It's a pretty picture, but I still can't get a COVID vaccination in one of the world's richest countries...

Sunrise in Osaka 4:30 AM.

Spikes! 313 new COVID cases in Osaka yesterday. 1,397 new COVID cases in Tokyo yesterday. 79 reported COVID cases related to the Olympics before it even starts on Friday.

And my family and I are unable to get vaccinations. Maybe 20% of the population here has been fully vaccinated. Japan has not purchased enough Pfizer vaccinations to be distributed through local governments. My city cannot tell us when we can get vaccinated. Japan has not purchased enough Moderna vaccinations to be distributed through large companies and universities. My university cannot tell us when we can get vaccinated. (Japan has apparently secured Moderna to be available in 2022). But Japan purchased a lot of the AstraZeneca vaccine and now it is giving it to Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. Japan also seems to be waiting for their own domestic company's vaccine to be fast-tracked and available sometime this year... Despite being in a (quasi-) state of emergency and the Delta variant, my university is requiring faculty to teach hybrid/in-person classes; although there is a published safety procedure, I witness everyday how it is ignored.

This is our reality. Don't believe the token so-called foreign experts in Japan on CNN who claim Japanese people have a vaccine hesitancy. This is not true for most of us here (I do have informed and intelligent friends with personal situations who question the safety of vaccines and I respect their concerns.). This is not political or cultural; this is not the red & blue USA that offers beer, marijuana, money and guns as incentives to get the jabs. The Japanese government has strange priorities (don't get me started about the Olympic super-spreader, no alcohol and condoms meant not to be used in Japan...) and incompetent policies.

以上です。