Japanese having calm spring time to overcome covid-19 epidemic

March 30, 2020

Japanese having calm spring time to overcome covid-19 epidemic

"Nothing can go on all the time as usual in people's life." This must be a feeling many Japanese equally have these days, as Japan finds itself in a hard fight to halt the spread of the covid-19 epidemic, as is the case with other countries.
Heartened with the arrival of spring, Japanese people enjoy themselves around this time of the year while having "sakura" cherry blossom-viewing parties at nice spots. But the new deadly virus has forced them to give up the sakura viewing and other outdoor spring functions.
Unlike the United States and European countries, Japan has no legal base to urge its people to stay at home in order to overcome the pandemic. Japanese people are instead asked to refrain from going out for nonessential purposes.
This is expected to amount to the shelter in place instructions, just as seen in some foreign countries, in view of the serious character of Japanese people.
Traffic and people's movement are limited, not just on streets in big cities but also at tourist spots and other places which attract people hoping to see sakura blossoms and pretty spring flowers. As a result, attractive sakura trees at many places stand little noticed by viewers.
Japan's first covid-19 infection was confirmed in mid-January, and then, the number of infected people in the country kept increasing uninterruptedly.
The pace of increase was less quicker than in other countries from February to early March, but the speed has become faster week by week since then.
As of March 29, the number of infections with the new virus across Japan had come to 2,612, including about 50 fatal cases.

Japanese people experienced hard days after the devastating earthquake-triggered tsunami tidal waves claimed some 20,000 lives mainly in the northeastern part of Japan in March 2011.
In the following years, the strength of their solidarity was tested as they tried hard to get back on their feet from the mishap. Their unity is expected to be tested this time, again, though their current enemy is invisible and hard to catch.