Greetings readers and welcome back. I hope that this post finds you well in the midst of all the chaos of COVID-19. I know that for many of you life has changed drastically in the past month. I hope that you are coping well with all the sudden changes in your lives. In this post I am going to talk about my life in Japan right now.
First, an update on the situation in Japan. While Japan was one of the first countries to react to the spread of the virus by shutting down schools for the month of March, there haven’t been the same levels of lockdown here as in other countries. We haven’t had the same official numbers of infection as other nations, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that there isn’t a serious risk here. Part of the reason for lower numbers is that Japan has not been widely testing people, and from what information I have seen, is only testing those with serious symptoms. Within the past few weeks, the numbers have been rising, but it is not at the same level as other countries. A state of emergency was declared in some prefectures, but there is still no wide scale lockdowns happening. Some people are social distancing, others aren’t. Many are still going to their in person jobs, and therefore are still taking public transit. There has not been the same large scale shift to working at home here as there has been in other countries. Aside from everyone wearing masks, hand sanitizer stations appearing at businesses, and toilet paper disappearing from the shelves, life seems to mostly be continuing as usual for most of Japan.
It seems that the biggest reaction to the virus has been the closing of schools. As I said, schools across the nation were shut down for the month of March, though graduation ceremonies were still held for many schools, mine included. This ceremony is one of the most important events in the lives of Japanese people. Many schools limited the number of people who could attend and drastically shortened their ceremonies. My junior high school ceremony was held on March 17. Since I am at a very small school with only 30 students, our ceremony did not change much, though very few family members were in attendance. The students all had to wear masks, and the chairs were spread out, though not six feet apart. The elementary school ceremony on March 18 was much the same. While some precautions in regards to health safety were taken, things carried on in an almost normal way.
March 18- April 6 was our spring break. In a separate post I will write about the trip I took to the Kansai area (before the virus situation was considered more serious) during this time. However, because the number of cases in that area spiked while I was on my trip, my school had me stay home for the rest of the week. The following week I was back at my desk. I used that time to study Japanese, and prepare my English board for the month of April.
The following Monday, April 6, was the opening ceremonies at my schools. This event is also very important. I attended the elementary school ceremony in the morning, then headed over to the junior high school. However, after being there for about an hour, I was sent home for the rest of the day, so I did not attend the opening ceremony for the junior high school. The reason? I had been developing a weird feeling in my chest, almost like a cough was building. It’s hard to describe, but something felt off. I never actually coughed, and had no fever, but to be safe my school sent me home and had me stay away from school for the rest of the week. This Monday they had me stay home an additional week. As I write this, I no longer feel that weird feeling in my chest, but I agree that it is better to be safe than sorry. Maybe it’s nothing, but I wouldn’t want to risk the health of my co-workers and students in case I am actually infected. We will see what will happen next week as to whether or not I will be back at school.
It has been very difficult to stay productive when I am stuck in my home all day. I have not been asked by my teachers to prepare many class materials, so I don’t have much work to do. I try to dedicate a good amount of time to studying Japanese, but it can be hard to stay focused. For me, too much time means that I am much less productive. I find it difficult to stay on task and not be distracted. However, even if I was at school I wouldn’t be doing much different since I don’t have a lot to prepare for my classes. I am allowed to read at school and study, so I have been pretty much doing that while at home.
Outside of my “school hours” at home, I spend my time reading, watching tv or movies, or crafting. I have recently gotten into watching K-dramas (Korean tv shows), which has been slightly addicting (no shame though). I may also have a slight addiction to K-pop, which has sparked a desire to study Korean (and has also made me consider going to teach in South Korea down the road). After living in Japan for over eight months, I have also found myself getting into more and more anime. Since I am studying Japanese, it’s technically a learning experience, right? It is actually quite satisfying to be able to understand some of the Japanese while watching anime. Even though its just a few words or sentences here and there, I am proud to be able to understand anything. While I want to progress faster than I am in Japanese, I am proud of the progress I have made. I can understand many basic sentences, can read/understand probably around 100/150 kanji, and have mastered the hiragana and katakana “alphabets”. I really enjoy learning Japanese and hope that by the time I leave Japan that I can speak a good amount of it. Wish me luck readers! Japanese is considered one of the most difficult languages in the world!
Even before the virus, living in Japan has given me a lot more free time to pursue my hobbies. I am able to read a lot more than I could while I was in school (aside from when I was studying abroad and didn’t have a job outside of school). As of today, I have finished 37 books this year. That’s right folks, you read it correctly: 37 books. I don’t think I have ever finished so many books in such a short time (aside from when I was a kid and read small books). There are three reasons I can read so much. First, so much more free time in my evenings, and even time at school to read a bit. Second, I listen to audiobooks. While some of you may not consider this “reading”, I do. Listening to audiobooks allows me to read while I do other tasks. I often listen to books while I craft. And third, when I read a physical book (or e-book with my kindle), I am a very fast reader, so I can go through books pretty fast.
Since coming to Japan, I have been able to devote more time to crafting than before. I am someone who cannot sit still without having something to do with my hands. I can’t watch a movie or listen to a book without having a craft to do, or playing a game on my phone. I brought along my quilling supplies. I also learned how to crochet. I wasn’t able to bring my knitting looms to Japan, but I was able to buy some crochet hooks and quickly picked up the craft. Crafting is relaxing and gives me something to do with my hands, and I have been able to make some nice gifts for friends and co-workers. Check out some of my completed projects.
Here are my two current crocheting projects:
So there is my update on my life right now in Japan. I have been trying to avoid getting stressed out by the state of things in the world, but it is difficult. It is hard to be so far away from my family and friends during this difficult time. I was also really looking forward to a vacation to Okinawa at the beginning of May, but that has been cancelled. I am thankful though that I still have a job and health insurance here in Japan. I hope that you all stay safe and healthy. Soon this nightmare will be over and I will be back to adventuring again. For now, I just be staying home, reading and getting way too invested in anime and K-dramas. I’ve got some other posts in the work, so I will try and get those up in the next week or so. Later gators!
Gitta Across the Globe 