During the year-end holiday seasons I like reflecting on what happened during the year in Japan. 2020 is a difficult one because it was just. so. many. NEWS, but here goes.
今年の出来事、振り返ってみようと思います。おそらくコロナ関連が90%だと思うけど。
今年の出来事、振り返ってみようと思います。おそらくコロナ関連が90%だと思うけど。
January:
Ex-head of Nissan Carlos Ghosn stunned the world when he escaped from Japan to Lebanon. (Ya I kno he technically left on last day of 2019 dont @ me)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-01-06/how-carlos-ghosn-became-the-world-s-most-famous-fugitive?sref=Ns4A7pph
年始はゴーンの日本出国騒動があった。
Ex-head of Nissan Carlos Ghosn stunned the world when he escaped from Japan to Lebanon. (Ya I kno he technically left on last day of 2019 dont @ me)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-01-06/how-carlos-ghosn-became-the-world-s-most-famous-fugitive?sref=Ns4A7pph
年始はゴーンの日本出国騒動があった。
Jan. 16: Japan Min of Health confirmed first case of coronavirus in the country.
1月16日にはコロナ関連の肺炎患者が初めて確認された。 https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/newpage_08906.html
1月16日にはコロナ関連の肺炎患者が初めて確認された。 https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/newpage_08906.html
February: in the early days of Japan's handling of the virus, there was the Diamond Princess, a cruise ship that had been quarantined off Yokohama. A story by @GearoidReidy https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-20/japanese-professor-warns-of-need-to-prevent-a-second-wuhan?sref=Ns4A7pph
2月:ダイアモンドプリンセス号での集団感染 https://www.bloomberg.co.jp/news/articles/2020-02-20/Q5Z3IKDWRGGD01
2月:ダイアモンドプリンセス号での集団感染 https://www.bloomberg.co.jp/news/articles/2020-02-20/Q5Z3IKDWRGGD01
Ah, the March stock rout of 2020...
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 dropped as much as 10% on March 13.
3月:パンデミックの懸念で株価が下落。13日の日経平均の下落率は10%超えた。
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 dropped as much as 10% on March 13.
3月:パンデミックの懸念で株価が下落。13日の日経平均の下落率は10%超えた。
On March 24, then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the IOC agreed to delay the Tokyo Olympics for a year. By @JonHerskovitz
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-24/japan-s-abe-seeks-to-delay-tokyo-olympics-by-one-year-nhk-says?sref=Ns4A7pph
今年開催されるはずだった東京五輪はコロナにより21年夏まで延期。 https://www.bloomberg.co.jp/news/articles/2020-03-24/Q7P2NET0AFBD01
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-24/japan-s-abe-seeks-to-delay-tokyo-olympics-by-one-year-nhk-says?sref=Ns4A7pph
今年開催されるはずだった東京五輪はコロナにより21年夏まで延期。 https://www.bloomberg.co.jp/news/articles/2020-03-24/Q7P2NET0AFBD01
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike @ecoyuri asked residents to stay home for the weekend on March 25. Japan will soon be familiar with the phrase 不要不急 for the rest of the year.
