Japan is thinking of easing the entry restrictions for tourists. Maybe I'll be able to go there this year after all. Though I figure my chances of that are about 10%.

Because 75 years ago the US government thought "Let's keep a close eye on those unruly people so they don't do it again". In the following decades, they have simply forgotten to pack up and leave...

Yep they are listed under US military, 23,842 reported cases to date. Yet I assume they leave the base and visit the nearby town as well. Or maybe it's on actual lock down, I don't know.

Follow up on the bus driver who was attacked in France.

A bus driver in France who was beaten up by passengers refusing to wear mandatory face masks died in hospital Friday, French Prime Minister Jean Castex and the victim's family have said. Philippe Monguillot, 59, was left brain dead after the attack in the southwestern city of Bayonne on July 5. His family decided to switch off his life support on Friday, news agency Agence France-Presse reported.

Four men were detained and charged following the assault. The company Monguillot worked for, Keoilis, has boosted security for its employees, deploying guards on some of its bus services in the area.

This quote from your post explains it "Okinawa is home to more than half of about 50,000 American troops based in Japan under a bilateral security pact"

You do know what an essential worker is right? Going into lockdown does not mean and has not ever meant any of that halts... Meaning your entire argument is non-sequitur.


If you truly respect what I do, put other people first for once, wear a mask, conform to social distancing, be sanitary, don't be selfish.

You're familiar with politics, so you already know why.
As a Japanese, I want them to leave.

Yes, but why is that still in effect.

And Trump wants you to pay for them being there
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/06/22/national/us-donald-trump-japan-troops-john-bolton/

U.S. President Donald Trump has demanded that Japan pay $8 billion per year for costs associated with hosting American troops — or risk their withdrawal — former national security adviser John Bolton has alleged in his new memoir.

The demand, the hawkish former top security official wrote, was part of a negotiating strategy he said Trump had termed “cost plus 50 percent” — the amount that the U.S. would seek from allies where it had troops stationed.

Trump, Bolton wrote, said the best way to get allies like Japan and South Korea to pay the substantial increases, “was to threaten to withdraw all U.S. forces.”

Why not say, pack up and leave!

Is the Japanese government that worried about North Korea and China that they need 50K American troops in their backyard?

I do not know how insensitive it sounds but out of compassion i can find more peace with a person passing away after beaten ''braindead''(it is kinda a srange term) instead of those that go years and years of possible feeling trapped in their own bodies before eventually dying.

Colleague of mine had a horrible accident and had about the same,not able to move anything and no chance to recover so trapped in his own prison with possible much pain and i pray not.

I feel the same way and was relieved for my mom and dad when she finally passed. She was stuck in a home for 5 years with advanced Alzheimers, didn't know who she was anymore, didn't recognize me anymore for at least a year before she had to go in a home (violent outbursts, walking away, not being able to take care of herself nor letting my dad care for her) and could only sit in a wheelchair for the last 3 years having to be fed.

The only consolation was that hopefully her consciousness had actually gone long ago and just the body kept going. Her ability to speak was also gone yet before that the moments of coherent sentences were already far in between. (Random bits of early / mixed up memories was the last comprehensible speech)

I also pray to be spared that kind of ending for anyone. So no, that does not sound insensitive at all. The stories about Covid19 patients trapped on Ventilators for weeks on end bring up a lot of emotions. At least they put most in a medical coma and don't remember the worst.

An overview of how parts of the world is dealing with Covid19

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/coronavirus-surge-in-eastern-europe-causes-new-restrictions-1.5020877

Countries in Eastern Europe are facing rising waves of coronavirus infections, leading to new restrictive measures such as the mandatory use of face masks in Croatia and travel bans or quarantines to be imposed by Hungary.

Europe had a +5% increase in cases compared to last Saturday. (Same reporters missing, France, Spain, Sweden, Denmark)

Romania announced a new high of infections on Saturday, with 698, while 456 new cases were reported Sunday.

Serbia reported 354 new infections on Saturday, although there have been increasing doubts about the accuracy of the figures. Officially, the country has over 18,000 confirmed infections and 382 deaths since March, with health authorities warning that Serbian hospitals are almost full due to the latest surge in cases.

Croatia, whose Adriatic Sea coast is a major tourist destination, will make wearing masks mandatory in stores from Monday, while restaurant staff, but not patrons, will also have to wear face coverings.

The Ukraine is still in second place in daily reported cases, a bit above the UK but still quite a way from Russia which is staying at 6.5K cases per day.
Portugal is also still in trouble, 378 cases per day (7-day average) slowly going up and the reported deaths have been climbing again as well.

India's growth remains constant at about 121% week over week change

Infections are also on the rise in India, which has the most cases after the United States and Brazil, with a record surge of 28,637 cases reported in the past 24 hours as authorities announced a weeklong lockdown beginning Tuesday in the key southern technology hub of Bangalore, where the offices of top tech companies like Microsoft, Apple and Amazon are located.

South Korea has also reported an uptick in infections around Seoul, its capital, and other major cities, with 44 new cases over the past 24 hours.


The USA is growing at about 120% change week over week.

In the U.S., there has been an upturn in coronavirus deaths, driven by fatalities in states in the South and West, with the seven-day rolling average for daily reported deaths increasing from 578 two weeks ago to 664 on July 10 -- still well below the heights hit in April -- according to an Associated Press analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University.

A coronavirus death, when it occurs, typically comes several weeks after a person is first infected. And experts predicted states that saw increases in cases and hospitalizations would, at some point, see deaths rise too. Now that's happening.

"It's consistently picking up. And it's picking up at the time you'd expect it to," said William Hanage, a Harvard University infectious diseases researcher.

Researchers now expect deaths to rise for at least some weeks, but some think the count probably will not go up as dramatically as it did in the spring.