新型インフルエンザ

That's "Shingata Influenza," or "New Type Influenza" in English--the latest buzzword sweeping the nation!  And not in a good way.  Just this past weekend Japan's number of cases balooned to over 120; schools in Kobe and Osaka were shut down in Hyogo-ken, which, for those of you who know your Japanese geography, is right next to Tottori.

Not to be a douchebag or make light of what's already happened, but I'm kind of hoping we get one or two cases here and some school closures, especially given how relatively non-lethal the virus is proving.  It's kind of like hoping for a snow day, only minus the fun of getting to go hang out with your friends in the snow.

Japan has been seemingly very paranoid about the virus though; I've heard reports of some other JETs having to wear masks at work (along with everyone else) and of travel plans being grounded, and I fear the craze will persist.  Hopefully there won't be any issues when the time comes for me to head back home in July!

Swine Influenza Fever

I returned from China the first Tuesday in May, had Wednesday off, and went to work as usual on Thursday.  During the day, my supervisor (at the board of education) called a few times: once, to confirm whenI had gotten back; again, later, to tell me that for the sake of my elementary schools, I should take tomorrow off and not teach (my thought: you DO realize you're telling me not to go to school...while I'm at school, right? I assured him I was fine); and finally, he called to tell me that, well, since I said I was healthy, I could go to work after all.

Ridiculous.  The next day at the elementaries I got a round of questioning to the effect of:
"So you went to China, huh?" (yes, it was fun)
"Did you hear about the swine flu?" (some warnings on the flight over, and a lot on the way back, yep)
"...did they test or check you at all when you got back to Japan?" (yes yes, I had to fill out a form and... [at this point I exaggerated the trouble of the process so it sounded a little more rigorous])
[to the staff, visibly relieved:] "He was checked!"

Sigh.  The trouble with today's widespread information network is that it's very easy to get people into a panic.  At least my middle schools have some sense; no panic there.  Though I did mess with one of my students at lunch (this is the same one who thought I was Howie of BSB fame; when she asked about the flu ("pork influenza;" good vocabulary!) I feigned a few coughs and got a rise out of her before I assured her I was joking.

This is to say nothing of how much things have escalated in the 3-week interim; more on that in another post.