Season 2, Episode 12

The following is an automatically generated transcript. There will be errors, so we strongly encourage you to listen to the audio, if possible.

welcome back listeners to the real Japan

podcast I am one of your hosts Kenzo and

I am Ferg and as usual we will have the

latest and greatest headlines from Japan

and coronavirus roundup yes sir

which we've been doing every week

because that's a big news item yes we

can't totally ignore it but at the same

time we am yeah I think it's good that

we saw give our listeners a quick review

of some of the major stories connected

with coronavirus here in Japan yeah

although things are definitely taking a

turn for the better

yes it certainly seems that way doesn't

it yeah which is nice but before we get

into that I guess we'll just do a quick

recap on what we've been up to for the

past week so what do you been doing no

real news to report this week

I've been self isolating up in the

mountains although that's not too much

different from my usual lifestyle yeah

you're always so vitally thank you yes

sir

I mean we were just talking just before

we hit the record button and I'm in

serious need of a haircut now it's been

a few months what do you think do you

think as well come on to in our

coronavirus roundup you you know the

state of emergency has been lifted

across Japan do you think it's safe to

go for a haircut now or is it would it

be better to put it off for for another

few weeks well I think as far as you're

concerned you're fine cuz you're out

you're I don't know yeah out of the

booty how in the boonies yeah cuz there

were too many cases where you are to

begin with right

no about 77 like total in Nagano

Prefecture yep Wow yeah so you're good

to go man yeah yeah it's good it just

feels a bit like a haircut is something

that is quite you know you've got

someone

sort of leaning over you and like

touching your hair it's quite it feels

like if it was going to spread somehow

it could be a potential route of

infection doesn't it yeah there was an

article on a news item out of I forget

where was it was somewhere in the South

in the US and yeah a a hairdresser

mmm had the corona the covin yep

and yeah infected like a lot of people

it was like 40 or 50 people yeah I see

that's what I'm worried about

yeah well granted I don't know if

necessarily they were affected but came

into close contact with 40 or 50 P yeah

you're you're definitely right that yes

like salons and hairdressers in yeah

yeah this is just the proximity is is an

issue mm-hmm yeah but yeah that's that's

been on my mind lately I'm wondering

when I should go for a haircut yeah cuz

we're zoo zooming skyping right now and

yeah you definitely need a haircut yeah

tell me about it yeah what about you

how's your week been I think yeah yeah

haven't gone out mmm just been chilling

at home working very moment responsible

yeah yeah got got my my overeats

oh did you yeah yeah did you do a kind

of contactless delivery oh yeah yeah I

really told him to leave it by the door

oh that's good isn't it yeah yeah you

know it's cool cuz it's like I hit some

buttons on my phone and then food

magically appears at my door yes sir

it's amazing the wonders of the modern

age yeah what a time to be alive what

food did you get if you don't mind me

asking

breakfast McDonald's oh that's quick

that's quite good shouter

yeah I do like breakfast McDonald's I

mean it's no different in in Japan to

anywhere else I don't think right yeah

pretty sure it's the same yeah although

I don't know in the UK do they do all

day breakfast

that's a good question I'm not sure to

be honest I can't remember because they

started that in the u.s. a number of

years ago maybe five years ago yeah they

started doing all-day breakfast which

they would do that over here yeah yeah

yeah it's good isn't it yeah I wish they

would do that too

yeah I know if I were I think I told you

the story when we were drinking one time

they're very anal about their cutoff

time which is 10:30 oh really

yeah I went to McDonald's one yeah is

out drinking all night yeah and I get

back to my station yeah my train

stations been the nearest one I get back

at like like 10:20 okay yeah yeah so I'm

like oh I can I can eat breakfast

McDonald's before I pass out on the

couch you know so I briskly walk over to

the McDonald's I get in line at it's

probably 10:25 and I was sure to check

my watch I was like okay I made it

mm-hmm

and there were two or three people in

line in front of me and the person right

in front of me was he was like one of

those guys that takes forever to figure

but my impression was if I was in line

mmm

but during breakfast many times then I'm

okay yeah so I was a bit annoyed I was

like hurry up man I'm hungry but I

didn't think it was a big deal

hmm so he faces ordering and the clock

ticks 10:30 yep or 10:31 or whatever was

yeah and I because the menu and they

have like three LCDs there

for the menu and the menu switches over

oh dear

and what happened and I I asked I was

like can I still get breakfast and

they're like no damn that's how she

isn't it and so I was like okay yeah and

that I left did you not order a real or

