Photo/Illutration Face masks shipped from China's Hunan province (Chifumi Shinya)

Earlier this week, Shiga Prefecture received a gift of 20,000 face masks from China's Hunan province.

In the shipping box was a message quoting a passage from a classical Chinese poem, which went to the effect, "Distance does not matter to close friends. They are side by side even when separated by thousands of miles." 

The gift was given in return for 10,000 pairs of surgical gloves the Shiga prefectural government donated to Hunan in late February, according to The Asahi Shimbun's regional news section. 

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage. Cries of woe are heard from the medical, educational and other segments of society that help keep the nation going.

Below are some memorable comments I saw in The Asahi Shimbun this past week.

A Saitama Prefecture woman in her 30s didn't know what to do when her first-grade daughter complained, "The school doesn't feel like my school anymore. I don't want to go."

The school was providing temporary day care for pupils who needed it, but the children were strictly forbidden to chat in the classroom, and allowed to leave the room only for bathroom breaks.

Seeing her daughter's distress, the woman was forced to take time off from her part-time job.

A general practitioner in Gunma Prefecture lamented, "We GPs are getting hit with a double whammy."

By that, he meant the fear of being infected by the virus himself, combined with the circulation of damaging rumors.

"A case of infection was announced at a neighborhood day care center," the doctor explained. "But even though that had nothing to do with my clinic, the patient was rumored to be mine, and the number of visitors to my clinic plummeted." 

While the world's advanced nations scramble to contain the pandemic, a contagious disease expert observed the chaos with clinical objectivity.

Referring to the cool disinterest with which the international community dealt with past Ebola and cholera outbreaks in Africa, he noted, "Unless a pandemic occurs in the developed world, big pharmaceutical companies and researchers don't take much interest."

Stock prices are fluctuating violently, the Tokyo Olympics have been postponed and people are being asked to stay at home.

But the principal of a primary school in Niigata Prefecture told the graduating class, "Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise. Let's all hold our heads high, smile and move on."

That's the attitude we need now.

--The Asahi Shimbun, March 27

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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