Everybody panic!

As you may've heard, the H1N1 flu has come to Japan, and quite a few cases have popped up, mostly in Hyogo and surrounding areas.

Japanese people seem very health-conscious. I read an article recently about someone travelling to foreign airports, such as Heathrow, where the only people wearing surgical masks were Japanese tourists. And you'll certainly see a *lot* of Japanese wearing those masks to protect themselves against real or perceived nasties. (Or, if they themselves have a cold and don't want to spread it.)

In this country, even when there are *no* health scares around, you'll find very detailed 'how to wash your hands correctly' posters. In some companies, professional, full-grown adults - I'm not kidding - are even being instructed on appropriate hand-washing procedures during company hours, with everyone in the office required to participate in a hand-washing 'class'. Japanese people are the ones that have health checks every year from childhood, and have to collect their own urine in little bottles, or record information about their BMs for school camps. Who go to the doctor for any minor cough or cold.

Unfortunately, in my cynical opinion, it sometimes seems like the reason companies etc are so concerned with employees' health is because they offer very little opportunity to take sick leave, and want to keep their employees healthy so they can be in the office, where they belong. It's like 'you should look after yourself; if you get sick, it's your fault for not protecting your health'.

Japanese people are very concerned with hygiene and cleanliness. This is certainly not always a bad thing, especially in the major cities which feature a huge population in a small area. The more we can suppress the spread of sickness, on crowded trains etc, the better.

However, in such a culture, you can imagine that this H1N1 flu has caused some fairly strong reactions. Even back when there was only one confirmed case in the country, some companies were introducing measures like saying every employee must wear a mask at all times, cancelling business trips, prohibiting all employees from traveling (even in their personal lives), or closing schools (this is a bit more understandable in Hyogo etc, where many of the affected people were students who spread the flu during volleyball tournaments, etc). University classes have been cancelled, and so on.

Of course, measures have been stronger in the affected areas, but even here, a lot of companies are starting to pass down new guidelines and restrictions to their employees.

My company has not done anything excessive, though they did cancel a few meetings, I think. I am not sure why meetings are considered more dangerous than merely coming to work every day and seeing a hundred students pass through, but I'm just relieved my job hasn't been affected. Hopefully there won't be a huge nationwide epidemic, but at the same time, with over a hundred people already affected, I don't think there's ultimately anything we can *really* do to halt its spread, apart from close down all inter-city trains etc, and effectively prohibit people in Hyogo etc from travelling anywhere.

I can't say I'm particularly concerned about the flu. Sure, I wouldn't want to catch it, but it doesn't seem to be terribly dangerous. Having over a hundred cases does sound scary, but if you think about all the flus and viruses and colds that 'go around' all the time, and don't have their numbers recorded, it's probably not that much. Anyway, I'm not well-informed enough about it to properly talk about the medical risks etc, so I'll finish there.

[Update: Tokyo has now recorded its first case of the flu. I expect that within one day, 80-90% of people on the street will be wearing masks. Even a couple of days ago, a student told me how she went to buy masks, but the first two pharmacies were sold out. At the third, there was a huge scuffle of people fighting over the masks.]