3月25日:小池都知事が不要不急の外出を控えるよう呼びかけた。 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-25/virus-cases-jump-in-tokyo-governor-koike-set-to-brief-press?sref=Ns4A7pph
3月25日:小池都知事が不要不急の外出を控えるよう呼びかけた。 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-25/virus-cases-jump-in-tokyo-governor-koike-set-to-brief-press?sref=Ns4A7pph
April: Abe declares state of emergency for Tokyo, Osaka, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Hyogo, Fukuoka. By @IsabelRTokyo (He later expanded this to a nation-wide SOE)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-07/japan-s-abe-declares-state-of-emergency-over-coronavirus?sref=Ns4A7pph
4月:安倍前首相が東京、大阪など7都道府県を対象に緊急事態宣言を発令。 https://www.bloomberg.co.jp/news/articles/2020-04-05/Q8C8WB6TTDS001
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-07/japan-s-abe-declares-state-of-emergency-over-coronavirus?sref=Ns4A7pph
4月:安倍前首相が東京、大阪など7都道府県を対象に緊急事態宣言を発令。 https://www.bloomberg.co.jp/news/articles/2020-04-05/Q8C8WB6TTDS001
Japan then announced its cash handout program. Those who applied got 100,000 yen. By @ynohara1
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-17/japan-scrambles-to-give-926-to-everyone-in-nationwide-emergency?sref=Ns4A7pph
その後10万円の給付金も出てきた。生活困窮世帯への支給から国民に一律10万円を支給する方向に急転換。 https://www.bloomberg.co.jp/news/articles/2020-04-17/Q8VRLTT0AFB601
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-17/japan-scrambles-to-give-926-to-everyone-in-nationwide-emergency?sref=Ns4A7pph
その後10万円の給付金も出てきた。生活困窮世帯への支給から国民に一律10万円を支給する方向に急転換。 https://www.bloomberg.co.jp/news/articles/2020-04-17/Q8VRLTT0AFB601
Oh my goodness almost forgot about the Abenomasks! Japan distributed 2 reusable cloth masks per household. The plan backfired and got ridiculed on social media. By @GearoidReidy https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-02/from-abenomics-to-abenomask-japan-mask-plan-meets-with-derision?sref=Ns4A7pph
アベノマスクも配布されたなぁ。。。
アベノマスクも配布されたなぁ。。。
May: Japan lifted its state of emergency order.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-25/japan-s-government-says-time-right-to-lift-tokyo-emergency?sref=Ns4A7pph
5月:緊急事態宣言が解除された。 https://www.bloomberg.co.jp/news/articles/2020-05-24/QAQ0TNT1UM0Y01
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-25/japan-s-government-says-time-right-to-lift-tokyo-emergency?sref=Ns4A7pph
5月:緊急事態宣言が解除された。 https://www.bloomberg.co.jp/news/articles/2020-05-24/QAQ0TNT1UM0Y01
June: worked with @lisadont to look into how Japan tackled the pandemic-- through contact tracing and cluster-squashing. Can't thank the people who spoke to us for this story enough.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-23/the-low-tech-way-that-japan-managed-to-tackle-the-virus-quickly?utm_content=business&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business&utm_medium=social&sref=Ns4A7pph
日本の保健所についてリサ・ドゥ記者と書きました https://www.bloomberg.co.jp/news/articles/2020-06-23/QC05S7T0G1L201
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-23/the-low-tech-way-that-japan-managed-to-tackle-the-virus-quickly?utm_content=business&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business&utm_medium=social&sref=Ns4A7pph
日本の保健所についてリサ・ドゥ記者と書きました https://www.bloomberg.co.jp/news/articles/2020-06-23/QC05S7T0G1L201
July: there was a lot of debate over the "Go To" campaign which at first excluded Tokyo. By @max__zim and @xunxun365 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-21/japan-travel-campaign-delivers-double-whammy-to-tokyo-residents?sref=Ns4A7pph
7月にはGoToがスタート。 https://www.bloomberg.co.jp/news/articles/2020-07-22/QDRDH5DWLU7001
7月にはGoToがスタート。 https://www.bloomberg.co.jp/news/articles/2020-07-22/QDRDH5DWLU7001
