Quick Recap: The Coronavirus pandemic hasn’t hit Japan nearly as hard as most other countries, and in my region of Toyama there’s only been 227 cases since COVID-19 came here in late March. Still, schools in my city were closed for most of March, all of April, and the first three weeks of May. During that time I mostly stayed home, running a schedule that mixed creative work and Day Job work, where my coworkers and I made English movies for the kids to watch at home.
But that’s all changed now—schools in my city opened on May 21st, and as of June 1st the foreign teachers are back to work too.
Since most schools in the US are still closed, Japan’s school openings…may seem surprising to some of you. Going to school naturally involves a lot of people being close together indoors for long periods of time, which isn’t the kind of thing you want to be doing in this brave new world of social distancing.
I’m writing this the afternoon after my first day back at work but posting it a week later because I want to capture how I feel at this exact moment. There are some things I won’t be discussing here (because, you know, online Day Job-secrecy and all) but for the most part I’m going to be pretty candid.
What Are the Schools Doing to Avoid the Spread?
First off, I wouldn’t be going back to work if there were still known cases circulating around the community—the complete lack of any new cases in all of Toyama in the past two weeks was a pretty big confidence boost, and it relieved a lot of my tension about going back in. But still, I want to be on my guard.
My elementary school took the initial step of moving some of the classes to bigger rooms. One class now meets in a multipurpose room with about four feet of space between each desk, and another moved to the arts and crafts room, where there can be about two feet between each desk. Teachers have also been instructed to limit activities that bring kids into close contact, and from what I could see, most (but not all) teachers were following that directive most of the time.
Recess time has also been limited—usually the kids can go anywhere they want during break times, but it sounds like they’re now more confined to their classrooms (I unfortunately couldn’t get the details). There seems to be a lot of focus on keeping the kids in their usual class groups so they can’t mix with other students around the school—thus limiting the potential for spread if the virus did make it in.
Every student and adult, without exception, also wore a mask. I caught one kid pulling his mask down to pick his nose and gestured for him to stop—which he did, right away.
Most of the kids seemed to take the precautions seriously—I caught a few of the older kids gathering in small groups, but nothing too major. The first- and second-graders, though, were far too young to understand what was going on and wanted to play as usual—which meant a lot of hugging, hand-holding, requests for me to pick them up, and touching the hair on my arms (yeah, Japanese kids do that to foreigners).
I kept my distance from the little kids at first, but gave in before lunchtime. I know how much they enjoy playing with a cool foreigner, so I took a few minutes for some hands-on play…then grabbed some hand sanitizer, just in case.
Again, had there been more cases in my area I wouldn’t have taken the risk, but because we’ve been at zero cases for two weeks even with the schools open, I felt comfortable playing with the younger kids. I also knew it would make their day, so the tradeoff felt worth it.
How About Going Back to Work in General?
I had mixed feelings about going back to my Day Job in general, completely apart from the virus. On the one hand, I didn’t want to lose the control I had over my schedule, since having more time has allowed me to get a LOT of creative work done over these past few months. The impending loss of control over my work schedule has had me feeling down over the past few days—like I’m a kid trying to enjoy the last of my summer vacation.
On the other hand, though, I knew I needed to get out of my room and back to work—I missed seeing people, and missed talking to my coworkers, since (unlike at some of my earlier Day Jobs) I have good relationships with most of the people I work with and they bring me a lot of positive energy. As I talked about last week, I missed that.
There’s also a certain energy I get just from being at my Day Job, and being in the ESL classroom specifically—a rush that comes from solving problems, doing the work well, and gaining the respect of the students and my coworkers. That’s positive energy that I can bring to my creative work, and to the rest of my life—and I missed that too.
I also found myself experiencing a certain focus that came from getting up early (I haven’t woken up before 7am in weeks), having somewhere to be, riding on my bike to someplace that wasn’t the grocery store, and being around other people. When you’re alone in an apartment with no one watching, it’s pretty easy to sleep late, get distracted, procrastinate, and overall work with less focus—and being in an actual workplace eliminated those pitfalls so I could get more done.
Finally, I was also really, REALLY glad to be out of the Day Job texting game. Whereas at home I had to deal with a barrage of Day Job texts from multiple coworkers throughout the day, at school I could sort Day Job problems out face-to-face, resolving them and moving on to the next thing. It felt more efficient, I could keep my phone in my bag for most of the day, and once again I just felt more focused.
It’s been a good day.
Final Thoughts
The Coronavirus situation in Japan is NOT the same as in America by means, and me going into a crowded school here is far safer than it would be in New York or New Hampshire—or even Tokyo, where there’ve still been around fifty cases per day over the last few days. What’s safe for me might not be safe for you depending on conditions in your area.
Going back has actually brought me a lot of energy and positivity—and for me, that more than offsets the risk. If you too find yourself facing the question of whether to go back to work, meet friends at a restaurant, or go to a crowded place, I strongly recommend considering first the risk, and then the reward. How high is the level of danger? How badly do you want to do this thing that you want to do?
If it’s a high risk for a low reward, you’re sure as hell better off staying home.
If it’s a high-risk for a high reward, you’re also sure as hell better off staying home.
But if it’s a low risk for a high reward, you’re probably better off doing the thing. Not because it’s good for the economy, not because Trump said it was OK, not because you feel forced to, and not because you’re angry—but because conditions feel safe, and not doing that thing means you’ll miss out.
And if it’s a low risk for a low reward…feel it out, and make the most informed decision that you can. Maybe sometimes you should still stay home.
Last week I also found this REALLY good list of different social activities and the level of risk as determined by experts, and highly recommend you check it out. These are hard times, and above all, we owe it to ourselves to be honest about our feelings and to stay informed about what’s going on.
(Final Note: Since I originally wrote this the race riots in the States have risen exponentially, and most people I follow have been commenting on these pretty important events in some way. I have little to add other than my own brief bit of support, because institutional racism is not cool. Also, Do the Right Thing was ahead of the curve by about thirty years.)