IS IT SAFE TO VISIT TAIWAN?

We are a few days away from our exciting adventure to the Orient.  One stop will be Taiwan.  However, Japan-China relations just deteriorated.

• Japan's first female Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on 31October2025.  All went well.

• 
  But on November 7, Takaichi veered from Japan's policy of "strategic ambiguity" about Taiwan, suggesting that an attack on Taiwan could amount to a "survival-threatening situation" that would permit Japan to exercise collective self-defense.
• This drew the ire of China, which has maintained that Taiwan is part of China, and that they will someday, by force, if necessary, regain total control,  as was done with Hong Kong.  We also will visit that city, twice on this trip.
• Takaichi refused to retract her remarks.

• 
  Usually, most of what happens is just tense talk, but this time, China urged their citizens to hold off on any trip to Japan this year.
• If the Chinese take this seriously, Japan will be significantly affected, for a quarter of all foreign visitors come from China.  This is up to 7.5 million tourists from mainland China for the first nine months of 2025.

After a few days in Yokohama, we will board the Diamond Princess for Singapore on November 25, with stops in Taiwan and Hong Kong. 

• This is our favorite cruise ship, our third time on board.
• It's usually sold out by now.
• But I just went to Vacations to Go to check, and found the following.

• Brochure Inside$3,855

  Our Inside$1,208

  You Save69%
  Brochure Oceanview$4,320

  Our Oceanview$1,413

  You Save                                67%
• Clearly, many tourists from China have cancelled.

Some history.

• We spent two weeks on the Diamond Princess at the end of 2019.
• My posting on 25January2020 was:  China, Another Pandemic?

• 
  Five days later:  Latest on the Coronavirus and My Chinese New Year Cuisine.  Clearly, I did not then realize how serious this disease was.

• 
  On 1February2020:  Everything You Need to Know About Coronavirus Super Bowl LIV.  To quote:
• The death toll has now passed 250, total.  However, keep in mind that 3700 die DAILY from traffic accidents, and we still keep on driving.
• Thailand was #2 in cases, next to China:  Yikes!  Thailand has more Wuhan coronavirus cases outside of China.  I leave for Bangkok in ten days.

• 
  2February2020:  Could the Wuhan Coronavirus be a Sign of Doomsday?
• The death toll from the Wuhan Coronavirus is now past 300, with 14,300 confirmed cases.  A Wuhan man visiting the Philippines perished with this disease.  He is the first to die outside of China.
• As I am still scheduled to fly to Thailand in 10 days, here is a graphic from the Bangkok Post:

• 
  12February2020:  Thai Adventure:  Day 0--Honolulu.
• I leave this morning for Bangkok.  A simple trip with five others has now been reduced to three because the others felt it was too dangerous because of the coronavirus epidemic that has spread to Thailand.  There has been a lot of concern expressed to me by residents of 15 Craigside, mostly for my welfare.  However, no doubt there is also a worry that I will return to infect them with some horrible tropical disease, like perhaps the Wuhan coronavirus, which, incidentally, now has an official name:  COVID-19.  The 19 because it was discovered in 2019.
• 
  Thailand is now up to 33 cases, the latest a 54-year old Chinese woman from Wuhan, who is now in quarantine.  So far, no fatalities.  The government barred passengers on Holland America's MS Westerdam from disembarking, even though the cruise started in Singapore, with an eventual destination of  Yokohama.  That cruise ship I was on in December, the Diamond Princess, now quarantined in Yokohama, is now up to 175 cases of COVID-19.
• 
  20February2020:  Phuket to Chiang Mai.
• Then it got worse, for the person who sat between us had a mask on and was coughing.  I tried to do as little talking to him as possible anyway, but we then found out he was visiting Phuket from CHINA!  How did he get into Thailand, we asked, for people from there are not allowed in.  He said something about the laxness of flying in from a small airport in his country into Phuket.  While most in the plane wore masks, except me, every few seconds someone in plane coughed.  Hope these were the ones wearing a mask.  Nevertheless, I had a beer with macadamia nuts while everyone was coughing around me.  Seemed like I was the only one eating.
• 
  To close, China has the most confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 74,516, and deaths, 2.113.  Slight less than a 2% fatality rate.  The Diamond Princess is #2 with 634 cases and two deaths, both in their 80's.  If no more cases are found, the number of deaths should just about reach double digits, or 10.  Thailand has dropped to #7, and, with no deaths.  Since we arrived almost ten days ago there might have been only one or two additional COVID-19 confirmations.
• 
  5March2020:  The Latest Facts About COVID-19.
• Two items of personal note.  When I arrived in Thailand on February, it was #2 to China on number of COVID-19 cases.  During my two-week stay, no new cases.  Thailand is now #23, although since I left they added ten cases with one, and only, death.  No such thing as tiger flu.

