Second week of 'classes' completed. Several more 'zoom' meetings accomplished (though I have to set up to host one next week...not sure about that) and life in lockdown, of a politely requested type, continues.
But, there was TOILET PAPER this week, in the neighbourhood convenience store, at last. Since the first week of supplies disappearing off the selves a couple of months ago, toilet paper has been hard to come by (masks as well, more on that shortly).
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| Ah, at last...felt like I'd won the lottery |
Tokyo Governor Koike is regularly on TV through ads or media conferences, Abe mostly doing press conferences. The schism between the Prime Minister and the various prefectural governors has widened this week. Initially, the state of emergency applied to seven prefectures, including Tokyo and Osaka (technically not prefectures but larger governing entities) and of course this week we saw the ramifications of those 'limitations'. TV current affairs shows showed extensive footage of people from the 'quasi-lockdown' prefectures heading to unaffected prefectures to, in some instances, attend a gym, for example. Hence this week, the state of emergency was extended nationwide. People were grateful for that but worried the call may have come too late. Tokyo's cases keep climbing, not alarmingly, but with sufficient concern about a lack of resources to cope in the event of projected exponential estimates. As we've seen in Australia too, people in Tokyo with holiday homes in other prefectures have moved to those, with the concomitant strain on local amenities. We are not in a 'lockdown' as such, we remain at the politely requested 'please try to avoid' these actions. Police are roaming some areas with move on powers of sorts but no fines or arrests to this point, that I am aware of.
Prime Minister Abe. There is much talk of 'leadership' in these times, and let's face it, there is going to be so much data for the political scientists among us to analyse when this is done: who did what, well, badly, lacked foresight, had it by the bucketload. One of the memes doing the rounds on twitter suggests the countries that are handling this pandemic well have one thing in common, women leaders...yep. I might add Governor Koike* to that list by the end of this...she stumbles a little bit at times but has been more assertive and clearer in her messaging than Abe and mostly avoided gimmickry. But Prime Minister Abe. His biggest misread this week was getting in on a twitter meme started by a popular singer/songwriter Hoshino Gen, who sang a song about staying home and dancing (or similar) and invited tweeps to share video of them doing just that. PM Abe climbed onboard but showed himself sitting around the house, cradling his dog, having a cuppa, switching tv channels with a remote...I kinda get what he was trying to convey to the nation, but...he shoulda danced.
Two policy announcements and actions yesterday of note: first, after much political debate, it seems everyone is to receive a payment of ¥100,000 (about A$1450). Now the language used was 'kokumin' (国民) or 'citizens' which raised questions about whether or not foreign residents will also be eligible, particularly those who work in occupations that have been severely affected by closures. Turns out, it might cover non-Japanese residents, probably those paying tax. Details to follow.
Second, we saw the first deliveries of PM Abe's 'two cloth masks per household' promise, coming in at a cost of ¥46.6 billion (around A$700 million), mind-boggling amounts of money on what, despite best intentions, will be considered poor policy I think. Two masks per household when average households have 3-5 people, delivered to addresses (among which will be empty dwellings), they require rather fiddly care with washing (according to a segment on morning tv) and, as PM Abe wears one everyday, they do appear a bit small in terms of face coverage (contrast this with the handmade masks of Koike and Okinawa Governor Tamaki which are attracting much admiration, but that could be a bit political too). The deliveries are starting too late. Shops have been sold-out of masks for weeks and people have been taking to making their own. Again, a policy with some good intention but needed better delivery and the budget...what could be done with that amount of money in the present climate...
My first full week working at home was interesting. Apart from daily outings to buy the paper and milk, I truly have been living an isolated life (not that I mind). I have three classes online to prepare this term and they are scheduled for Thursday and Friday. At this stage, we are keeping it simple, via email contact and exchange. I received some lovely emails from students as they adjust to this working environment and I have tried to keep my messages to them upbeat as we work our way through these times, as people and as students of political science. The other side of the work coin has meant hours, many hours, sitting in front of the screen on 'zoom' meetings. Wednesday involved four hours straight, no break, that is not good and surprisingly more tiring than real-life meetings. There are emails, too many emails...some things never change.
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| Cords, all the cords to keep us connected |
Oh, and I had my tenth anniversary on twitter, which I wrote about (previous post) as well, because I guess it was a distraction from what I should have been writing...(^~^)>
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At 11.00pm 17 April 2020, Asahi Shimbun noted there were 9850 cases, 207 deaths, *not including figures from the Diamond Princess (which seems to be a political decision...just like its sister ship the Ruby Princess...more to come?)
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*Disclaimer: I am a writing a book on Japan's female politicians centring on the maverick conservative Koike and the late progressive Doi Takako.
