This is an experience written by a Foreign student in Japan
I am continously thinking when Japan was the first country to be impacted by Corona from China because of the luxury ship Diamond Princess from China in January by now it would have gone to stage 4 like European countries. When Japan was hit with the Virus, My parents asked me to come back to India for few months and go back once it settles.
But in Japan everything is normal till today. We were going to offices daily, we are going to all essential services. No restaurants are closed. No malls are closed. No lockdown. Metro trains moving normally. Bullet trains moving normally. All International borders are open. Also Japan has the high percentage of old people like Italy. Tokyo has highest number of foreigners living. Tokyo is one of the best tourist attraction with lot of foreigners. Foreigners are still allowed inside.
Only services stopped are schools and public events.
Am listening to all theories of breaking the chain.
Lockdown kills the chain process for the dense country like India. Tokyo is the most dense city in the world and how is it controlled. We are leading just the normal life as usual. Am Only scared when i see updates and news from India.
I analyzed about it and probably it is because of the culture of Japanese people where the rules suggested to prevent Corona virus were practiced by them from childhood.
- Japanese people wear masks when they travel or come out. Usually we see 60% wearing masks daily on normal days. Even they catch very little cold they wear masks. This was their culture which helped in stopping the spread and cuts the chain.
Normally any public facing person like receptionist, govt officers, doctors, nurses, station masters, train staff, police, janitors, etc wear masks daily at work. During winter we make children to wear a mask Daily so that they don’t bother others when they catch cold. At home we have kodomo mask box and normal mask box. Kodomo mask is for children which fits them properly. - Japanese people lead a life where they don’t bother others. They don’t litter anything. They use dustbins only to litter or spit. Cleanliness is the part of their culture. They were taught how to be clean and public behaviour before learning alphabets in schools.
- They don’t do handshake but bow to greet.
- Here washing hands is a part of culture. We have soaps and sanitizers in public toilets , office entrances and usually in every public space. Using sanitizers is pretty common which prevented spread of virus. I never used the sanitizers but from past 2 months am following the usage of sanitizers before entering office, using an elevator, the moment i see sanitizer try using it.
- In restrooms i noticed that people wash their hands and also clean and wipe the sink area too to make it comfortable for the next person to use it. This is a usual practice in public metro stations too.
- They carry wet tissue packets to clean their hands occasionally when they go out.
- They usually maintain social distance with all
This helped Japan to prevent lockdown. This needs a lot of Sadhana (practice). These rules were part of Japanese culture which they practice with perfection.
Something to learn from Japan.