Jamaicans in Japan missing home but taking pandemic in stride
Published:Friday | April 24, 2020 | 12:25 AMPaul Clarke/Gleaner Writer
Jamaican teachers in Japan have said that they are afraid and anxious as uncertainty sweeps the globe amid a deadly coronavirus pandemic that has crippled economies and left nearly 200,000 people dead.
“I can’t wait to see the back of this virus, and although I know things will never be normal as before, at least it may get back to some level of normalcy,” said 30-year-old Christel Wynter, who worked in the local insurance industry before leaving for Japan.
Conservative estimates say that there are more than 300 Jamaicans residing in Japan, which, up to 6 p.m. yesterday, had recorded 19,950 cases of the novel coronavirus, with 299 death.
Wynter, who lives in Namegata city in the Ibaraki prefecture, told The Gleaner that the situation there was increasingly worrying as the increasing number of positive cases across Japan and the 24-hour COVID-19 newscasts were becoming too much to handle.
“It is good that the Japanese authority has issued a lockdown order, but it has not really stopped the number of cases from increasing. Right now, simply talking to my family and friends back home keeps me sane,” she said.
“My state of mind, I would assume, is the same as almost everyone else – afraid and unsure about what’s going to happen next. Afraid to go anywhere because of the unknown,” said the St Catherine native.
Wynter said that other Jamaicans she knows are doing well as the situation in Namegata is better than in other sections of the country. Namegata is not under lockdown even though as a precaution, the Japanese government closed all schools.
SOCIAL MEDIA ONLY RESPITE
Marlon Simpson, who stays in Hyogo prefecture, said that he has not been outside his apartment since a lockdown order went into effect earlier in April because of mounting COVID-19 cases.
His only respite is the social media platforms he uses to communicate with other Jamaicans in Japan and his family back home.
“I don’t know what I would do without WhatsApp and FaceTime. They are a blessing right now because I am able to talk to people I love to let them know I am fine and just trusting in God in this miserable time,” he said.
Some restaurants and pubic transportation are still up and running in Hyogo, and schools in the city remain closed, said teacher Casey-Ann Brooks. However, she believes that with people still moving about en masse, more stringent measures might be necessary.
“I don’t think they are taking it seriously because you know Japanese are workaholics, so you go on the trains and buses in peak hours, and it’s still packed. These people are stubborn in that regard. It cannot be a state of emergency and you carrying on as if it’s all the same as before,” said Brooks.
In the meantime, she said that a number of persons, mostly Americans, have been breaking their contracts to return home.
She said that with the deep uncertainty at the moment, emotionally, she is “hanging on by a thread”.
“I was to go home [to Jamaica], but just about that time, all of this happened,” she said. “The airline cancelled my flight, so I’m stuck here indefinitely,” stated Brooks.