Reuters: Hording in Tokyo:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/panic-buying-tokyo-residents-asked-030017194.html

Article:

TOKYO (Reuters) - Residents of the Japanese capital formed long queues at supermarkets and stores on Friday, in preparation for a weekend at home, after Tokyo's governor urged them to stay indoors in a bid to keep a coronavirus from spreading.

The governor's plea to avoid non-essential, non-urgent outings until April 12, and particularly this weekend, prompted a rush for supplies of everything from instant noodles to toiletries and fresh produce, despite warnings against hoarding.

Comments and Ideas:

So it looks like "hording" or "panic buying" has finally reached Japan or Tokyo, as its been quite common in other parts of the world. Of course there were reports of hording or panic buying of masks and toilet tissue before but not other items.

What is the reason for "hording"? Consumers, people, see pictures all over the news of hording around the world and then  they begin to panic and get worried too. But again why the hording?

I can't say there is enough supply of whatever, when we all see pictures of empty supermarket shelves etc. in stores. Or the picture of people in supermarkets breaking down crying when they see empty shelves of food they think they need, especially the elderly woman in Australia who stood there crying looking at an empty supermarket shelf. Very heartbreaking, if you have a heart towards people.

So again why? I guess the only reasonable answer is fear. We as consumers, people, are afraid of whatever and we panic and have no choice but to horde because we don't know what the future is.

Article:

"If convenience stores and supermarkets stay open, people will stay calm," said Yuri Inoue, a 31-year-old graphic designer, who admitted to being a "panic buyer".

"The government should emphasize that point more strongly," she told Reuters, adding that had stored two weeks of supplies to allay the concerns of her parents.

Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike appealed for calm, while repeating her request to avoid public gatherings at the weekend.

"But I am saying you can go to supermarkets to buy food or medicines or go to hospitals," she told a city government meeting.

"I would like to ask Tokyo citizens for calm behaviour."

Comments and Ideas:

Yes, stay calm, but as we have seen, people, consumers, are not calm or rational now. They, we, are all in a panic mode. Yes we can be positive and say the stores are selling a lot of items. But how long will that last.

A few days of panic buying and then the rest of the week no buying or less buying, or less consumers out there buying.

People panic because they see other people out there panicking.

To be honest, here in South Korea, there has been no panic buying of food or tissue etc. The only panic buying has been masks, which the government has clamped down on with mandatory buying days and limitations of the number than can be bought There is plenty of everything at the supermarkets here. But people are people, you never know, it could easily start in SK too. Who knows? No one place is immune to fear.

Article:

A surge in infections this week, with 40 new cases on Friday, has carried Tokyo's tally to 299.

While the figure is not high for a city of nearly 14 million, experts have warned of a high risk of an "overshoot", or explosive rise, since authorities have not been able to track all the contacts of more than half the newest cases.

Tokyo has also urged people not to congregate in parks for the famed traditional viewing of springtime cherry blossoms, and plans to shut zoos and aquariums for two weeks.

Koike asked people to wait until next year to glimpse the flowers, adding, "The cherry blossoms will bloom again next year."

Parts of three of the city's parks will be closed to the public until after the flower-viewing season, a Tokyo government official told Reuters, without specifying the dates.

Comments and Ideas:

South Korea has over 9,000 cases now but there is no panicking. Yes Seoul is beginning to see more but with many more recoveries than cases now. And yes the government has now put in place a two week mandatory self-isolation, Korean or foreigner, for those coming into the country. But there has only been suggestions or recommendations of citizen's self isolation.

Yes no matter what the number, the increase in cases is not good, not to downplay the low number in Tokyo. Korea too has closed parks etc, just to be safe etc. as people are people and they want to get out and see the cherry blossom in Korea too.

People need to be disciplined, in Korea and Japan, and try to not cause problems before both countries put limits on movements like in Spain and Italy.

Article:

Retail giants Takashimaya <8233.T> and Matsuya <8237.T> said they would shut department stores in the city on the weekend.

The governor of Japan's Osaka prefecture, Hirofumi Yoshimura, asked residents on Friday to refrain from making non-essential outings this weekend, Kyodo news reported, joining Tokyo.

Some 13 regional prefectures, including Miyagi in the north and Shimane to the west, have asked people to refrain from traveling to Tokyo, according to Kyodo.

Japan's virus infections have climbed to more than 1,400, with 47 deaths, excluding those from a cruise ship quarantined last month. Globally, infections have topped half a million, with more than 24,000 deaths.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to order the preparation of an economic package with spending of $135 billion or more, government officials and lawmakers say, joining global policymakers in rolling out fiscal stimulus to avert a downturn.

Comments and Ideas:

Self discipline and not going to places with large crowds seems very reasonable for the situation for now. The Japanese government, maybe like the US government, or many governments is probably going to have to make record level stimulus programs and maybe more than once or even twice or the next year.

Article:

Japan does not yet require declaration of a state of emergency, however, Abe said on Friday, but if announced, media said, it could prompt a 21-day lockdown of regions with numerous infections.

During the morning rush hour, some subway lines in central Tokyo usually crowded with commuters standing elbow-to-elbow were visibly less crowded, and some even had vacant seats.

A truck driver said he had worked 12- to 13-hour shifts each day for the past month, delivering toilet paper and tissue to drug stores, compared to five-day weeks of 9 to 10 hour shifts before the hoarding began.

"It's been tough," he told Reuters, declining to give his name. "This job involves a lot of lifting, so I don't know how long my body can last at this pace."

Others worried about losing work as economic activity slows.

"If I stay at home, I'll just worry about things: money, the virus, making a living," said taxi driver Takahiko Nihei. "But if I get out and around, I can forget this for a while."

Comments and Ideas:

No state of emergency yet in Japan. If Japan citizens, who usually, are in-tune for the good of society, can maintain discipline and self-isolate or "physical distance" themselves, there might not be a need for a state of emergency like other places in the world.

Again there is no state of emergency in South Korea, yet, but who knows.

Yes, the truck drive and the taxi driver worries are probably the same anywhere in the world now.

Everyone have a nice day and be safe out there!

© 2020, Tom Metts, all rights reserved