not a real McDonald's but you know off

the regular menu no I want a breakfast i

won yeah breakfast it's not the same is

it yeah and then they like it's 10:30 in

the morning I want a Big Mac yeah

absolutely yeah yeah I was I was pretty

dude so I sent him an angry email you

know nothing because I was thinking I'm

going to tell my story of grievance with

a McDonald's in Japan as well okay and

it ended in the same way me sending an

angry email to oh you know he's an angry

email nice yeah

so the McDonald's this is when I lived

in Tokyo and there was a McDonald's near

the train station and this McDonald's

was advertised as 24 hours you know like

they had all the science and things but

I don't know what it was I think it was

just you know whoever the manager or

owner of that particular franchise was

they about 50% of the time I would say

it would just be closed at night and

every single time they just be like a

little notice stuck on it that was like

old do too I don't know some random

excuse like cleaning bullshit exactly

basically it was bullshit I think for

some reason they had to technically run

it as a 24-hour McDonald's but for

whatever reason they didn't want to or

it wasn't sustainable to do so yeah it

was probably similar to it was probably

something in their franchise agreement

yeah talking about the convenience

stores last week

exactly exactly yeah

and and it worked both ways as well

because it would mean after a night out

I would get you know one of the last

trains back I think oh yeah I'm gonna

get a cheeky burger on my way home that

will be great yeah and it's it's closed

already and getting up early in the

morning you know heading out somewhere

like you wanting a nice breakfast meal

and yeah be closed so then I'd be I'd be

going to work or something on an empty

stomach like a regular thing very

regular it would be closed oh yeah very

regular yeah so you said the email did

did anything change after that oh they

did reply but nothing changed I can't

remember what they said I think when

they replied they said like there may be

occasions due to irregular circumstances

or something when stores closed some oh

yeah yeah presumably they probably mean

like if the deep-fryer breaks yeah

exactly exactly I could understand that

but if it's like regularly closed then

yeah yeah so much hmm I wonder if it's

changed now I'll name in shame it was

the McDonald's that nippori branch in

Tokyo Station we should we should go you

should go check it out yeah late at

night but we have to make multiple

visits because if we go once and it's

open that doesn't necessarily mean it's

open all the time right although if we

go once and it's closed then we then we

know yeah that's true yeah yeah okay but

uh oh well now we've got the important

things out of the way yeah I guess we'll

move on to fariq's chrono virus roundup

yes sir so when I checked earlier today

there were sixteen thousand seven

hundred and four reported cases of

corona virus in Japan including eight

hundred and sixty-three deaths which

seems like a slightly high death rate

about five percent maybe but overall

number of cases or reported cases at

least in Japan as we know appears to be

very

low compared to other developed

countries particularly in Europe and

America well if the number of overall

cases is Mia's it's probably

underreported so yeah that would up the

death rate as I'm using as far as the

numbers are concerned yes and as we've

mentioned on this podcast before the

number of tests is very low in Japan or

very low so that is probably factoring

factoring into the to the numbers mmm

still given these low numbers the

government decided to lift the state of

emergency in the last remaining five

prefectures in the past few days hooray

so Tokyo Hokkaido Kanagawa Saitama and

Chiba as well I think was the final one

right yeah have all had their state of

emergency lifted which means that there

is no longer a state of emergency in

Japan that's how the party already man

yeah yes what what do you think there it

was speculated in some of the newspapers

it perhaps this was you know worries

about the economy where a key sort of

criteria or key reason behind the

decision to lift the state of emergency

somewhat early perhaps after 49 days I

think it lasted however the Prime

Minister ABI said that this was not part

of the criteria they didn't consider the

economy when they were yeah that's a

load of shit right there do you think so

you think that was yeah although I'll

give him credit and they held out I

think for as long as they could

yeah yeah but people are just been

getting way antsy mmm-hmm to get back

into swing at things

yes yes and get the economic activity

ramped it back they held out for as long

as they could I think

and mmm I think ideally they probably

would have wanted to wait until maybe

the end of the month

yes well I'm from a purely public health

perspective they just they could wait

anymore

yes and it did appear until quite

recently that it would last until the

end of the month certainly in Europe in

there the manes of urban areas but

another interesting thing about the

timing is it appears they waited a