• 
  I stepped on to the Diamond Princess on November 29 and disembarked on December 7.  On January 20 an 80-year old passenger boarded this ship.  He had COVID-19, leading to 696 cases and 6 deaths.

• 
  COVID-19 Pandemic on Diamond Princess.
• Of the 3711 people on board, 712 (19%) became infected with the virus and 14 died, a mortality rate of 2%.  
• Ultimately, the world mortality rated ended up at 1%.
• However, if you were 85 and over, the rate was close to 8%, while if you were under 20 years old, only 0.001%.
• Crew members were much younger than passengers, and no staff person died.
• Watch this video.

• 
  Diamond Princess.
• 80-year old passenger from Hong Kong had been in Shenzen, China on January 10, and was coughing on January 19.

• 
  Ship left Yokohama on January 20.
• That passenger left the cruise when the ship reached Hong Kong on January 25.

• 
  Ship was then quarantined at Naha Port, Okinawa on February 1, but continued normal operations, and left for Yokohama, arriving on February 3, but no one could leave the ship.
• Most of the infections occurred from February 2-4.
• 10 of 31 people tested positive on February 4, so ship was quarantined off Yokohama for a two-week period.
• On February 7, up to 61 cases.
• February 10:  135 cases.
• February 13:  218 cases.
• 
  February 16/17, two chartered planes carrying 328 (of 400) Americans arrived in the U.S., and they were all quarantined.
• Other countries also did the same.
• February 19:  621 cases.  On that day those passengers who tested negative began to disembark.

• 
  February 20:  The World Health Organization reported the total number of cases outside China to be 1076, meaning that more than half were from the Diamond Princess.
• March 1:  all passengers and crew members left ship.
• May 16:  Diamond Princess departed to Malaysia.

• 
  It was determined that ship quarantine is bad, for cruise ships do not use HEPA filters which can screen 99% of particles, as is used in modern aircraft.
• A movie as made:  Frontline--Yokohama Bay.

Our upcoming Diamond Princess cruise will be the extended one, for 28-nights.

-

MY RE-IMAGINED 2020 GLOBAL ADVENTURE

SERIOUS ALERT!!!  I was watching NHK World and read that there are now ten confirmed coronavirus cases on the Diamond Princess.  The patients were all taken to a hospital.  Cruise passengers just got their vacation on the ship extended by two weeks.  This alert relates to a note in this posting about the ship (see below).



Four years ago I announced a possible global cruise beginning in 2018.  Well that did not materialize because the person who inspired me to imagine that adventure ended his role as president of his university in Japan to take on a more important position.  So the cruise was advanced to January of 2020.

Well, this is now January of 2020, and my friend now runs the science program under the Prime Minister of his country.  So, I need to re-assess this ultimate journey.

The good news is that I possibly found a cabin-mate who will hopefully pay half her way, and a couple of other colleagues who appear to be interested in joining us.  There could well be more.  

The current thinking is a cruise from Honolulu to Singapore, followed by a Star Alliance Around the World ticket in business class.  This means that we will end up in Honolulu in the spring of 2021, and will have almost a full year to complete a second set of itineraries to Singapore.  You can play with 15 maximum stops, but keep in mind that a "stop" is every time a plane lands.  If you continue on a connecting flight to your intended next airport, you will have taken two stops, even though this is one stay.

Fortuitously, the Grand Princess: 

• Departs Los Angeles for Honolulu on 24 October 2020, and arrives on October 29.  Can you board in Honolulu?  Maybe not.  Need to look into this.  This is because I live in Honolulu.

