Originally Posted by
wunderpit
I'm just saying...What is the point of Japanese op-ed articles about potential foreigners when so many people are out an about in Japan with a ton of Omi? It would just be hogwash. For instance, the Kyoto article actually hints at a middle ground opinion...some like it, and some are hurt by the loss of tourism and business travelers.
You either have all citizens with a ZERO-covid policy that are allowed to consider us dirty, or you have the rest of us (Japan, USA, etc) that are just trying to move on with some dirt on us
I won't put any weight in Japanese opinion when Shibuya Crossing is packed. Except the opinion that we just need to move on
I don't care at all about the public health discussion, I'm only asking about the cultural discussion. The question I'm trying to figure out is simply how has COVID affected the tension between internationalist and isolationist elements within Japan?
If there were a lot of op-ed articles about foreigners spreading COVID around Japan that would be quite interesting, not for convincing me that restrictions are a good policy, but from the standpoint of trying to understand shifts in public opinion within Japan. There is certainly a lot more to the discussion than "some like it, and some are hurt by the loss of tourism and business travelers." That is equivalent to saying the rise of Trump in the Republican party in the US is just that "some people like him and some don't" when obviously there are lots of interesting demographic and historical trends at play; that is true whether or not you like him... :P