Over the past few days I’ve gotten a barrage of texts and calls from friends and family back in the States who’ve heard the Coronavirus news from Japan and wanted to reach out. I’m grateful that so many of you have expressed concern, and thought a blog post might be a better (i.e., time-saving) way to keep you updated on what’s going on with COVID-19 in the Land of the Rising Sun.
Last Thursday night, Japan time, Prime Minister Abe announced his request that all Japanese elementary, junior high, and high schools close for the next month to prevent the spread of Coronavirus. The move came at a time when about 200 cases of the virus have been found throughout Japan (excluding the passengers of the cruise ship docked in Yokohama). Around 50 of these cases have been in the northern island of Hokkaido, and several involved children and school employees. This prompted the move to close schools first in Hokkaido, and then across the country.
Though the decision to close schools was technically left to individual cities and prefectures, it seems like the vast majority of schools (or possibly all of them) have elected to close following Abe’s announcement. This includes my city, where schools were closed starting today, Monday, March 3rd.
The move comes during the final month of the Japanese school year, which begins in April and ends in March. The last day of school in my city was planned for March 24th, so kids will be missing about three weeks of classes.
Abe’s remarks about the school closures have stated that the move is largely a preventative measure during these critical early days—basically, a move to take action now before things get worse. On Saturday he made a thirty-minute follow-up speech on Japanese TV where he explained his decision more in depth, which you can read about here.
In addition, the government has called for major events to be cancelled, with baseball games, concerts, sumo, and others being called off. In addition, many museums and other attractions are either closed entirely or keeping limited hours until March 15th or 16th as a preventative measure to keep people at home and halt possible spreading. The government’s also set aside more resources for testing and hospital beds for patients.
In Toyama prefecture, where I live, there haven’t been any Coronavirus reports yet. The school closures here were largely viewed to be in tune with the prime minister’s request, again, as an preventative measure to stop any possible spreads before they start.
Oh yeah—because I’m an employee of the Japanese government, I’ll refrain from adding my own commentary on the government’s decision. Please note that any information contained above is strictly factual, and all links represent the opinions of their respective writers ;-)
How Do the School Closures Affect You?
That’s another question I’ve been asked a lot. Even though the kids aren’t having classes, in my city, teachers and other school employees are still coming to school and still have work to do closing out the rest of the school year’s lessons and activities.
This includes me—I’m going to work as usual, but the final three weeks of English lessons have been cancelled. This isn’t as drastic as it might sound, since most of my classes were winding down anyway and many had already finished. So, for the next three weeks I’ll be doing the same things I do on any other slow workday ;-)
And no, I’m definitely not getting my pay docked or losing my job—there’s been zero mention of that happening.
Last Friday I also got to say goodbye to a lot of the kids, especially the sixth graders, who I won’t get to see again since they’ll be moving up to junior high next year. It wasn’t the same as a formal graduation goodbye, but I think they enjoyed getting a few last high-fives from Ian-sensei in the hallway. I’m bummed that I won’t get to say goodbye to the sixth graders at some of the other schools I work at, so this feels like a bit of a drag. Graduations, and farewells of any kind, are a big deal in Japan, so there’s been a lot of focus on kids who won’t get to enjoy their last days at the schools where they’ve built a lot of memories.
What Happens from Here????
It looks like most everyone, including me, will be waiting out the next two or three weeks and cutting back their usual activities as they wait to see what happens. In the meantime, I’m still keeping an eye on the news and will watch for further developments. I’m also practicing the usual safeguards of washing my hands, wearing a mask in crowded places (yeah, they do that here), and have cancelled some of my own plans for the month.
Fortunately, the JET program, the regional organizers, and my city’s board of education have been really good about communicating with the foreign teachers, providing Coronavirus-related resources in English, and in general keeping us in the know about what’s going on, so I’d like to give them all a BIG shout-out.
I’ll keep you all posted, either via this blog, or individually, so if you want to know more (especially if we haven’t talked in a while!), feel free to drop me a line.
In the meantime, I’m trying to keep my head clear about this whole thing and use the extra time to get some solid creative work done. There’s been a lot of gloom in the air lately but I’m trying to work through it as best I can so I can at least stay productive.
And on that note—I’ve got to get back to work.