• Heads for Kona on the 30th, then on to Guam.  
• Arrives in Osaka on November 12
• Cheju-do, South Korea on November 17 
• Tianjin, China on November 19
• Inchon, South Korea on November 22
• Shanghai, China on November 25
• back to Nagasaki, Japan on November 26
• Pusan, South Korea on November 27
• Hualien, Taiwan on November 29
• Kaohsiung, Taiwan on November 30
• Hong Kong on December 2
• Phu My, Vietnam on December 5
• Bangkok Thailand on December 7
• Koh Samui, Thailand on December 8
• Singapore on December 10

For the thrifty, Princess and Holland America are the cheapest.  At this time a balcony room starts at $7,679/person.  We are looking at lower cost opportunities.  If the Diamond Princess we cruised on last month is an indicator, the Grand Princess should be quite acceptable.

I thought I'd avoid even mentioning the Wuhan coronavirus today, but of all the coincidences, the Diamond Princess, with 3500 passengers and crew, just got quarantined, at sea, just off Yokohama, the home port.  The afflicted person confirmed with the coronavirus is an 80-year old from Hong Kong.  He had visited mainland China only for a few hours on January 10.  Flew into Tokyo on the 17th, began to develop a cough two days later and boarded the Diamond Princess in Yokoyama on January 20.  He never visited the ship's medical center and got off in Hong Kong on January 25, where he disembarked. He finally sought medical attention on January 30.  He is currently in a stable condition.  Passengers also disembarked in Okinawa, so a lot tracing in both sites are ongoing.

By the way, the  6,000 passengers on the Costa Smeralda in Italy were de-quarantined, for the two guests had the H1N1 flu virus.  The Wuhan coronavirus has now killed 427 people and infected more than 20,000.  Still in the range of 2% fatality.  The U.S. CDC reported that no one has died of this coronavirus in the USA, but from October 1 to January 25, up to 25,000 died of the "common" flu in the country.

So, returning to the proposed 2020 Global Adventure, from Singapore, Star-Alliance Around the World in Business Class would be my choice.  Why?  Because I am heading for 3 million miles and have certain advantages.  Plus, there are 28 member airlines operating 18,400 daily flights, connecting 1300 destinations in 191 countries.

The last around the world trip I took was almost four years ago and went on for 44 days on Business Class, where the flight part cost around $12,000.  Economy class would have been $6000, while first class slightly more than $20,000.  Read a three-part final summary:

• two weeks in Japan
• Bangkok, Hong Kong and Seoul
• Munich, Washington DC, Stanford campus, San Francisco and week of golf with Kenji's group

After a few days in Singapore, Singapore Air has the perfect flight to Dubai that leaves at 3:05PM and, nonstop, arrives at 6:45PM.  Why Dubai?  The World's Fair, or Expo 2020, which begins on 20 October 2020 and ends on 10 April 2021!  Four full days should be enough.  We need to also visit the tallest building in world, the Burj Khalifa.  However by then, the Jeddah Tower in Saudi Tower could be functional and 236 feet taller.

But the Dubai Mall is the biggest shopping mall by land area.  By the way, there are 43 different Marriott hotels in Dubai.

What after Dubai?  Not sure.  Probably a direct flight on Lufthansa to Munich on December 17.  There is an eight-day Crystal Christmas cruise from Basel to Amsterdam, departing on December 22.  Probably quite expensive in the $6,000 person range, if a room is available.  There are other cheaper cruise lines.

Then a few days in Amsterdam.  I show the Marriott Amsterdam Hotel because I will be staying in their properties.  However, having bought out Sheraton, Marriott now has 6900 hotels featuring 30 brands. in 130 countries.  I'll try to find those with an executive club that offers free food and drinks.

Next?  Scandinavia?  Probably, the sixth leg of the trip will take us back to North America.  Perhaps Montreal.  Then San Francisco, which is my favorite stop before Honolulu.  This will mean that there should be at least six stops available during the Fall of 2021 to take us from Honolulu to Singapore. 

Then what?  The world trip has ended, meaning an expensive business class trip back to Honolulu.  Possible from Singapore to Australia, then Auckland, and, finally Honolulu.

In any case, the itinerary after Dubai is wide open for others to provide input.  Let me know if you're interested.

-

DONALD TRUMP AND THE COVID PANDEMIC

A coronavirus outbreak began in Wuhan, China in December 2019.  We were on the Diamond Princess  in the Orient that month.  Came back to Hawaii.  

• However this same ship on 20January2020 boarded an 80-year old passenger from Hong Kong with a respiratory ailment, and started the international spread.  

