SITUATION AROUND THE WORLD BECAUSE OF THE COD19:

As I get near the end of my stay here in Japan, I think it is important to know what is happening or what is going to happen soon here in Japan.

FIRST NEWS

Just as the week was ending, I received a group message from a friend of mine, who says that he will have to leave England and come to Japan because they are closing the borders soon. The reason is because he is coming to work here for a few years, so he cannot risk being blocked outside of Japan. I then found on Facebook a video and a contact of an Italian girl married to a Japanese guy who says to offer support to Italian people that are here in Japan during this difficult time. I didn’t think she was going to contact me, but she did answer my email and so I called her around 12 at night, because she said she was still up and not going to sleep. She confirms that the Italian embassy tells her that they are closing the border soon and that I’d better contact my flight company to see if I can get a flight as soon as possible. Because here in Japan it’s too late to do anything, I call my mum who then calls the company and they confirm here that they can guarantee flights for sure only until the 26th of March. The embassy did say that there were going to be flights going on until the 20th of April, but now because Italy already closed borders to foreigners and only Italians can go back in, it’s going to be too difficult to find anything after March.

SITUATION IN ITALY AND POSSIBLE FUTURE SITUATION IN JAPAN:

In Italy they already stopped people from going around, even for work, so everything is under lock down. What the girl told me is that the embassy told her that there is going to be a meeting soon, where Shinzo Abe will decide with other politicians what to do next and that possibly even here in Japan places will start closing soon. This measure is going to be valid, not only for museums or amusement parks, but possibly for other places as well. It is not possible to know right now exactly what precautions will be taken, but in the next few weeks, changes will be happening for sure. I don’t know exactly what people will be allowed to do or not to do yet, but if people can, I would advise to buy whatever they need now that they can still go around, because I am not sure how much they will be able to go out, once decisions are made public. Also, there are still masks available on Amazon, so I would say to people to get them from there, because soon, many people will not be able to go out without wearing a mask.
In Italy now people cannot go out, and can only move with an auto certification where they say why they are out. If they are out for no valid reason, they have to pay a lot of money. Just until last friday some people could go from home to work, and back, with this document. Now even people who could go out before, have to work from home as well. It is possible to go out to buy food once a week at the supermarket, and people can still have a short walk around the block, this however is not possible to do everywhere, and they cannot do anything else now but stay at home. Some still work from home, but some others have lost their jobs. Also, in order to get food, people will contact other people they know and pay them to bring them food. If you don’t know anyone, you have to go to the supermarket, but you can only do that once or twice a week, and you will be in contact with many people, so it’s dangerous.

SITUATION IN ENGLAND:

Some friends of mince who are Italians but live in England, told me that even there everything stopped. They stopped going to work, some people lost their jobs, but my friends are lucky because even if they don’t go to work they still get paid. Until the summer. One of my friends is paid half of the salary, but my other friend is paid the full salary. This is because, since many people had to stop working, there is not too much money going around.

POSSIBLE FLIGHTS BEING CANCELLED:

For people who are going back home now, it’s important to check the flights, because it is possible that some flights will be cancelled, if there are not many people on board and then these people will put them together with others on the next flight, since there are not many planes going around. This will make it possible to save space as much as possible and get everyone out.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN ONCE I AND MANY PEOPLE LIKE ME GO BACK HOME:

So, now in Italy, every time people go out, they have to show a document which says why they are out. For me and others like me, going back home, I will have to say why I’m out. I will have to tick the box that says that I’m going back home. Once I’m back home, my parents are going to be there, because they cannot come to pick me up from the airport. I will not be able to hug them until I completely disinfect myself and throw everything in the washing machine. Once that is done, all I can do at home will be reading books, do my work from home for very50, study some more Japanese and that’s it. I will be able to talk to my friends from Skype, so that will be nice. For the next few months, my world will be my parents and my room. It will be nice to see them after so many months away from home, but I wish it was under a different situation. It will be nice to spend Easter together, but I will be sad about not being able to go to Church, and only see the Mass from the computer.