August: this was bonkers, Abe resigned from PM office, citing chronic illness ulcerative colitis. There had been local reports of him going to the hospital, many had wondered if he was back for treatment again.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-28/japan-s-abe-plans-to-resign-due-to-health-reasons-nhk-keds6a3i?sref=Ns4A7pph
8月:安倍前首相辞任 https://www.bloomberg.co.jp/news/articles/2020-08-28/QF75D3DWRGG101
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-28/japan-s-abe-plans-to-resign-due-to-health-reasons-nhk-keds6a3i?sref=Ns4A7pph
8月:安倍前首相辞任 https://www.bloomberg.co.jp/news/articles/2020-08-28/QF75D3DWRGG101
*I would say Abe resigning might have been the most surprising event of the year. Given that he's been the face of Japan's leadership for my entire career as a journo in Tokyo, it truly felt like an end of an era.*
Some stonk news from Aug.--Berkshire Hathaway bought stake in 5 Japanese "shosha", or trading companies.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-31/buffett-s-bet-paves-way-for-japan-as-a-global-value-trade?sref=Ns4A7pph
8月はバークシャーが日本商社の株を取得したっけ。 https://www.bloomberg.co.jp/news/articles/2020-08-31/QFWI6MDWLU6Q01
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-31/buffett-s-bet-paves-way-for-japan-as-a-global-value-trade?sref=Ns4A7pph
8月はバークシャーが日本商社の株を取得したっけ。 https://www.bloomberg.co.jp/news/articles/2020-08-31/QFWI6MDWLU6Q01
September: SUGA RUSH, as @GearoidReidy liked to say. Yoshihide Suga named new PM. It spurred a "Suganomics" play in the stock market, with investors hunting for stocks related to digitalization and other policies he put forth.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-14/no-suga-rush-japan-s-new-leader-seen-keeping-equities-stable?sref=Ns4A7pph
9月:菅首相就任。
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-14/no-suga-rush-japan-s-new-leader-seen-keeping-equities-stable?sref=Ns4A7pph
9月:菅首相就任。
Suga's push for telecom companies to cut phone plan prices have spurred companies to slash prices/introduce new plans, etc. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-18/suga-win-boosts-data-firm-stocks-while-mobile-carriers-drop?sref=Ns4A7pph
1st day of Oct.: Tokyo Stock Exchange suspended trading for an entire day due to hardware outage. Our piece here on how that day unfolded, with @GearoidReidy @leeminjeong83
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-02/how-one-piece-of-hardware-took-down-a-6-trillion-stock-market?sref=Ns4A7pph
10月:ハードウェア故障により東証が終日売買を停止。 https://www.bloomberg.co.jp/news/articles/2020-10-01/QHI53ZDWRGGD01
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-02/how-one-piece-of-hardware-took-down-a-6-trillion-stock-market?sref=Ns4A7pph
10月:ハードウェア故障により東証が終日売買を停止。 https://www.bloomberg.co.jp/news/articles/2020-10-01/QHI53ZDWRGGD01
...and the outage saga is still continuing, with the most recent here-- Tokyo Stock Exchange CEO Miyahara stepped down over the worst trading outage the exchange has experienced. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-30/tokyo-exchange-executives-set-to-be-penalized-for-outage-report?sref=Ns4A7pph
In Oct., a film based on the manga series "Demon Slayer" was released. It's now close to beating "Spirited Away" to becoming the highest-grossing film in Japan of all time... 10月は鬼滅の刃の映画が上映スタート、2020年を象徴する社会現象なのでは。 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-18/a-new-anime-empire-is-set-to-slay-studio-ghibli-in-virus-era?sref=Ns4A7pph
November: U.S. ELECTIONS, what else.
11月:言うまでもないと思うけど米国選挙。
(ここまでの流れ見るとかなりドタバタな8-11月だったな。。。)
11月:言うまでもないと思うけど米国選挙。
(ここまでの流れ見るとかなりドタバタな8-11月だったな。。。)
I would end this thread somehow, but given what happened on the last day of 2019 (cough Ghosh cough), I'm gonna leave this open-ended until we hit 2021. Will probably come back to this to add more later...
とりあえずここまでにしておきます。21年になるまで何が起こるかわからないので(てかゴーンの出国ニュースも大晦日に出たし)また来週付け加えたりします。まじで嵐のような1年だった。。