Uncharted territory. That’s what all of this feels like for me. The uncertainty of the situation in Japan certainly resembles the way I felt after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. Not that this is really anything close to the magnitude of that event, but this uncertainty and the unknown of what is coming next sure brings back memories.
A few weeks ago the Japanese health minister asked several things of Japan. He asked all companies to allow their employees to telecommute and work from home as much as possible, or to shorten and stagger their working hours. Now this isn’t a mandate, and each company is deciding for themselves what they will and won’t do. CBI is doing their best to allow staff to work from home whenever and as much as possible. We’ve heard in the news how several large companies have complied in Tokyo.
He also requested that people avoid unnecessary and non-essential gatherings. We’ve slowly seen event after event be canceled. Baby English, my bible study at church that I’m a part of, and my weekly Japanese class have all been canceled for the next month. My normally jam packed schedule now has very little on it, and I’m seeing a whole lot of the white walls in my apartment. Which makes me super thankful for the internet, Netflix and You Tube (Eddie’s current obsession is Blippi). I’ve also been talking with my family more often than I have in years, which I would say is a good thing.
We are to avoid crowds as much as possible, which gets interesting when you live in a city with a population density of 7,108 people per square kilometer. For us, we’re trying to avoid the mall and other crowded places and just go to the grocery store. I normally order the bulk of my groceries online once a week, and just pick up a few things during the week at the local store. My online grocery service wait jumped from what is normally two days, to a five day wait. We’re also trying to avoid public transportation, particularly with the kids. Since we don’t have a car, we’re trying to ride our bikes wherever we go and Will takes his motorcycle to and from work.
The last request was to stay home if we have a fever or any cold symptoms what-so-ever. And if you know what it’s like to have a two year old in winter, you know that I’m more or less not going just about anywhere. Eddie’s had a runny nose for the last week, and so we’ve just been chilling at home since I’m not supposed to take him out. I’m also suffering from allergies which aren’t helping the situation.
Last night it was announced that the public kindergarten, elementary, middle and high schools will close across the country through the end of March. Day-cares will stay open to allow parents to continue working. Thankfully we’re almost to the end of the Japanese school year (March 24th was the kids’ last day). The new school year is supposed to start April 7th. We’ll see what unfolds in the next month and if schools start up as they’re supposed to.
Over every break, we get a packet of homework for Nora to do. The summer packet was jammed packed, and I suspect we’ll be getting similar packets to try and keep us busy learning while we’re on this unexpected break. I feel bad for all the extra work this is making for the teachers. I hope that we don’t get anything more than worksheets, because I’m not confident that I will do a good job teaching Nora in Japanese.
I think Japan is doing a relatively good job in trying to handle the situation. All of these things are precautions in an attempt to stem the spread of the virus. Japan has a large number of elderly people, so I think it’s wise. We ourselves are not terribly worried about the virus since we’re in such a low risk group. The likelihood of it turning into pneumonia for us is quite low and we would likely just end up like the 80% who get mild colds. But there are a lot of people around us that it could affect greatly, like our elderly neighbors across the hallway, or my midwife friend who has lung disease, or several of our team members who have underlying medical conditions. So we’re doing our best to heed the government’s requests for the good of everyone. Some of our team members may choose to return to the US for a brief time to ride this out. We have no intentions of going anywhere.
The uncertainty aspect really comes in not knowing where this will go from here. Will our city go under quarantine? (We’ve started stocking up in case) There are 27 confirmed cases in our prefecture and 200 across the country (If you don’t count the cases on the cruise ship). Will companies shut down? What is the economic effect from this for Japan, and really the world as a whole? Will people panic and raid the shelves at the grocery store?
Yesterday I was feeling unsure and anxious about what might come next, and a little song I learned as a child popped in my head, “He’s got the whole world in his hands”, I’ve been singing that to myself when I start to feel unsure or anxious. But it’s true. God’s got this. He’s always had this. We are in his hands and there’s no other place I’d rather be. I’m excited to see the ways God can use us through this to show his love to everyone around us. Some of the closest relationships I have made have been in times like these.
Lord, your kingdom come, your will be done.