Last Tuesday, exactly a week ago, primary and secondary schools all across Japan reopened and millions of children went back into their classrooms. On the very same day, Tokyo along with 6 other prefectures, declared a joint state of emergency and closed all their schools. This neatly (perhaps too neatly) sums up the haphazard approach Japan is taking to the pandemic.
'Haphazard', listen to me. 'Half-arsed' is the appropriate technical term.
On Sunday, Sapporo city here in Hokkaido declared a second state of emergency in response to the sudden increase in coronovirus cases in the past week. And so, from today, schools in the city closed again. This morning's online edition of the New York Times highlighted Hokkaido as a case study in the adverse effects of lifting restrictions too quickly.
But of course, dear reader, you already knew that, for when you are not 'oohing' and 'awwing' at the rhetorical and intellectual virtuosity of this blog, you are of course perusing the Gray Lady (though that does sound a tad unsavory).
Cian, understandably, is raging as we live too far away from Hokkaido's 'Big Smoke' to be included in the school closures. Though, as I tell him, it is only a question of time. The numbers across Japan are ticking up at a fair old clip and I reckon we are perhaps at most only a week away before a state of emergency is declared for the entire country.
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