Corona Diaries

Tim

“Feels like the start to any other day, pandemic lockdown or not”

Background Information

Male, aged 45-54, On Leave from Teaching, Lives in Japan, White, Heterosexual, Married, Speaks both

French and Japanese

Tuesday, April 21st

Daily life in Nishi West Tokyo, “rural suburbia”

Full Grocery Bags and Empty Trains

Early Tuesday morning. Feels like the start to any other day, pandemic lockdown or not.

Heavy machinery starts rumbling up my quiet residential street around 5am — my new wake-up time :-)

Construction work, like much else in the city, continues seemingly as normal.

My wife and I try our best to follow the spirit and specific requests of the emergency guidelines in place as

we continue to wait for the curve to flatten here in Tokyo and the rest of Japan.

We are lucky that we both work from home. I read in the NYTimes that only about 13% of workers in Tokyo

can telecommute (see link below).

Still, enough people are staying home and online that our Internet connection has slowed considerably.

I know: “first world problems.”

Haven’t been on a rush hour train since the state of emergency, but I’ve heard conflicting reports: some say

it’s business as usual; others say they get seats on once overcrowded trains. I don’t know what to believe…

Nor do I want to find out. Rush hour was bad enough in the “good old days;” now I can’t imagine.

There does seem to be a big difference between life in “central” Tokyo and out here in the ‘burbs.

At least we grow our own food!

Fields and Townhouses

Onions and Greenhouse

I’m gonna say… cabbage?!?

I believe tissue and toilet paper are now widely available throughout the city — a relatively recent

development. Masks are still hard to come by, and if I understand the morning news right there’s a thriving

black market.

Fortunately, we’re still fine. We both learned to prepare for emergencies after the big earthquake and

nuclear crisis of 2011.

Yup, we’ve become (small-p) “preppers.” In fact, my wife just asked me to double-check the expiration dates

on the camping food we have stashed in the bedroom futon closet :-)

And, as a heavy allergy sufferer, I laid in a seasonal supply of masks back when they were actually on sale

in the happy, pre-pandemic days.

Our supermarkets out here are well stocked. Heard it’s more hit and miss in the city. In either case, they are

jammed with people oblivious to social distancing as we all scramble for broccoli and potatoes, never mind

“survival food” such as rice and instant noodles.

The local gym is still open, as is the sushi restaurant, but I don’t know how much business either is doing

these days.

Even the boat rental in our local park looks derelict, even though cherry blossom viewers were on the water

just last weekend.

Rain-Filled Pond Boats

And trains coming from the city on a Saturday evening look even emptier than usual

Suburban Express on the Weekend “Rush Hour”

Seen for myself there are far fewer, if any, tourists in popular ‘hoods such as Shinjuku and Shibuya. In

general, the streets are much quieter, with far fewer pedestrians and cars and open stores, restaurants, etc.,

but that could be a source of false optimism. Apparently suburban shopping malls are jam-packed, at least

on weekends.

Soon the kids for the local day care centre will arrive, and my wife and I will start our work-at-home days.

We’ll take a break during their outdoor play hour.

The day care centre used to be a source of stress in our community. Lately, though, it’s been kinda nice to

hear their voices.

Reminders that life goes on, as they say.

Like the chatter of the songbirds around here that seem newly embolded in the face of the local crow

population.

Or maybe it’s just that we’re listening to them for the first time, with less noise from the thoroughfare. And

less anxious, commute-weary minds…

At 5:30pm, the daily loudspeaker reminder for kids that it’s time to stop playing outside and to get home

safely, has been replaced with a reminder from City Hall that no-one should be out except on essential

business.

Fortunately, going for a health walk with a mask and social distancing is still classified as essential. At least

for now…

Tomorrow I have an appointment in the city, so I’ll likely have more to say about daily life in Tokyo soon…

Until then, hope you and yours are as well as can be under the circumstances :-)

Toddlers & Cherry Blossoms: Signs of Spring & Re-Birth…

Wednesday April 15 Part 2

Shibuya to Daikanyama Walk (with Social Distancing)

Greeting at Hikarie Building, Shibuya.

(Many more photos and links follow text…)

A lot of (bad) newsworthy changes have taken place since I posted Part 1 of this diary a few days ago.

On Thursday, the day after my epic walk, the state of emergency was extended from the initial 7 prefectures,

including Tokyo, to the entire country — a total of 47 prefectures.

Friday, April 17

one week after Governor Koike asked businesses to close, a record 201 cases in a single day were

diagnosed in Tokyo.

Saturday April 18,

Japan’s total number of cases passed 10,000

It’s hard to know what to do in the face of such a crisis, especially (and I am fully aware I am privileged to

say this) when, on a personal level, all of our basic needs here at home in West Tokyo are met. Rumi

telecommutes to work. We have good food. Water. The tissue and toilet paper shortages have been

overcome. We even have masks.

On a writerly level, I have become a volunteer with the CornoaDiaries project at Swansea University in the

UK. All of these diaries and the like I have been posting are being collected as data (along with the work of

other volunteers around the world) by researchers at Swansea to help study the impact of the Coronavirus

pandemic on daily lives and societies.

On a more personal, day to day level, I have done two things:

1. Declared a ceasefire over parking issues with the neighbourhood day care centre. (I told them at

a time like this, when life is hard enough for everyone, I wouldn’t object to parents who need to

use cars for safety or convenience to park in front of our house).

