Tweet of the Week #75: Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike Trolls Media with ‘Urgent’ Press Conference

Cases of coronavirus have reached new records in Tokyo following last week’s announcement that the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games would be postponed. This prompted authorities to hold several urgent press conferences to tell journalists what everyone already knew.

Avoid the three Cs

So far, communications from the Japanese government have been insufficient in helping folks living in Japan grasp how serious the situation is.

The Prime Minister Cabinet summed up social distancing with a word game, 3つ（みっつ）の密（みつ） which is pronounced mittsu no mitsu. It’s a clever kanji trick with 密 which translates to “close” or “intimate.” The cabinet office invented three key expressions to invite people living in Japan to avoid “confined spaces,” “crowded places,” and “close contact with people.” Thus the “three Cs” was born.

【#注意喚起】#新型コロナウイルス の集団発生防止に関するチラシを掲載しています。
「密閉空間・密集場所・密接場面」の3つの「密」を避けましょう。

チラシはこちらからダウンロードできます。ご自由に転載・印刷してお使いいただき、身近な方へもぜひお知らせください▼https://t.co/IZFu7QUfHH pic.twitter.com/3qsYRo6xVy

— 首相官邸(災害・危機管理情報) (@Kantei_Saigai) March 28, 2020

【#注意喚起（ちゅういかんき）】#新型（しんがた）コロナウイルス の集団発生防止（しゅうだんはっせいぼうし）に関（かん）するチラシを掲載（けいさい）しています。

「密閉空間（みっぺいくうかん）・密集場所（みっしゅうばしょ）・密接場面（みっせつばめん）」の3つ（みっつ）の「密（みつ）」を逃（に）けましょう。

チラシはこちらからダウンロードできます。ご自由（じゆう）に転載（てんさい）・印刷（いんさつ）してお使（つか）いいただき、身近（みぢか）な方（かた）へもぜひお知（し）らせください▼

=

[#Caution] We are providing #NovelCoronavirus outbreak prevention flyers. Avoid the three “intimate situations” which are closed spaces, crowded places, close contact.

You can download the flyer here. Feel free to reprint and use it to inform those around you ▼

If Japan seemed spared by the pandemic up until now, the jump in cases of coronavirus in Tokyo has raised strong concerns the city could follow a scenario similar to what happened in New York. Obviously, the three Cs strategy is failing hard to prevent an outbreak in Japan’s capital city.

For the first time last week, Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike hinted at a possible lockdown of Tokyo and asked people to avoid all unnecessary outings and stay home during the weekend.

Because legally, she cannot actually enforce a ban on going outside. She can only ask nicely.

Do as I say, not as I do

With the rumors of an incoming lockdown of Tokyo swirling on social media, the announcement of an urgent press conference from Governor Yuriko Koike Monday night added fuel to the fire. A lot of folks expected the conference to be a turning point, with the authorities taking important steps to ensure Tokyo peeps’ safety.

After a 30 min delay, the conference started in a crowded, confined room and viewers could hear ominous coughs. Turns out it was all for nothing.

Governor Yuriko Koike, along with government medical experts, repeatedly invited people, in particular young people, to refrain from non-essential outings, such as going out to bars, night clubs, live houses. And that’s all folks.

Japanese people turned to social media to point out the irony of the situation right away:

・不要不急の「3密」記者会見
・記者を夜に呼び出し「夜に繰り出すな」と要請
・特定業種を名指しで殺しにかかる
・あくまで「自粛」、もちろん補償ナシ
・それでも決して「パチンコ行くな」とは言わない

自粛対象の事業者は怒りを通り越して脱力してるぜ…　雇用保険未加入の失業者が増えそうだな… pic.twitter.com/xXWzRfKiWm

— ブラック企業アナリスト 新田 龍 (@nittaryo) March 30, 2020

・不要不急（ふようふきゅう）の「3密」記者会見（きしゃかいけん）

・記者を夜（よる）に呼（よ）び出（だ）し「夜に繰（く）り出（だ）すな」と要請（ようせい）

・特定（とくてい）業種（ぎょうしゅ）を指名（しめい）しで殺（ころ）しにかかる

・あくまで「自粛（じしゅく）」、もちろん補償（ほしょう）ナシ

・それでも決（け）して「パチンコ行（い）くな」とは言（い）わない

自粛対象（たいしょう）の事業者（じぎょうしゃ）は怒（いか）りを通（とう）り越（こ）して脱力（だつりょく）してるぜ…　雇用保険（こようほけん）未加入（みかにゅう）の失業者（しつぎょうしゃ）が増（ふ）えそうだな…

=

・The not urgent, not essential press conference respects the three C’s

・Have journalists come at night to request people “not to go out at night”

・Kill industries by naming them directly

・Till the end “restrain yourself”, of course without financial help

・Still, they never say “don’t go to the pachinko parlor”

Businesses targeted by self restraining measures are weakening passed anger… Unemployment without employment insurance is likely to increase…

The twitter user plays with the “facepalming Grace” meme often used by Japanese people to laugh at decision-makers. In the meme, taken from the manga Emma, the character of Grace says:

なんで, なんでそう変な方向（ほうこう）にばかり思い切りがいいのよ

which means, “Why!? Why are you so quick to make a weird decision?!”

A sarcastic journalist present pointed out the elephant in the room and point-blank asked what was the point of organizing a press conference late at night with no important news to communicate except to tell people not to go out… late at night.

To sum-up:

小池都知事ですね pic.twitter.com/zYcwKofNCU

— Kat "Join Your Union, Ask Me How" Callahan (@JezebelKat) March 30, 2020

小池都知事ですね = This is governor Koike, right.

Next time an urgent press conference is scheduled, we’ll pass and watch Netflix.

Using the Japanese imperative form to give orders

In order to follow your local authorities’ recommendations, you’d better understand the Japanese way to give orders. The easiest one you’ll learn is the polite suffix しなさい. Attached to the verb stem, なさい allows you to order people around in a polite way.

お知（し）らせください = (please) share

The actual Japanese imperative form to order someone “to do something” is so harsh that you’re better off not using it at all.

• Ru-verbs: る becomes ろ (考（かんが）える→ 考えろ = Think!)
• U-verbs: the last う-vowel becomes the え-vowel equivalent (書（か）く→書け = Write!)
• する becomes しろ (Do!)
• くる becomes こい (Come!)
• And finally, くれる exceptionally changes to くれ (Give!)

When you want to command someone not to do something, you simply attach the suffix な to the verb stem:

夜に繰り出すな = don’t go out at night!

パチンコ行くな = don’t go to the pachinko parlor!

While Tokyo isn’t officially on lockdown, please stay home to stop the novel coronavirus from spreading further in Japan. Social distancing is one of the most effective ways to flatten the curve and protect yourselves and everyone around us. Let’s hope Japan figures it out sooner rather than later.

Vocabulary

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