Daily COVID High Record in Tokyo and Snow Chaos Occurrence | Guidable - Your Guide to a Sustainable, Wellbeing-centred Life in Japan

Daily COVID High Record in Tokyo and Snow Chaos Occurrence

By Tony Tao Dec 18, 2020

Weekly News in Japan

For this week’s news, Tokyo a record 822 daily coronavirus infections on Thursday, further raising concerns over the strain on the medical system!

Daily COVID High Record in Tokyo at 800 New Cases on Thursday

Tokyo Metropolitan Government officials confirmed more than 800 new cases of the coronavirus on Thursday. It’s the highest daily tally, surpassing Wednesday’s record of 678.

Snow Chaos Across Wide Parts of Japan

Unusually heavy snowfall for this time of the year is wreaking havoc across many parts of Japan. The heavy snow is forecast to continue this week. The snow has left a large number of vehicles stuck on an expressway in Niigata Prefecture for hours, and cut off a number of remote communities elsewhere, disrupting railway services, and causing power outages.
The government is working closely with local governments and an expressway operator to rescue the drivers stuck on the expressway. A Self-Defense Force unit is being sent to Niigata Prefecture for disaster-relief, and emergency relief measures based on the disaster relief law will be offered for two of the hardest-hit municipalities in Niigata-Minamiuonuma and Yuzawa. Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide has asked people in the affected areas to stay on alert to the dangers posed by heavy snow, such as damage to buildings, transport disruptions, the risk of being hit by snow sliding off a roof, and avalanches.

Governors Ask Bars, Restaurants to Slash Hours Going into 2021

More bad news is on the way for businesses hoping for a more prosperous year-end and New Year holiday season to help rebound from a dismal 2020.

Battling the third wave of the novel coronavirus outbreak, many prefectural governors will extend their requests for bars and eateries that serve alcoholic beverages to shorten business hours for up to several more weeks, extending into 2021. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, after announcing the extension of the restriction period from Dec. 17 to Jan. 11, said she felt “extremely guilty about the business operators,”

Japan Core Consumer Prices Fall at Fasstest Pace in 10 Years

Japan’s core consumer prices dropped at their fastest pace since late 2010 in November weighed by government’s travel discount campaign and weak energy prices, raising fears of returning to deflation.

New Year Bullet Train Bookings Fall to Record Low

Reservations for Shinkansen bullet trains for the year-end and New Year holidays have fallen to a record low due to the spread of the coronavirus in Japan. Japan Railway group companies announced the figures for reservations made as of Wednesday for the period from December 25 to January 5.

The rate of reservations for the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen lines is 14 percent each, and the rate for the Kyushu Shinkansen line is 16.6 percent. The group’s overall reservation rate stands at about 15 percent, with the number of reserved seats at about 1.62 million. This is the lowest since the JR group began announcing reservations for the year-end and New Year holiday season in 1997.

JR officials say they hope more people will use bullet trains, as they are being ventilated and disinfected as part of anti-infection measures

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