I know, I know, I’ve already blogged about Covid-19, but at this point, I feel compelled to keep going. Not just to provide an inside look on life here in Japan, but as a thing for me to look back on as well–because let’s face it. What’s happening right now is making history, and may very well impact our lives in an incredibly major way for a very long time. In fact, it already has.
So along with my usual posts about Japan, I’ll provide Covid-19 content as well every now and then.
I’ll talk about what’s going on here, and how I’m dealing with this new life we’re all living. For today, I’d like to touch on something that, as far as I know (take this with a pinch of salt, because the news is changing so much everyday it’s hard to keep up), is only happening in Japan.
A bubble of normalcy
It is eerie, watching the way the coronavirus is being handled in Japan.
While other countries are frantically racing to get people tested and are initiating some form of a lockdown, Japan is doing the opposite. Almost the direct opposite. Its response has been soft at best, with the most recent development being the Tokyo governor’s request for everyone to “stay at home” this weekend.
Other notable steps taken were the closure of schools and certain tourist attractions across Japan. Well, that and the cancellation of large gatherings. All of that started last month.
But all of that aside, the majority of the working population isn’t working from home, parents are still sending their kids to school (because many parents are working and there is a shortage of daycare centers, schools serve as daycare centers during this time), and lots of people are still going out. It is only this weekend that there are less people on the streets.
Until today, if it wasn’t for the lack of toilet paper, masks and hand sanitisers, and near-empty tourist attractions, you wouldn’t even know there is a global pandemic going on.
For the most part, it is business as usual in Japan.
And it was set to become even more as schools across Japan are scheduled to reopen in April, until the narrative of Japanese media recently began to change, throwing more caution to the wind. A little known fact: the Japanese government doesn’t actually have the power to issue a lockdown, hence the soft approaches taken thus far. However, they have quietly set up a new HQ that may allow them to do so in order to combat Covid-19.
So for now, we’re all waiting for a lockdown that may or may not come.
How I’m dealing with it
I’ve always been on the more paranoid side, so the way I’m dealing with this is by practicing social distancing, all the while waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Thanks to the general air of normalcy here, I’m constantly feeling like I’m both overreacting and underreacting to things.
There are moments when I’d wonder if there’ll come a point where I’d have to worry about food. But at the same time, I’m feeling restless, because I so want to go out and explore, and enjoy myself. This in turn leads me to feeling a bit frustrated, because up till this weekend, loads of people were going out and gathering in masses while I stayed at home.
I don’t really blame them, though. It’s hard to make a proper judgment call when Japanese media hasn’t been that clear, and the government’s approach so far soft.
I sometimes question my own decision to social distance to such a degree (I pretty much only go out for essentials), but it’s honestly the only decision I’m comfortable with. I wouldn’t make any other anytime soon.
So what now?
The narrative of Japanese news regarding Covid-19 is slowly changing, with there being more caution and emphasis being placed on the subject. Is this a precursor to the shut down of the sprawling megacity that is Tokyo?
That said, the government here is reluctant to issue a lockdown, and would only do it as a final resort. Which is why whether a lockdown will ever come, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Till the next update, take care, everyone. Be sure to stay at home!
* All photos in this post are stock photos. As much as I’d love to go out and see the cherry blossoms, now isn’t the time 😉
