Youths, Summer Festivals, and an Increasing Willingness to Defy Government Recommendations on COVID in Japan

Like other countries in the world, summer in Japan is often defined by summer festivals, ranging from more traditional family outings in local shrines and fireworks events, to more modern ones that involve trending musicians from all over the world. In the pre-COVID days, crowds would have gathered by the thousands, crowding around stages and drinking from dawn to dusk. Even when outdoor festivals are not happening, balmy summer nights would have driven many youngsters to the plentiful bars and nightclubs of the country's biggest cities, as hopping among them would have taken such a physical toll.

COVID, at least, has temporarily put a stop to the summer partying for some time. Relying on citizens to voluntarily give up entertainment in crowded places has been a pillar of Japan's battle with COVID thus far. However, as the government's request for the general public to make self-sacrifices to keep COVID at bay increased from weeks to months and then to over a year, with no end in sight, summer festivals are now making a comeback despite local governments' continuing to plead festival organizers to ensure that the events are at least held under (pretty much impossible) condition of social distancing.

A couple of these events have been hot-button topics in Japanese mainstream media in recent weeks, highlighting just how hapless the local governments are at continuing to ensure cooperation from the private sector in adhering to COVID recommendations. Just this month, multiple mainstream media outlets reported on a music festival in Tokoname, Aichi prefecture (愛知県常滑市) that led to a cluster of 44 new infections (and probably spreading), while the Super Sonic music festival here in Chiba prefecture has decided to go ahead despite the fallout from Tokoname.

The fact that the event organizers openly defied the wishes of the local governments (and possibly a good chunk of the general public) says something about the increasing dissonance between what the authorities believe is the correct way to handle the ongoing COVID pandemic versus the clearly contrary ideas that some citizens, especially the young, hold at this point in time. Encouraged by the news that young people are less likely to end up severely debilitated, any possibility armed with a "you only live once" mentality, the youths of this country (and certainly elsewhere as well) are now determined to not spend their best years in their homes.

While few businesses are as blatant in their disregard for the wishes of the local authorities as the organizers of these summer festivals, they are certainly not alone in catering to the wishes of the youths (and others) to have some semblance of pre-COVID life. The services industry, suffering from months of government-induced public sentiment about serving alcohol and opening past 8 pm, now sees public opinion changing in their favor, and are, ever so discreetly and gradually, lengthening their opening hours and serving alcohol more openly to gauge the reactions of the public. 

It certainly helps that little official penalty has been levied on the organizers of the summer festivals in Aichi and Chiba prefectures. After the governors of the two prefectures held press conferences to display their anger at the organizers going ahead with the events despite government pleas for them to cancel or postpone, there were simply no updates to the issues. The public is not informed of any repercussions the event organizers faced for defying the wishes of the local government, so other firms in a similar position can only assume that they can easily get away with hosting similar events.

Yet, it could also be a good thing that the general public and businessmen in the service industry are now so nonchalant about going against the wishes of the government. Whereas countries like China and Australia put policymaking behind the implementation of "zero-COVID" approaches that seek to stamp out any outbreaks through coercive measures, the Japanese government, despite publicly announced wishes to suppress the number of new cases, have quietly loosened restrictions that are effective against COVID, in essence telling the public to prioritize their daily lives over strict COVID control.

In such a way, the country may be preparing for a world "with COVID" better than the ones sticking to "zero COVID." A combination of outward support for case suppression and little policy backup tells the citizens, and especially the youths, that COVID should no longer dominate how the government thinks about the running of the country and how people should go about their lives. The resulting complacency may harm continuing efforts for vaccination and erode trust in the effectiveness of governance and policymaking, but at the very least, some people are happy that there is a more tolerable balance between life and COVID.