Coronavirus Update from Japan

Thursday, April 2, 2020

Japan

In this article I'll give you an update about what's happening in Japan regarding the coronavirus.

The Olympics

Finally, FINALLY Japan has decided to postpone the Olympics until next year. I think they want to try to have it sometime in July 2021. Thank goodness for that because I know A LOT of people were worried, including myself. Of course, they didn't postpone it until AFTER they got the torch which had a lot of people puzzled and worried.
There was also speculation as to why Japan didn't have so many cases of the virus compared to the rest of the world. There were reports that Japan just wasn't testing people for the virus. But low and behold AFTER they announced the postponement of the Olympics, all of a sudden Tokyo has reports of 200 NEW cases a day. Very suspicious if you ask me.... And most people of the world.

Tokyo

From what I'm hearing from reports in Tokyo, there are clearly a lot of people infected. The mayor of Tokyo asked people of Tokyo and neighboring cities to stay home for the weekend. THE WEEKEND. Yes, only for the weekend. But they have said that Shinjuku station, the busiest train station in Japan, has slowed down a lot since the mayor made that announcement. There is even less traffic during the weekdays. Malls, restaurants, and stores were closed. I believe that some grocery stores were allowed to stay open. The grocery store shelves were empty in the Kanto area. However, the Prime Minister tried to assure the people that there wouldn’t be a food shortage. I know for a fact that they don’t want people hoarding supplies like they are in the United States.

I think that a lot of companies may be asking their employees to work from home. Even my husband's company told him to do remote work. We not living in Tokyo, in fact we live quite far. But since I work at a nursery, my husband’s company was scared that I would give him the virus. Which is quite funny because I’ve been trying to stay more sanitized than my husband LOL. But maybe Japanese people are starting to take it more seriously. A famous Japanese comedian died from the virus. That shocked a lot of people here, so they are NOW starting to understand the severity of the virus.
Schools is Tokyo are said to remain close until sometime in May. They may try to postpone it longer, but I'm not sure. They are stating that they DO NOT want to call for a state of emergency yet. And they are telling people not to panic. I heard that if they call a state of emergency that everything will be closed. They will set up emergency hospitals in regular buildings, and helicopter pads to transport people. It sounds scary so that's why I think they are trying not to invoke that just yet.


In My City

Currently, the prefecture where I live STILL had just the one case. I am hoping that the trend continues. Schools here will start in April, but to be honest, I have seen a bunch of children still going to school in the morning. The nursery I work at is still open…for better or for worse. Everything is still practically the same. The malls are still open. Grocery stores are fully stocked. Schools are open. The Starbucks is as crowded as ever. It's business as usual. I think we've gotten comfortable with there being only one case, so I hope that we can be safe here.


Closing Thoughts

I, like the rest of the world, just wants this to be over. I'm deadly worried about my family in the United States, which now "reportedly" has the most cases. I still think China is lying about how many cases they had, and still continue to have. But anyway, I think my family is in a very serious situation. There is no national healthcare in the US. I heard one person had a medical bill that was about $35,000 dollars due to the coronavirus. The test is free, but the medicine and treatment for the virus IS NOT.
People are losing their jobs, they can't pay rent, they can't buy food. How the heck are they going to pay for medical bills. I'm worried about the world's economy after all of this is said and done. And I'm worried about EVERYONE. I'm scared to lose my family or friends. I just want this to be over soon.

I hope everyone will be okay. I'll continue to pray for the best. Please stay safe, healthy, and take care of yourselves and your family. Now more than ever we shouldn't take our family, home, job, food, or health for granted. Until next time.