• 
  The Diamond Princess on 3February2020 returned to Yokohama, but had to anchor at sea, for a strange new disease seemed to be spreading.
• Unknowingly, we flew from Honolulu to Bangkok, Thailand on 11February2020.

• 
  That day the World Health Organization announced the official name for this virus would be COVID-19, CO for corona, VI for virus, D for diseases and 19, the year (2019) it was first discovered.
• Ultimately, with 2,666 passengers and a crew of 1,045, 712 became infected, with 14 deaths.  Interestingly enough, 20% of the people on the ship were infected, and of those, 2% died.  So far, in the world, there have been 704,753,890 cases and 7,010,681 deaths, a mortality rate of 1%.
• Passengers testing negative were allowed to leave the ship on 19February2020.
• WHO on 20February2020 indicated that  of all the number of this new virus cases in the world outside of China, half of them were on the Diamond Princess.
• 
  On 20February2020 we flew from Phuket to Chiang Mai.  Click on that for you'll find interest in this flight:
• Already, most of the passengers were wearing masks...except me.
• A person sitting between us had a mask on, but was coughing.
• We tried not to face him, but nevertheless found out that he was visiting from China.
• So I asked how did he get into Thailand.  He said that he flew out of a small airport in China to Phuket, and there were no restrictions.  Only international airports then checked.
• But heck, I had a Chang beer and some macadamia nuts.
• I was somewhat worried about contracting this new disease, but nothing happened. Whew!
• We returned home on 17February2020 with posting titled, I'M HOME AND FEELING FINE.
• The COVID-19 timeline:

Next, some Trump history on how he handled the COVID-19 Pandemic:

• To quote CNN: The Point on 21September2020 (just before the presidential election):

Donald Trump gives himself an ‘A+’ for his handling of the coronavirus. Uh, what?

• 
  Above was the title of the article.
• At this point, the nation was nearing 200,000 covid deaths.
• Going back to mid-March 2019 as the virus was beginning to spread, Trump rated himself a 10 out of 10.
• 
  Then in July of 2019, when asked by Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward what grade he would give himself, Trumps said an A.
• How, you might ask yourself, could this President give himself top marks in handling the pandemic when he had admitted to downplaying the threat it posed to the public, driven skepticism about mask-wearing, pushed unproven (and even dangerous) remedies to deal with the virus and repeatedly underestimated the death toll?
• Simple! Trump lives in a fantasy world of his own creation. He always has. In that world, he is the smartest, the savviest, the coolest, the best-looking and the winningest person in the world. Objective facts fall by the wayside in that world. And Trump has always – whether in the business world or the political one – surrounded himself with people who affirm that his world is the real one and the actual real one is some sort of conspiracy narrative driven by his “elite” enemies in the Democratic Party and the media.
• Keep in mind that this article quote below was published just about four years ago when Joe Biden was running against then-President Trump:

An NBC-Wall Street Journal poll released Sunday showed former Vice President Joe Bidenwith a massive 51% to 29% edge over Trump when it comes to who is more trusted to effectively deal with the coronavirus.

• Put plainly: There is simply no evidence the country is “rounding the corner” on the virus as Trump suggested Monday. And while Trump is free to give himself whatever grade he wants in how he has dealt with the virus, his constituents disagree. Profoundly.

Mother Jones a year later had a headline:

• CORONAVIRUS

NOVEMBER 17, 2021

New Revelations Emerge on How Donald Trump Killed 400,000 (or More) Americans

• 
  Remember, a pandemic was announced in March of 2020.  Between March 9 and May 29 of last year, the CDC held no press briefings.
• Why?  Kate Galatas, CDC communications official, said the White House thwarted the agency's attempt to schedule such briefings, especially the one in April that would have emphasized the need to wear masks.

• 
  The CDC was worried about asymptomatic people spreading the disease, but Trump's covid task force coordinator Dr. Scott Atlas (who was not an infectious disease specialist) wanted testing only of those with symptoms to reduce the numbers.

