Cherry blossom viewing has been a weird thing this year. First, the winter had been unseasonably warm and short. I think the temps only barely got down to freezing a few nights, and I only saw maybe 5-10 snowflakes total for all of February. We reached t-shirt weather this week. But, the cherry trees have been blossoming really sporadically. I took this photo last week, when the trees along the Kotsuki river were only maybe 25-30% full. They're closer to 75-80% now, but I've been told that elsewhere around the city the petals are already falling off the trees like snow.
Status update:
Abe has declared a national emergency, meaning that travel is restricted, companies are supposed to switch mainly to telecommuting where possible, with a targeted 80% reduction in social contact (it's less than 60% so far), and bars and schools are supposed to close. The primary and secondary public schools have already been closed since the beginning of March, but the new order includes cram schools and independent conversation schools (as well as internet cafes).
The Volunteer Center near Reimeikan has a big open lobby on the first floor, and event spaces and auditoriums on the first and second floors. Normally, it's a busy place, with students studying at all the tables in the lobby, or salarymen or housewives sitting around and talking over lunch. Now, half the tables are gone, and the ones remaining only have one chair each. There are no events, and the staff prevent visitors from sitting together at all. Fast food places like MOS Burger and Tully's coffee shops still let people sit together, but they're putting more space between tables. Any place that serves food is now advertising, in very large letters, that they provide take-out.
Abe has indicated that the emergency may last a minimum of three weeks. Initially, I expected that this would mean that the little school I work at would close its doors on the 18th (Saturday) or 20th (Monday) and stay closed for the full three weeks. That wouldn't bother me that much because I have other work, too. But, I'd forgotten about Golden Week. That's a 1-week national holiday period that starts next Thursday and runs into the first week of May. So, the school would be closed during that time anyway. I'd forgotten because no one can go anywhere with the travel restrictions, and I'm forced to stay in Kagoshima regardless. But, now, everyone is in the same boat, so the entire country has pretty much lost one of the 2 real opportunities to take trips for the year (depending on who you talk to, the other time is either the beginning of the new year, or Obon, in August). Although, the school decided to stay open the first three days of this week, leading up to Golden Week, so I'm still getting paid for those lessons.
At least shopping-wise things are getting back to normal. Most stores are restocked for toilet paper, tissue and paper towels again. Most have hand soap, but there's still a shortage of hand sanitizer and face masks. On Friday, I was at Aeon department store, across from Amu Plaza, and there was a line snaking through the store, out the door, and halfway down the block. Eventually, I saw the sign "We have face masks, one package per customer." Looked like a one-hour wait (which I couldn't afford), but that could have been illusory, because everyone in line was standing 6 feet (2 meters) apart from the people in front and behind them. Just about everyone was female, between the ages of 45 and 80.
Close to 75% of everyone walking around outside is wearing masks now. Most are fashion masks, which aren't really intended to fend off Covid-19. Quite a few are also hand-sewn. The rest are the regular paper masks people wear when they have a cold or the flu. Abe has promised to send two washable masks per person (or, maybe it's just per household), and the newspapers are reporting that these are starting to go into the mail now. It's a huge financial cost that seems to be largely a waste of time and money. On the flipside, there's still a shortage of test kits in the hospitals to test for Covid infections. Japan. Gotta love it.
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