Corona

It's Ritsuko's birthday, and this year we were going to celebrate with a concert and birthday dinner in Osaka this weekend.

Except the recent corona virus outbreak decided otherwise; the concert — like most public events in Japan — has been postponed or cancelled to avoid the possibility of spreading the infection. Tokyo Marathon already cancelled the general event for most participants (only the 200-something professionals will run) and there's talk about the possibility that the Tokyo Olympics might have to be cancelled or be held without spectators as well.

Nakanoshima at night. I haven't had a chance to upload (or take) pictures so far this time, so all pictures are from around New Year.

And today the government announced the closure of all primary and secondary schools at least until the new school year starts in April. They lose "only" two weeks, but that includes final exams for some schools and graduation ceremonies; and working parents are caught in a bind having to find day care in a hurry. Preschools and kindergartens are not yet closed but it seems more than likely if the number of cases continue to rise.

With only 171 domestic cases so far, and concentrated in only a few prefectures, more than a few people feel the measures seem a little premature, arbitrary and poorly planned. The conspiracy-minded might notice how a number of simmering government scandals have been pushed off the public consciousness; more likely it's about trying to get ahead of the developing situation. It's better to be criticized for overreacting if it comes to nothing, than for not having done enough if it does blow up.

Utsubo park, almost deserted. Except that this picture was taken around New Year — before the corona virus became more than a curiosity in Japan — fairly early in the morning, and there were plenty of people around if you just chose a different angle for the shot.

Concert or not, we arrived in Osaka earlier today and we intend to enjoy our extended big-city weekend. It's not as if we're in any greater risk of getting sick here than on Okinawa anyhow — Okinawa has three cases so far, while Osaka has one (all connected to tourism). With about 1.4 million people on Okinawa and almost 9 million in Osaka the risk is very low either way.

We do take common-sense measures such as washing our hands frequently (a great way to avoid all kinds of diseases), and avoiding hospitals (another great way to avoid infections).


We don't wear masks. Those paper masks can help prevent spreading it to others if you're already infected and coughing or sneezing, but they do absolutely nothing to prevent you from getting it. Even if they didn't leave big gaps, the paper is much too porous to stop bacteria, never mind a virus like this. It's like using a soccer net to prevent mosquito bites. What they can do is stop big droplets of liquid from spreading when you cough.

To put it this way: I work at a research university, where microbiology and genetics is the largest field of research. We have hundreds of people there who work professionally with bacteria or viruses on a day-to-day basis. Many of them have kids in the day-care center. And not a single one of them wear a paper mask at work. They know just how pointless it is.

What are those masks good for then? My exhaustive research (20 minutes searching the web) says they're mostly used for hygienic reasons, not to stop disease. If you're a dentist or a surgeon, you don't want to drop saliva, nasal mucus, skin flakes or stray hair onto your patient. Same thing when you work with food preparation or any other job where good hygiene is important.

JR station and Daimaru department store in Umeda.

We still have plenty to do here in Osaka. We have dinner reservations on Saturday, we already visited of our favorite places in Kobe on our way here, and I have some errands of my own to run. Ritsuko didn't get the birthday concert she expected, but my brother and his family sent her an impromptu song number instead :-) She loved it.

Valentine's Day

The tradition for Valentine's day in Japan is that women gift men; then the men reciprocate a month later on "White day". That's twice the business opportunity for retailers I guess.

This year Ritsuko decided we're eating more than enough chocolate already (she's right). I don't really drink any longer so beer or whisky is out. Instead she got me this:

Three speciality coffees from a local roaster in Naha. Emerald Mountain from Colombia; Ethiopian Alaka — I've been into Ethiopian coffees lately; and Costa Rica Honey.

Emerald Mountain is a high grade coffee from Colombia and apparently limited to the Japanese market under an exclusivity agreement. Ethiopian coffees tend to be light and fruity or chocolatery with a lot of floral tones; we'll see what this one is like. Costa Rica "Honey" apparently refers to a processing method where the beans are dried with the fruit only partially removed. This will be interesting to try!

All three come from Churamame coffee in Naha. It's a good, very reasonably priced coffee roaster and shop; we often buy our coffee there.

Ah, coffee! This is Emerald Mountain (not that you could tell). Light bitterness, with balanced flavour and spicy tones. Very agreeable. I'd say it's a great morning coffee if it didn't cost so much...

Kadena

It was time to renew my residence card, and to do that I had to visit immigration. In Osaka this would involve getting there before opening time, stand in line, then wait for perhaps hours before they finish your request.

Knowing this I went to Kadena immigration office (it's on my way to work) well before 9 am with the form already filled in. When I get there there's not a single person waiting. The doors open right at 09:00; I'm still alone so I step right up and give them the form, my old card, my passport and a picture.

Kadena town. It's not big - about 12000 people - but it feels neat and homey, even cozy. It's really too bad about the air base. Of course they can't choose their neighbours, and a military air base can't really help but being noisy and potentially dangerous either.

As I sit down and wait a couple of young American women arrive. They apparently want to change from SOFA status (that's what US military and dependents are in Japan) to a tourist visa - I guess their time in Japan was ending and they want to take some time off with sightseeing before returning to the US.

However, they don't speak Japanese, and they are under the mistaken assumption that if you SPEAK ... SLOWLY ... AND ... LOUDLY and drop all grammar this will somehow make them easier to understand. They spent several minutes half-shouting "SOFA ... NO. GO ... SEE ... VISA ... YES." to the increasingly confused immigration officer (who, by the way, likely understood English just fine). I would honestly not have understood what they wanted either if I hadn't overheard their conversation as they were walking in.

Still a fair amount of older buildings around. With the Pacific Ocean just around the corner, it's really a losing battle to try to keep buildings looking fresh. If bits are not falling off your house you're still winning.

I would have followed this exciting drama to its undoubtedly thrilling conclusion, but at exactly 09:09 the clerk calls me up to give me my passport and my new residence card. I was literally out the door in ten minutes, new card in hand. In Osaka I would still be waiting in line outside the office for the number ticket machine (so I could wait to submit my documents).

My opinion of Kadena has really improved a lot after this. Not enough to live there or anything (you have to really like aircraft noise at all hours for that), but still. I know where I'll go when I need to renew my card again in 2027.

This is how great it felt when I walked out, residence card in hand. The great thing with Okinawan weather is that there's such a lot of it. Including frequent rainbows.