Update about the Coronavirus from Japan

In this article I'll talk about everything that has happened in Japan since my last article.

State of Emergency

In the last article I wrote about the coronavirus in Japan. Tokyo and other big cities had called a state of emergency. Currently, since a few weeks ago, all of Japan has called a state of emergency. I didn't know what that would imply for me. I wasn't sure how much would change.
Well, I'll tell you. I am STILL going to work. I am a preschool teacher, and my preschool is still open. However, only about half of our students are coming to the school. The other half are staying at home with their parents.
The nursery informed the parents to take precautions and asked them what students will come on what days. HOWEVER, all public schools where I live are still closed. For now, they will remain closed until May 6th, which is after Golden week here.
Golden week is a one-week holiday when everyone is usually on vacation. Usually, people plan a year in advance on where they will travel. They get their plane tickets, or shinkansen tickets well in advance. But this year because of the state of emergency, not a lot of people are traveling. The government wanted to limit movement during the holiday. Unlike what China did.

Restaurants

Where I live, some places are still open. I went to Starbucks last week and it was open. They DID make a few changes though. They had very little seating for inside of the shop. They had a lot of seats outside though. They also made sure to keep the doors open to let the air ventilate.
I went to eat sushi last week as well. I also ate at hamburger restaurant. My friend informed me that she went drinking last weekend LOL. A lot of places are still open; however, I have noticed that most people are staying home, which is a good thing.
Most restaurants are also offering takeout, which they didn't really offer before. My town still doesn't have freakin delivery, which annoys me. But takeout is also good. So basically, we can still go out to eat if we want. It's not that dangerous because everyone else is staying home.

Convenient Stores and Malls

I've seen convenience stores have started to take precautions, as well as some grocery stores. They have started to put a thick plastic between the customer and the cashier. It goes down until you get to the cash register where you give the money of course. I'm not sure if it's actually helpful, but that's what a lot of stores are doing.
The malls where I live will remain closed until May 6th as well, after Golden week. I know that they are trying to prevent large groups from gathering. I'm sure that they are also trying to promote staying at home. I personally haven't wanted to go to the mall for about a month or two now, I was too scared.

Government Masks

The government has started to hand out masks to pregnant women, people who are elderly, sick, people in at risk cities, etc. I received my mask at work a few weeks ago since I work at a nursery. Mine was way too small. Other issues have arisen since people started to receive their masks.
Some people who have gotten their mask also complained about it being too small. Well, it turns out that's the least of our problems when it comes to these government masks. Some people have said that their masks have yellowed. Some said that their mask has hair, BUGS, and worst of all MOLD. Okay, bugs AND mold are about equal here. That's flat out disgusting!
The government here gives no f*cks. They are barely doing anything, and the bare minimum that they are doing, they can't manage to even do that right. I don't even need the mask that they plan on sending. It's useless to me. I'll just buy one from online that fits my face, and one that won't make me sick.

Stimulus Check

Like the United States, and many other countries. Japan has FINALLY decided to give money to its citizens and residents. They will give 100,000 yen, or about 1,000 dollars per adult. I am happy about that. However, I do wish that they could be more like Canada and give us that for four months, IF needed. I wonder if they somehow manage to "accidentally" mess that up as well. We'll see I guess.
Welp, that's all I got for the updates in Japan. I hope that the government continues to plan because they honestly aren't doing anything at all. They're really dragging their feet on this even though they're known this was coming. I don't know any more, but I know it's a conspiracy. Good luck on staying healthy and surviving. We all need prayer period. Talk to you soon.