couple of weeks after Golden Week ended

after the series of concise public

holidays I wonder if that was factored

into their decision-making and that

might have been because mmm the it takes

about two weeks right yeah it's a

lagging indicator exactly yeah so they

probably wanted to see what the spread

was like during the first week of May

yes yes and so come the third week of

May they saw the results and by and

large people were pretty good about

staying home yes yes and the spread

wasn't nearly as bad as it could have

been yep and yeah I guess they felt

pretty confident that they have been

more or less contained yes

decided to open things back up yeah

there has been you know obviously the

corona virus has had a huge very kind of

negative impact on the economy obviously

there has been sort of discussion in the

media that the economic impact is going

to last for a lot longer potentially

it's going to be kind of more drawn out

at one use yeah do you think there's

something to that

you know I I really don't know mmm

people being honest hesitant to turn to

you know shopping and especially going

to restaurants and things crowded places

in the same way that they were before

yeah yes I guess only time will tell

yes with that I did read an article that

said that companies might

sort of promote telework for their

employees on a more permanent basis

which could have an impact on the

economy as well you know if there's more

people working from home going out less

spending less money at their stores yeah

less money income commuting and things

that's true that's true although the the

flip side of that is maybe it'll improve

productivity mm-hmm across the board

yeah that would be good quite needed in

Japan yeah I think Japan is one of the

lowest prototype GDP per GDP per capita

what's the trembling like revenue per

man-hour or yeah some some statistic

that basically for every hour that a

person works how much revenue is

generated mm-hmm and Japan has won one

of the lowest in the developed world

yeah yeah it's quite astounding isn't it

yeah just a lot of overtime and not very

much gets done yeah I mean people often

especially in the West have this image

of Japan as this old high-tech place

everyone zooming around the reality and

I think this is probably anyone who's

lived and worked in Japan will

understand this but the reality is often

like you know endless meetings faxing

things here in there filling out their

papers literally stamping things not

like physically stop putting your stamp

on things yeah you know you know all

these kind of tasks taking up lots and

lots of time so basically a busy work is

yeah the term I would use there's just a

lot of doing something for the sake of

doing it with no like real objective

yeah those statistics you were

mentioning just said about productivity

I don't think it will surprise anyone

who's actually lived and worked here

yeah yeah

all right was there anything else to say

about

coronavirus in particular no I think I

know about wraps it up I guess okay so I

just wanted to just quickly before we

move on to our main stories I just

wanted to mention our old friend hero

myth

Kurokawa who we've talked about a few

times on this podcast well he's our boy

he's our boy the head of the Tokyo high

public prosecutor's office or the former

head I should say as he resigned this

past week in a kind of spectacular

conclusion or epilogue yeah he went out

with a bang yes sir

well we taught last week about the

government introducing a bill against

you know public opposition to extend the

retirement age of senior public

prosecutors they eventually decided and

that was seen as a sort of retroactive

justification for their Cabinet decision

to extend this this man's here on

Arrakis his term of office past his 63rd

birthday they did eventually shelve that

that bill in the face of the public

opposition but yeah this guy here on the

Kurokawa he a big scandal emerged about

this week where he was basically

revealed to have been gambling playing

mah-jongg for money which is technically

illegal in Japan I mean not super

uncommon especially among middle-aged

men I don't think but yeah he was

playing mahjong for money with reporters

allegedly from Asahi Shinbun Asahi

newspaper and sankei shimbun

and as a when all this came out he

received a warning from the Justice

Ministry that's actually quite a sort of

light form of punishment really

considering he was a head of the Tokyo

public prosecutor's office

and yeah I think I mean had it been like

like a rank-and-file person yes probably

would have just gotten the ax straight

up yes apparently apparently the Prime

Minister's office sort of decided

against harsher punishment for guru Cara

he for listeners in listen last week he

is seen as a very close ally of the

Abbott administration yeah yeah they're

good friends

yes sir and after receiving this warning

he resigned on May 22nd so he's gone he

got his full pay package golden

parachute yes yes sir about half a

million u.s. yeah thanks to the lighter

form of punishment they use yeah because

had he gotten the harsher punishment

they would have I don't know if it would

