Southwest of Tokyo, west of Yokohama.

 

As everyone mentions, Japan is a very easy country to visit, especially since tourism really took off in the last decade or so (not right now of course).