Makiko Itoh : Not a nameless cat.

Bentos are also used to help people in dire straits. These are bentos distributed to low income single parent families in Saitama. www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/2020…

This tonkatsu restaurant included a free cabbage with their bento. Their cabbage is said to be extra sweet and delicious. twitter.com/a_r_s_ninomi/s…

A char siu packed bento from a Chinese restaurant, and 3 Michelin Star restaurant bentos pic.twitter.com/U0EtAqcOLi

From humble izakaya and tiny mom and pop one-counter places to Michelin starred restaurants, many eateries in Japan are doing takeout bentos to help bring in some revenue. pic.twitter.com/Gm7QZKaoso

An NHK newsreader (can’t remember which), when he announced the new positives numbers for the day, added “there is no dinner, no drink, no party, no shopping trip, no family gathering, that is worth losing a life for”. Yep.

Some places also have “meal tickets” on sale, good for future meal. This person bought a bento and a meal ticket. twitter.com/kobakuni/statu…

This gas company in Shizuoka actively encourages their employees to buy bentos from local businesses. This day they report they ordered 84 bentos. twitter.com/shizuokagas_pr…

Many bentos are really cheap. This one in Nagasaki is just 500 yen incl. tax and comes with miso soup. pic.twitter.com/VEuFrdcDSN

Some are giving away free bentos too, like this hinabe place, which is handing out 500 bentos a day. pic.twitter.com/oCYGp2cbzZ

Funabashi (Chiba), Omiya (Saitama), Umeda (Osaka), Namba (Osaka) stations pic.twitter.com/OPFpHVTgUW

Prof. Hayano’s sub log graph of daily COVID-19 positives Days taken for cases to double as of April 17 18:00 National: 14.0 days 1/ twitter.com/hayano/status/…

Data is from based on NTT Docomo mobile data, JR, Agoop mobile apps PDF w/graphs of the Agoop data corona.go.jp/toppage/pdf/ar…

Sannomiya (Kobe), Tenjin (Fukuoka) stations pic.twitter.com/0bpemXR4EC

Osaka, Sannomiya (Kobe), Hakata (Fukuoka) stations pic.twitter.com/7YchSJp5ZF

Omiya (Saitama), Chiba, all Tokyo Metro stations, Otemachi stations pic.twitter.com/1Jd60EJ38z

Data on traffic through main train stations in Japan.Almost all Tokyo stations down 70% or more compared to last year corona.go.jp Tokyo, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ikebukuro, Yokohama stations pic.twitter.com/UAXDMqV6t5

Also down compared to 1/18-2/14 of this year, though down more in Tokyo vs. other areas This is Tokyo, Shinbashi,Shinjuku,Shinagawa stations: Compared to day before Compared to b4 Apr 7 Compared to 1/18-2/14 pic.twitter.com/e9OY2R4arr

Same for Shibuya, Yokohama, Kawasaki, Chiba stations pic.twitter.com/MKJR5FMpOt

Amabie in use on the official Ministry of Health LINE account pic.twitter.com/cqVN95uCSS

Positives in Japan (orange) and Singapore (purple) increasing at similar rates; S Korea (black) and Taiwan (blue) flat (The dotted lines are deaths) twitter.com/hayano/status/…