have eliminated it but it would have

like cut down his yeah his retirement

yeah bonus and this puts him out of the

running to become head of the supreme

public prosecutor's office and you know

the McCue lated in the newspapers that

the reason the government made the

extraordinary decision to sort of extend

his career past his retirement or past

when he should have retired was to set

him up to take the position of a head of

the supreme public prosecutor's office

right right so you know the fact that

now that is no longer on the table kind

of seems to you know it seems like the

government has you you know got whole

load of bad press a whole load of

negative coverage for nothing really

yeah from nothing yeah they gain nothing

this guy's causing one big headache um

yeah I think this in combination with

the public perception that they watched

the whole kovat yes saying yes the the

approval rating for AB is gone down

substantially yes it's a it's the lowest

his his administration is lowest

approval rating ever 29%

according to the article I read he used

to be in the 40s there's something like

that yeah it did dip down to the 30s

around I think it was in the low 30s

around the time of the Maury tamal and

scandal which we talked about you before

when all that came out in around 2017

burn right but yeah 29% is unprecedented

Lelo but yeah I guess we'll move on then

yes sir so I've got an article here it's

not current events per se but I thought

it was interesting so I'll share it okay

if if anyone's lived in a metro area in

Japan Tokyo in particular or even

visited and been on the train during

rush hour you'll you'll know that it is

pretty much a nightmare it's very packed

people are jammed in there like sardines

yes and the the government actually

defines levels of congestion oh do they

yeah with percentages some public

transfer yeah yeah that's interesting I

saw so I'll go through those because

it's kind of interesting hmm

so 100 percent congestion there are 100

cent I guess occupancy is defined as all

the seats are full so everyone's sitting

and there's a couple people standing but

it's it's sparse okay this is a good

amount of space in between people that's

yeah that's average I would say on the

trains at yeah yeah during during like

non-rush hour is probably pretty average

yeah yeah yeah and so the next level is

standing room is a bit crowded but if

you wanted to spread out a newspaper

yeah then you could I

okay without coming into contact with

anyone yeah

so then there's two hundred percent okay

and this is where it starts to get a bit

dicey this is where you will be in

contact with other people like your

shoulders are gonna be touching kind of

thing hmm but if you want to read a

magazine mmm or I guess in modern times

if you want to dick around on your phone

yeah that's that's possible

yeah there's enough space for you to

pull out your phone and ya know extra

super uncomfortable yeah yeah and then

above that is 250 you know I think this

is probably rush hour hmm

but 250 is basically your the people are

packed in room so tightly that you you

really can't move em like you just

really packed in there yeah that's 250

and I think I think Ferg you would

probably agree that rush hour is

probably 250 hmm yeah yeah yeah

definitely yeah I mean well whenever I'm

on a rush hour train it's yeah packed in

there so hard that I can't even reach in

my pocket to get out my phone yes at

times yes I definitely agree with that

yeah there's definitely not enough space

usually on rush hour in Tokyo to sort of

even use your phone is there really

mm-hmm yeah yeah so with those

definitions out of the way hmm

back in the 50s and 60s okay so this is

post-war Japan but explosive growth and

the economy and the population thing sir

things are looking up there sure period

as people respect it

everyone's got great jobs or working

hard yep

but unfortunately the public transit was

not up to snuff to support all these

people moving about Oh interesting

yeah and during the 50s and 60s the

ingestion was in excess of 300 percent

what does

me so 300% is when people are literally

packed in there so hard ooh

that and some people may have heard

heard of this oon read about it but they

actually had the the pushers oh yeah

yeah at the station the employees of the

train station who would literally have

to they have two or three guys per door

yeah and they would shove people in mmm

to pack more people on the train and

back in this day there was no AC

terrible Japanese Japanese summers are

very humid they're sweltering hot hmm no

pleasure yeah and so then you got all

these people packed into this train hmm

so it was commonplace if they said on

average one person a day would be

hospitalized in Tokyo for fainting

basically I having a heat stroke on the

train yeah and I wonder if that's one

person a day it might have been more in

the summer months yeah yeah yeah it

feels Wednesday on average I could

certainly see that on train that packed

in the summer months without air

conditioning

it would be awful it's awful enough as

it is but yeah although an interesting

point that they are brought up was that

