Dreaming of breadfruit, ackee and a slice of pear
Jamaican speaks about life in Japan amid virus scare
Zero lockdown! Zero Quarantine! Zero Social distancing! As a contracted university lecturer at two schools, this is life in Japan among the COVID19 pandemic. At the time of writing, the city in which I live has reported six cases of the infection and one fatality.
At school Number One, only one student showed up today for our academic communications class. The other two students called in sick. I am beyond worried as it seems the virus is spreading, however, the number of cases in Japan has barely surpassed 1,000.
One Sunday, zero students turned up for our academic writing class. Irrespective of the students’ non-attendance, I’m expected to be at work on time and do “office work”, which simply equals to desk warming.
As I sat desk-warming and dreaming of eating breadfruit and ackee with a side of pear, the office phone rang. I tried eagerly to decipher the Japanese - might as well play a game of translator. It’s one of the teachers from the UK who happened to be back in Japan and wanted to know his schedule for the upcoming week. My boss quickly asked him if he had been tested at the airport, and I surmised that he had been, and the results would be in on Tuesday.
My boss then proceeded to inform him that he would have to be self-quarantined for two weeks and get the test results before returning to work.
School Number Two, on the other hand, has been very proactive and cancelled graduation ceremony, teacher meetings, and sent emails and letters to inform me of decisions regarding classes’ start date for the new semester.
These decisions have come in light of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s bid to prevent the spread of the virus. He announced in March that all schools should be closed until early April. Now, as early April approaches and nothing new in terms of lockdowns or social distancing has been issued, local governments and educational institutions are deciding to reopen.
CAUSE FOR CONCERN
This is cause for concern among many foreigners living here, especially me. I commute daily to Tokyo/Shinjuku, the busiest station in the world, with an average of 3.5 million people passing through it every day. You read right: 3.5 million! That is everyone in Jamaica, Barbados, St Lucia, Cayman Islands, and Antigua, and we could even squeeze Montserrat in there. The trains are so packed that despite it being winter, you can’t help but sweat.
Today, as I left work, I saw children in parks playing, long lines at the bus stops, long queues at restaurants as families await dining for dinner, and stores buzzing with spring sales. I see mask-less faces, partly due to the shortage of masks from consumer hoarding or the beauty of spring, which surrounds us with fully bloomed cherry blossom trees that attract crowds for annual picnic rituals.
It is safe to say that nothing much has really changed since the coronavirus debut. The only visible changes were the toilet paper shelves after some fake news of shortages was tweeted, and even that is back to normal at reduced prices.