'Escape from Tokyo' hot topic in Japan while state of emergency looms
07 April, 2020
With just hours remaining on Tuesday (Apr 7) before Japan imposes a state of urgent on Tokyo and six other prefectures to contain the coronavirus, the idea of leaving the capital, or "Escape from Tokyo," swirled on social media.
Though Japan's outbreak continues to be small compared with lots of overseas, alarm over the steady rise of cases in Tokyo to more than 1,000 - roughly 25 % of the country's total - along with a rise in other urban centres, is prompting the state of emergency, which will last until May 6 and call on people to remain home and businesses to close.
Karuizawa, a mountainous spot long known as a good fashionable weekend retreat, has already seen a growth in automobiles with Tokyo-area quantity plates, according to hometown media, particularly on both weekends since Tokyo's governor asked persons to stay home.
Officials experience warned against leaving, saying it might burden already-strained hometown medical systems.
"That will only scatter it (the virus) everywhere," said Nobuhiko Okabe, person in a good government panel of coronavirus experts, told reporters on Tuesday. "I ask people to endure inconvenience. We ought to not be hasty about leaving."
Many of Japan's 47 prefectures have not reported an individual circumstance. One, the northeastern prefecture of Iwate, asked the other day that anybody from Tokyo or two encircling prefectures self-quarantine for 14 days.
The hashtag "Escape from Tokyo" was among the top trending Twitter topics about Tuesday morning, with most commenters urging persons in Tokyo and different big cities to remain put.
"I am aware your feelings, but please exercise restraint," wrote "Hayato," from central and largely rural Yamanashi prefecture. "Your activities could, in a worst-case situation, cause the death of scores, maybe also hundreds."
Others warned that the situation could easily become precarious found in rural areas, with their large proportion of elderly residents. Some commenters added that in some little towns, a family regarded as a way to obtain contagion could be targeted by abuse.
"Hospitals, doctors and nurses are precious resources in lots of local areas," wrote 1 with the handle recognized as "Over 50 Wife". "Though people contain the freedom to live how they'll, in times like this we all have to cooperate."
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com