Besides the changing of restaurant closing times it is also important to point out that nearly everyone in Japan follows the masks rules. That is why such a policy would not work as well in the U.S. where so many people still do not wear masks:

Call it the Zen art of lockdowns. In the fight to suppress Covid-19, Japan has found success by stripping down its policy to one simple measure: closing restaurants and bars at 8 p.m.

When the government declared a state of emergency in Tokyo and other urban areas on Jan. 7, it changed little, except to urge places that serve food and drinks to close by 8 p.m. Most complied in exchange for support that includes payments of about $600 a day. 

Infections since then have fallen by more than two-thirds nationwide, even though other daily activities such as shopping and commuting have continued. The government hopes to lift the state of emergency by March 7.

Wall Street Journal

You can read more at the link.

Like I said before signing a new cost sharing deal would be a simple win for the Biden administration. The reported 13% rise allows the administration to say they were able to get the ROK to pay more when the Trump administration with their hardline tactics could not:

The United States and South Korea are just weeks away from coming together on a new cost-sharing deal for stationing 28,500 U.S. troops on the peninsula, CNN reported Wednesday.

The report, which cited five anonymous sources familiar with the discussions, said the contract taking shape is a multiyear deal that increases Seoul’s contribution by about 13%.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Some good news for parents looking to get their kids back to school in South Korea:

U.S. Forces Korea is lowering the coronavirus risk level across more of the peninsula, including at its largest installation, leaving only the Seoul region under the strictest prohibitions for the U.S. military.

The change takes effect 7 a.m. Monday, after the three-day Lunar New Year holiday in South Korea. It coincides with level two social distancing rules in the country, which limit some businesses’ hours and social gatherings to no more than 100 people, according to the Tuesday announcement.

Area I includes the north and northeast region of the country up to the border with North Korea. Area III covers the central region where Osan Air Base and Camp Humphreys are situated. The Seongnam area south of Seoul and the Han River is also included in the change. (………..)

Under condition Bravo, students in Department of Defense Education Activity schools at Camp Humphreys and Osan Air Base will return Tuesday to in-person classes, DODEA-Korea district superintendent Jeff Arrington said in a memo emailed to parents on Tuesday.

Students moved to online learning after USFK raised the HPCON level to Charlie in late December when schools let out for winter break. Students at Camps Walker and George, in the country’s south, returned to school on Tuesday.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It is an amazing phenomenon that it appears only U.S. military training causes noise and not ROK military training. It is kind of like how American radars are supposedly dangerous and Korean ones are not:

 A planned live-fire exercise involving Apache attack helicopters of the U.S. Forces Korea has been suspended following noise and other complaints from residents near the firing range in the southeastern city of Pohang, officials said. 

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission said the drill, which had been scheduled to begin on Tuesday and continue until next month, will be suspended while a mediation procedure is under way with residents near the Suseong firing range in Pohang.

“As the live-fire drill cannot be suspended for a long time, we expect the commission’s prompt and reasonable mediation,” defense ministry spokesperson Boo Seung-chan said during a regular press briefing.

Earlier, some 2,800 residents living near the range filed a petition with the agency calling for the cancellation of the exercise and closure of the facility, citing noise and vibration caused by the exercise. 

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The UN previously reported in 2019 that the Kim regime has stolen up to $2 billion through cyber attacks and last year they stole $316 million on top of that. Yet supposedly they can’t feed their own people and the Moon administration wants to funnel even more cash to the regime:

New York (CNN)North Korea‘s army of hackers stole hundreds of millions of dollars throughout much of 2020 to fund the country’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs in violation of international law, according to a confidential United Nations report.The document accused the regime of leader Kim Jong Un of conducting “operations against financial institutions and virtual currency exchange houses” to pay for weapons and keep North Korea’s struggling economy afloat. One unnamed country that is a member of the UN claimed the hackers stole virtual assets worth $316.4 million dollars between 2019 and November 2020, according to the document.

CNN via a reader tip

You can read more at the link.

With tensions increasing between the U.S. and China over Taiwan, the Japanese Times has a long article about what Japan should do in response. Here is an excerpt:

Ben Self, vice president of the Mike and Maureen Mansfield Foundation, counters that “overt steps by Tokyo to defend Taipei will produce a reflexive and even neuralgic response” in Beijing. While he concedes that this may look like appeasement, it is in fact “an acceptance of the reality that this issue is one of critical national importance to the CCP and its regime stability.”

That doesn’t mean abandoning the island. Instead, Self argues, Japan should “significantly increase interoperability with the United States, while maintaining current levels of sub rosa contact with Taiwan’s defense establishment.”

Even that will be difficult. Any effort to strengthen ties with Taiwan must overcome the powerful opposition of political and business forces in Tokyo that prioritize smooth relations with Beijing.

Yoji Koda, former Maritime Self-Defense Force fleet commander, laments that “overdependence on China’s market and too-deep interdependence really impede efforts to promote and improve Japan-Taiwan relations.”

He believes the government is similarly inclined to overweight Beijing’s concerns. Weak leadership “that does not want to create complicated issues with China prevents Japan from taking active actions and maneuvers to help Taiwan.” Nothing will change, he warns, until something serious happens between Japan and China or Taiwan and China. That possibility grows more likely daily.

Japan Times

You can read more at the link, but basically Japan wants to keep the status quo like just about every other country in the region. However, as China grows in military might it appears they are less interested in maintaining the status quo and at some point nations in the region are going to have to make tough decisions.