There were various terms that kept coming up again and again as I translated the Covid news, and I ended up using some idiosyncratic abbreviations to save time and typing.
Below are the main ones:
F&B
Food and Beverage (industry)
HellaWella
the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare
Manbo
shorthand for the “concentrated area/intensive prevention measures” (Manen Boushi) system, whereby State of Emergency conditions are applied on a city, town and ward basis rather than on a whole prefecture, and with differing levels of penalties for non-compliance)
MHLW
the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare
SofE
State of Emergency
ThorPreMe
thorough prevention measures
Tokyo+3
Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba treated as a block
yollars
a notional shorthand currency where $1 = 100 yen (at the time of these entries, the exchange rate was around $1 = 110 yen and this made a bit more sense)
the 3Cs
Closed spaces (with poor ventilation)
Crowded places (with many people nearby)
Close-contact settings (such as close-range conversations)
This is the English parallel to the Japanese public health campaign, “3つの密” (mitsu no mitsu; or the “3 concentrations”).