in some ways it was worse in the winter

because people have more clothing on Oh

interesting

yeah the number of people commuting is

still the same yeah that's interesting

it was even worse in some ways yeah yeah

and also another thing that happened was

window glass hmm and doors would break

how frequently just the sheer pressure

of people yeah just be the sheer

pressure of all these people crammed in

there yeah would actually put cracks in

the glass and break the doors yeah and I

guess they probably weren't as strong by

then right exactly yeah it's well-made

but the quality of the glass and and

just the structural quality of the

trains wasn't nearly as high as it is

today yeah it's crazy one of the final

things of note was well kind of two

prongs here but people would often lose

their shoes oh yeah if your shoe comes

off you can't bend young to get back and

get it yeah because it's just this wave

of people like you can't go back for it

so the train stations would rent out

sandals

mmm-hmm for people that have lost their

shoes really yeah so at least they could

you know get to work and or get to the

shoe store yeah yeah and also people

would lose their lose their buttons on

their clothes yeah when they rub up

against people and then if you get

snagged on yeah whatever yeah and there

were shops in the train stations then

actually specialized like they were

buttons shops essentially oh really -

there would be like a tailor there and

he would yeah button back you would sew

it back all for you there are that many

people losing buttons yeah it was it was

so much of a common occurrence that

there were actually shops that yeah in

the train station that's crazy isn't it

yeah so and when did it start to get

better dude like was it still that bad

going into the 80s or did the

infrastructure

start to catch up at that point yeah I

think it says it was the worst in the

get into the 70s and 80s mm-hmm just

Japan as a country became more affluent

and they have more money to invest in

infrastructure so yeah better so yes I

guess it was really just in the 50s and

infrastructure wasn't keeping up yeah I

would yeah I think it's bad now but

after reading that all's

well maybe we don't got it as bad as I

thought yes yeah for sure is I mean I

spent many years commuting every day on

the crowded trains and it's very

draining isn't it it is it is yeah

especially when when you've been out

drinking oh definitely yeah and you

gotta take like the last train out yeah

yeah and everyone else who's been

drinking is also taking a last train out

so it's crowded as hell yeah and

everyone just smells like reeks of

cigarettes and alcohol and it's just a

bad time all around oh it's terrible

certainly Hey but anyway so yeah that's

uh mmm

just quickly because you mentioned that

pushes then I think probably many people

have seen them on internet videos and

things I don't think I've ever actually

seen them in train stations in Japan or

maybe I I don't know to be honest I

don't think I've ever ridden a train

when there's been pushes have you yeah

because I used to take the the Saikyo

line mmm which is a line that runs

between Saitama and Tokyo and Saitama is

what's it called a like a bedroom

Prefecture I guess I commute to town

kind of yeah actually a commuter area

yeah so a lot of people live in Saitama

but they work in Tokyo mmm I believe it

is I don't think it's the most congested

but it's one of the most congested lines

in rural country hmm and there were yeah

there were pushers mm-hmm

in the morning but there was maybe one

pusher for every two or three cars and

he only pushed people when yeah one rare

occasion yeah yeah well like if your bag

is kind of yeah yeah you see mostly

people like their bags or their

umbrellas would get caught in or over

push it back in kind of thing just

quickly as well before we move on to the

next story have you seen that movie and

I just didn't do it or I think it's

sorry don't deny I think you mentioned

that on the podcast

real Japan listeners are probably

getting bored of hearing about it no I

think it was early in season one and it

was back when we were still trying to

find our footing back in the early days

but yeah that's a very interesting story

about the Japanese criminal justice

system but basically a man is on a

crowded train and he gets kind of pushed

in and then he's you know as a result of

the train being so crowded he he is

accused of being like a groper a chicken

yeah yeah but yeah I do recommend that

to anyone who hasn't seen it yep

okay well I guess we'll move on to

whatever you got for us yes sir so the

article I wanted to talk about today is

an article that references an apparent

increase in teen pregnancies in Japan in

the past few months and boy yes sir so

basically in March and April during the

period when they've you know closed

schools teens are sort of on lockdown or

not on lockdown but basically stuck at

home with nothing much to do this might

lead do themselves for each other yes

this might have resulted in an increase

in teen pregnancies this is how

according to a number of different

reports from basically these kind of

