at 9 am EST (10 pm JST) on Thurs nov. 21st a 10 year old boy in the south part of town was diagnosed with swine flu... this is late considering it has been a week since the flu entered Japan (in Kobe/Osaka) and has surrounded Kyoto prefecture for a few days (meaning the train that carried the virus from osaka to shiga prefectures went through kyoto)
So since there is a small boy with swine flu somewhere in Kyoto, ALL SCHOOLS HAVE BEEN CANCELLED FOR A WEEK
Students are not allowed on campuses
Doctor Masks have been sold out for over a week in all places that sell them despite the fact that they have no effect on whether or not you will catch the virus.
Japanese people are encouraging hand washing and gargling despite the fact that only kitchen or tub sinks dispense of hot water and soap is rarely found... anywhere, so basically just lightly splash your hands with cold water and then gargle by cupping your hands and using the same cold water with your (still) germy hands to gargle...
Because the schools have also ordered a ban on public bufoonery (i.e. going out in public with friends, or otherwise being in contact with people)
karaoke places as well as many popular hangout places have been forced to turn away students from using the facilities (because an elementary student has the disease, obviously all students now have it and we should all be bundled up into one category because Japan loves doing that.)
for example, any non Japanese/non asian person is automatically American and can speak fluent English (and no other language) they are all rude and have no regard for others.
also it is perfectly okay to take pictures of these people on trains or talk about them and laugh at them in a loud voice because they don't understand Japanese so it's okay! These people are very rare and should be treated with caution, teach children to be afraid of them or else they will eat your face!
any asian person in Japan has got to speak perfect Japanese and follow all manners or they are considered to be socially inept individuals. Should a Japanese person say that they are actually American, they will not be placed in the aforementioned group, but rather be cast aside as a social outcast.
of course this is not all japanese, but many.
...so that's just my most recent frustrations with Japan...