2. Started to thank all the essential workers such as the staff at supermarkets and convenience

stores (and the day care workers) who work under dangerous conditions to make life easier for

the rest of us. I felt a little awkward at first. When I said to the Family Mart teller in Shibuya “Kyo

no shigoto, arigatoui gaozaimasu:” Thanks you for your work today” I felt awkward, and unsure

what to expect, a middle aged man thanking a school aged girl for selling him a salmon rice ball

and wildberry smoothie. But even under the face mask I could tell her face lit up to be

recognized in that way, and since then it’s gotten much easier to say :-)

(Awkward transition ahead…)

What’s that you say, What was I doing in Shibuya? Glad you asked…

If you’ve read the other Tokyo Photo Diaries, you know that until April 4th my daily routine included a two-

hour roundtrip walk to the nearest Starbucks here in west-end Tokyo, but that since that date I had refrained

from going to Starbucks at all and had curtailed my long walks to short juants around the ‘hood.

By last Wednesday, however, the first day after a spell of bad weather, I couldn’t take being inside anymore.

Walking has always been my go-to stress reliever, as I wrote about in “Coronavirus, Stress, & Anxiety

Disorder: Walk it Off “ (link below)

After walking from home to Kichijoji, I decided to keep going and see what life was like in central Tokyo. I

wasn’t sure what to expect, and my number one rule was that I must be able to maintain social distancing at

all times. If I couldn’t keep two meters from others, I would end my walk there, turn around and go home.

Kichijoji Station was busy near the entrance to the JR entrance, but the smaller commuter line the Keio,

which runs into Shibuya, was almost empty that time of day (late morning). Even on the express, there were

maybe 20 of us in total on a car which could seat… 60 people? and easily carry twice that number. We each

sat at the far end of the benches, everyone very aware of their distance to the others.

Shibuya Area Map (photo by Aaron Paulson)

Apparently, more than 2 million passengers a day pass through Shibuya Station, the second busiest train

station in Japan (Shinjuku is the busiest, not just in Japan but the world).

Granted the Keio Line gate is in a kind of annex of the main station, and unlike Shinjuku I don’t go to

Shibuya much so don’t have a strong sense of the station’s “funiki,” or feeling, but I can say this: for midday

on a workday, it felt almost spookily empty.

28,000 steps

Keio Line Entrance, Shibuya Station

Near the Keio Line entrance is a glass-walled walkway with good views of Shibuya Crossing, aka Hachiko

Crossing aka The Scramble — reputed to be the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world, with an average of

2,500 crossers at a time (though of course time of day makes a huge difference).

This also the part of Tokyo where young people come to celebrate special events such as the Japan World

Cup, and Tokyo’s infamous Halloween parties.

In any case, there’s usually a line of tourists all along the walkway taking pictures and selfies of The

Scramble from above. Today there was me and one homeless person asleep against a pillar.

Shibuya Scramble from Shibuya Station

I walked through the station building, past normally bustling cafes and restaurants, to a rear entrance to eat

my packed lunch — and salmon rice ball :-)

Mark City, Shibuya Station Building

Self Portrait

Afterwards, I went for a stroll around the Dogenzaka area of Shibuya, uphill from the station.

Love hotels open for business

Lunchtime in Dogenzaka

Some stores open for business

Shop window full of noodles from Taiwan.

Some shops open for business

Uniqlo, on the other hand, is closed

Other Areas Around Shibuya Station

Workmen and policewoman at work….

Work as usual…

Work as usual…

The Shibuya River (Shibuya has a river?!?) Work as usual…

Pachinko parlours closed…

Smoke break along the Shibuya River

And then, when I had followed the riverside path about as far as I could/wanted to that day, I… turned

around and followed the same route home again!

The Inokashira train was a little more crowded on the return journey, but still I was still able to practice social

distancing the entire journey.

In the end, according to my smartphone, I walked 27,655 steps, which is my new Personal Best since I

started recording such numbers (ie, since I got a smartphone.)

And again: safe social distancing all the way!

All the best to you and yours, wherever (and whenever) you may be reading this…

Wednesday, April 15

“Rural suburbia” in Nishi (West) Tokyo during the state of emergency

(Artistic photo of cabbage fields and suburban housing).

Total Cases in Japan/Tokyo as of April 14: 7,645/2,319

My part of Tokyo, Nishi Tokyo, is a liminal zone, a transition space between countryside and the

encroaching (sub)urban sprawl of the city. Hence, we get housing developments, apartment buildings, and

sushi restaurants chock-a-block with farmers’ fields and blueberry patches.

Commuter trains connect us to the city proper — and to the mountains a couple hours’ west of here.

Not surprisingly, perhaps, given the relatively low population and high degree of urbanization and well-

connected train network, in many ways we out here in the ‘burbs are getting along better than city folks.

For example, our supermarkets remain well-stocked, and are not (usually) scenes of panic buying on the

scale that happens in the “heart” of the city

Note the face shields between the cashiers and customers

Recently bare shelves of tissue are filled once again…

Courts of prepared food stalls, on the other hand, remain virtually empty

Meanwhile, in the surrounding fields, new crops are a -growing…

… and other business goes on in this part of the city.

Day care centre

Construction work proceeds apace: note the lack of mask

And concrete continues to be “cored” (whatever that means)

A public bus and public worker on the job (behind the bus is a postal carrier on his scooter)

And domestic work, too…

The local sushi shop is still open for takeout

And this overloaded truck of recyclables suggests Tokyo’s consumer heart still beats

But thankfully pachinko parlours are FINALLY closing

And cherry blossom has come to an early and anti-climactic finish.