organization set offer advice and

support to two women that are you know

going through this mmm there was one in

Goomer Goomer Lynch in SOS they said

questions from girls aged or woman or

young woman aged between 15 and 17

they usually have around two to three of

those questions per month

as of the 20th of this month they had

already received nine such inquiries Wow

similar story from you know a similar

kind of organization in Kobe called

little life door or something like that

that's a rough approximation of the name

mmm

they went from around 10 cases per month

to 100 over March and April and you know

a similar story in in these kind of

organizations across the country mm-hmm

you know one sort of potential course it

was referenced in the articles I read he

said that you know like I mentioned the

teens are sort of staying at home

because school has been closed as a

result of the corona virus and their

parent might still be out at work

because the you know it's a lot more

like more schools have closed

whereas companies it's a lot more like

here and there some companies are

closing and other companies are still

carrying on working or some workers are

still going in and others are doing

teleworking so mmm you know the teens

are taking advantage of this to invite

their boyfriends and girlfriends over

and then getting up to some naughty

business oh boy apparently here there is

usually an increase in cases after the

summer and winter holiday so it could be

kind of related to that oh not related

sorry but you know in the same in the

same same way right right right right

there could also an interesting sort of

point that I read could be that you know

the corona virus this whole pandemic is

resulting in like extra stress and worry

for teens and that they're looking for

that companionship mmm that's causing

these accidental pregnancies what do you

think about that yeah I could definitely

see that yeah oh oh here's an

interesting one

I know that

a possibility that I saw referenced was

that particularly for a young woman you

know alongside the closing of the

schools there part-time jobs there

places where they had part-time jobs

have also closed in many cases you know

restaurants shops and things and as a

result there's a worry that some of

these teens are telling to compensated

dating and your course I as it's known

here and right right right basically

they're prostituting themselves yes

exactly yes yeah I mean yes technically

kind of going on dates with well usually

with older men but as you say I mean

yeah what it boils down to is

prostituting themselves there is this

situation around sort of teen

pregnancies in Japan it's quite

interesting in Japan the well the

situation are and teen pregnancies in

general is interesting here because

they're from what I understand from

reading I don't know about this in

detail but it seems as though sex

education in schools in Japan is not

very thorough I guess you might say yeah

that's what I've heard as well yeah yeah

I did

it quoted a director of one of these

NGOs in Tokyo in one of the articles I

read and she basically said something

along those lines it you know teens

might have a lot of misinformation

mm-hmm about sex and about contraception

and that leads to these accidental

pregnancies and also it's kind of it's

strange isn't it because in some ways

you know Japan doesn't have like a kind

of Christian culture but on the other

hand it's kind of a little bit repressed

in that I don't I can't imagine that

Japanese teens talk about these things

openly even with their families yeah

what one thing is well regarding

just education and feelings toward

contraception this is something and this

is anecdotal but people that I've talked

to over the years hmm

women in particular have this very

negative view on birth control like yes

yes yeah that is an another interesting

point here I don't I don't understand

where that comes from like the yeah I

think part of it is if over here the

Society's view toward women who are on

the pill mmm it it seems to be oh she

must be very promiscuous if she's on the

pill yeah yes there's this really

negative view of being on the pill yes

and also there seems to be this mistaken

worry about complications yes being on

the pill yes and then certainly you know

some women have a tough time with the

pill and it's not from everyone yes by

and large is not that like the benefits

far outweigh any any of the the negative

aspects of it yes yes yeah that's just

one thing I've definitely noticed is

that the birth control pill is viewed

very negatively over here yes

one thing I did read I'm not sure I

suppose it would have been in 70s or 80s

when the pill was first becoming

widespread mm-hmm is it there was a lot

of pressure against making it widespread

in Japan because of the fear that it

would lead to the spread of you know

sexually transmitted diseases

right right and I mean to be fair Japan

does have a very low rate of AIDS but I

do agree there seems to be a lot of

misinformation about the pill in it it's

not very widespread here at all is it

the no yeah I mean comparatively condoms

sort of account condoms of by far the