• 
  As researchers from UCLA noted in March 2021, the United States could have avoided 400,000 COVID deaths if the Trump administration had implemented a more effective health strategy that included mask mandates, social distancing, and robust testing guidelines.
• We’ve long known that Trump did the opposite of what public health experts advised. More concerned with his own standing in the polls than with the health and safety of the citizenry, Trump dismissed or minimized the threat and sent a mixed message on masks, social distancing, and testing.
• Moreover, it’s dumbfounding that killing 400,000 through ineptitude is not a disqualification for political leadership. Trump remains the GOP’s 2024 frontrunner, and party leaders continue to genuflect before him.
• Remember, this article was published almost three years ago.

Not that President Joe Biden's administration is perfect.  A couple of days ago, a mostly neutral Mark Zuckerberg, in a letter to Rep. Jim Jordan (chief supporter of Trump), said that this administration pressured Facebook to censor some COVID-19 content during the pandemic.  First, why send the letter to Jordan (was it requested by Jordan?), second, what exactly was censored, and third, how many citizens were thereby killed?

How safe are those COVID vaccines?

The Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines can cause myocarditis, but do not appear to cause infertility, Guillain-Barré syndrome, Bell’s palsy, thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) or heart attack, according to a new National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report examining whether COVID-19 vaccines can cause certain harms. 

The above was reported in April of this year.  A new study by the Journal of the American Medical Association found the following:

• Not significant, but mostly affects young men.
• So a study at the University of Versailles of people ages 12 to 49 showed that those with vaccine-related myocarditis were HALF as likely to be readmitted to the hospital for heart-related events compared to those with normal myocarditis.
• In any case, the risk associated with getting myocarditis--inflammation of the heart muscle, often triggered by the immune system in response to an infection--is LOWER than the risk that can come from getting COVID.
• The findings indicate that the risk of myocarditis linked to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines is very, very low.

In other words, you should go ahead and get the covid update vaccination which is now available, and will be covered by your medical plan.  The latest news:

• The new shot targets a SARS-CoV-2 strain called KP.2.
• Recommended for everyone 12 and older, plus there is FDA emergency authorization for infants up to the age of 11.
• Novavax has an updated vaccine targeting the JN.1 virus, which has not yet been approved.
• At one time JN.1 was the dominant strain, but more recently in August, KP.2 has been the most prevalent.
• Note that these new COVID shots are called UPDATED, not Booster.  Why?  boosters are additional doses of a previous formula.

Keep in mind the following.

• 913,000 Americans were hospitalized from COVID in 2023, and more than 75,500 died.
• Most of them had not received the booster shots.
• 
  Why you should be vaccinated, now!!!  The article was published more than three years ago, and even more so applies today!!!

Nearly all COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. now are in people who weren’t vaccinated, a staggering demonstration of how effective the shots have been and an indication that deaths per day — now down to under 300 — could be practically zero if everyone eligible got the vaccine.

• The older you are, the more are your chances of being hospitalized and worse, especially if you have any compromising medical ailment.

• 
  This updated vaccine will protect you from getting infected, but if so unlucky, will minimize hospitalization and death.
• But whoops, strain KP.3.11 just overtook KP.2 as the dominant strain.
• However, these strains are related, so the update should still be very effective.

• 
  For example, last year, the booster targeted the XBB.1.5 strain, but JN.1 became dominant.  There is a wide genetic distance between the two.  Yet, the vaccine largely worked.  KP.3 is next to KP.2 in genetic commonality, which is good.

• 
  You can take this KP.2 updated vaccination even if you never before received any previous ones.
• At 15 Craigside, a pharmaceutical company is coming here on September 11 to do the inoculation.
• They pre-register you for insurance, watch over you for a while to insure you don't get an unexpected reaction, and they check your vitals for two days to ascertain that all went well.
• You can't imagine how convenient this is compared to yourself trying to find a place to do it. 

Shanshan is now a tropical storm, but is moving more slowly, with an eye to move north tomorrow, thus avoiding Osaka and Kyoto.  Considerable rain and flooding, messing up with all forms of transport near the track.

I'll close with a Major League Baseball first.  Shohei Ohtani's dog, Decoy, became the first to walk the ball to the plate to  start a game, and with a perfect strike to Ohtani.  Watch this video.  I should add that Shohei was the first batter up for the Dodgers, and hit a home run.  He now has 42 home runs and 42 steals, and could well reach 50/50, to become the first to do that.  Then, next year, he will add pitching to his repertoire.  He is not doing that this year because of an operation.  He is already considered to be the best baseball player ever, and why not the best athlete ever.

-