Plague Diary 23 Waiting, longing, mental fortitude

Meiji Jingu is sometimes this quiet... photo Henry Burrows

A few days ago, Noda City Hall’s webpage indicated that vaccination tickets were scheduled to go out July 15th for every age cohort. I started to breathe a sigh of relief and prepared myself to spend a lot of time working out reservation issues. But this week, the city updated its vaccination info to only indicate vaccination plans for the elderly.

It boggles my mind that Japan, late to initiate vaccinations, is now struggling with vaccination supply issues. That’s likely why the vaccination ticket information disappeared from the municipal website.

After some research into the vaccination situation, I discovered that NHK News posts updates on vaccination rates for the elderly. The bars in the graphs continue to rise, which is encouraging. The vaccination rate for Chiba Prefecture shows over 70% of people aged 65 or older have received at least their first dose.

And now we see rising infection rates again in the capital region. Prime Minister Suga’s declaration of the fourth state of emergency until August 22nd includes Chiba Prefecture but it doesn’t make much of a difference in my lifestyle. Since the first state of emergency last year, I just do what I can to follow the advice from MLHW about avoiding the “3 Cs” - avoiding places with poor air circulation and close quarters which means I cook all meals or get takeout and cycle around my region to stay mentally and physically fit.

I hardly know what people look like anymore because everyone around me wears masks all the time.

Around this time last year, I told you about the mitigation measures we take at the school I teach in. I’m diligent about opening windows in the hallways and classrooms. The school has a policy of PA announcements to ask students and staff to open up on the breaks between lessons as research indicates that transmission of the Covid-19 virus is primarily airborne and mitigated by ventilation.

While I’m waiting to get vaccinated, my family, friends, and colleagues abroad frequently message me to say they are eager to come back to Japan for study and travel. The hardest part of this pandemic ordeal now is telling them to remain hopeful and patient and at the same time missing them intensely. We share a lot of love and care through messaging and phone calls so I don’t feel alone. But still, I catch myself tearing up. When I do, I try to keep perspective - many families and couples are separated with no indication of when things will change.

I point my people abroad to Japan National Tourism Organization’s Coronavirus Travel Restrictions page for the latest information. Those abroad may have the impression from Japan’s aggressive promotion that inbound tourism is under pressure to open up. It’s true that visitors from abroad contribute to the tourism income, but in fact Japan's domestic visitors are 80% of the tourism market. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism’s white paper indicates the first step of recovery is to restore domestic tourism.

We’ll get there - the refreshment of holidays in Japan and hugging our friends and family. It’s just a matter of when. For now, the challenges are diligently observing mitigation measures and cultivating mental resilience.