Week 35 - Ian and Minako venture out in search of the new

Edited BY

G P Kennedy

Ian & Minako – Tokyo

Hello again from Tokyo, it's getting cold but still sunny and dry most days. We are both very well but the increase in new coronavirus cases throughout Japan continues at a worrying pace.

This week the daily average for Tokyo is 414, down from 500+ a few times in the past fortnight, and the total is 40,210 and 488 deaths.

Nationally the total cases are now 145,474 in total including 2684 on Saturday. There have been 2042 deaths overall and daily average new cases increased to 2082. 

So the hospital bed occupancy rate is now high, i.e. above 25%. Tokyo is 50%. Osaka 55% but even if there are enough beds it's a shortage of human resources that are the problem. Japan has a relatively high number of medical staff (12 nurses and 2.5 doctors per 1000 people) but if the covid cases rise much more then other medical services will suffer.

Bars and restaurants that serve alcohol are being requested to close early again, 9 or 10 pm in some cities.

The Go-To travel scheme has also been suspended for some areas. If the situation doesn't improve in the next couple of weeks there could well be another state of emergency declaration.

On the upside, with people being forced to spend more time at home, nearly 20% of husbands and wives in a survey said that their relationship had improved due to increased communication!

Locally everyone is fine though we heard that there is a cluster of 20 cases in the local hospital. We are due to have our annual health checks now at another nearby hospital but feel it may be safer to stay clear of medical establishments as much as possible for a while.

The art event in our park ended last Monday, which was another public holiday (Labour Thanksgiving Day). We really enjoyed seeing all the artworks in different weather and light conditions over 3 weeks, we're missing them now. The event ended with some performances including a tango band – masked and spread out, of course, and Ondo Japanese folk dances which normally form a circle involving some hand-holding so had to be altered and paraded along the path instead.

This weekend we ventured downtown to Roppongi Hills for a bit more culture outdoors. Saturday mornings tend to be quieter on transport and in the commercial areas.

There's an amazing new sculpture by Takashi Murakami there, 10 meters tall made of bronze and gold leaf. Using his famous flower motif, it’s a statue of a flower parent and child.

There is also a flower-themed café with the food dishes decorated with flower faces. All very popular of course so it was good to get there on a quiet morning. This is a project aimed at expressing hopes for the future through art; there will be various collaborations.

After lunch, our walk to the station was via the iconic Jingu Gaien Ginkgo Avenue, which, as the name suggests, is a wide avenue, lined with many ginkgo trees.

The trees are tall and at this time of year covered in bright yellow leaves, the fallen leaves form a yellow carpet on the pavement. We have these trees in our park so can see them anytime but many people come to see the Avenue.

It was so crowded, there are no foreign tourists but still several day-tripping coach parties. Not really much room for social distancing but at least it's outdoors. The trees were actually a bit past their best but still an interesting sight.

We made yuzu jam! Yuzu is a popular citrus fruit here; it's often grown in people's gardens if they're lucky enough to have one.

It looks like a small round lemon and is very sour, impossible to eat raw but good for jam, salad dressings, and making ponzu (citrus-based tangy sauce).

A lovely elderly neighbor invited us into her garden and gave us a bag full of yuzu and a big bunch of flowers! A random act of kindness that typifies our neighborhood.

We made a few small jars of jam and kept some back to make ponzu. There is also a tradition in Japan to take a yuzu bath on the day of the winter solstice; it feels really good with a bright aroma. Our landlord usually gives all the tenants a few just before the solstice from their tree which we can see from our balcony, it's full of fruit now so we have that to look forward to.

We're feeling quite energized after being immersed in yellow and gold colors this week!