Stranded in a town in northern Peru on lockdown, Mauricio Nishioka Luisa Helena is desperate to return to her home in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture.

Every day, she watches the grim effects of the coronavirus pandemic unfold around her. Leaving seems impossible. But so does staying.

Nishioka, 60, a third-generation Japanese Peruvian, came to Japan in 1991. She obtained permanent resident status and worked at a supermarket and ryokan, or Japanese inn, and built a life for herself. Nishioka raised two sons with her Japanese Peruvian husband. He died eight years ago.

She returned to Peru in September 2019 to sell a family property in Lima, the capital. She was scheduled to return to Japan in February. But after learning the deadly coronavirus was spreading in Japan, she decided to delay her return trip until it seemed safer to travel.

She also wanted to attend her father’s remembrance Mass, scheduled in March in the town where she was born and raised.

March came around and so she traveled to Sullana in the Piura province of northern Peru, located about 1,000 kilometers from Lima, to attend the Mass.

But the situation in Peru was deteriorating.

Shortly after the Mass, on March 15, the Peruvian government issued a state of emergency. The borders closed the next day. Travel and movement within the country were also restricted.

Nishioka had no choice but to rent a place and stay with her older sister. Since then, she has stayed home, except to go grocery shopping once a week.

COVID-19 has ravaged Peru, which has a total population of 32 million, since April. As of June 22, about 250,000 people have contracted the virus and about 8,000 died.

Cesar Flores, a 39-year-old journalist who lives in Piura province, said it is one of the areas in Peru hit the hardest. On average, 60 people have died every day, said Flores, who has also been infected with the virus.

The virus has been wreaking havoc all around Nishioka.

A repair person who lived near her became so sick that he was transported to a hospital by a motorcycle taxi. He died before arriving.

Two young children came to the home of Nishioka’s younger sister, near Nishioka’s rented place, asking for help. They said their parents died from the virus at home.

Nobody could take in the children because they had been in close contact with the infected. Nishioka’s sister could only give the children biscuits and juice through the door.

Others have died not from the virus, but from starvation. The pandemic has brought many social and economic activities to a halt.

Public health centers, where protective gear is scarce, face a labor shortage for transporting the dead bodies. Bodies are even sometimes left unattended. Some people will leave a deceased family member out at their door.

“It’s like a horror movie,” Nishioka said. “I am absolutely terrified.”

But the travel restrictions have left her in a catch-22.

It takes 18 hours by a land route to get from Sullana to Lima. Such travel is banned until the end of June.

Nishioka heard an unlicensed bus is in operation, charging five times the market price. But Nishioka is afraid that kind of trip would pose a high risk of infection.

A flight chartered by the Japanese government would cost about $2,000 (214,000 yen) to get from Lima to Mexico City. To go back to Tokyo, it will cost nearly a total of $4,000, she heard.

“It’s way beyond my budget,” she said.

Still, she has not given up hope to return home.

“My work and my life are in Atami. I have lived there for 30 years. I want to go back to Japan where my sons are as soon as possible.”

She is one of many whose lives are back in Japan but are stranded abroad during the global health crisis.

Japan’s Foreign Ministry has been offering support to Japanese nationals stranded abroad since the pandemic led to border closures and international flight cancellations.

The ministry has negotiated with local governments and airline companies to operate chartered flights to bring back them to Japan.

As of June 12, about 10,300 people returned to Japan through those efforts, including people from Wuhan, China, the pandemic’s epicenter.

Five special flights have departed so far from Lima to Mexico City and other locations, from which passengers took a connecting flight to Japan.

The main target of the ministry’s support is Japanese nationals, but those of Japanese descent have also boarded the chartered flights.

The ministry’s South America Division said re-entry is allowed for those who have a long-term resident visa or permanent resident status.

The Japanese Embassy in Peru has urged short-term visitors to Peru to report their whereabouts and other information to the embassy through its website.

But things have not gone smoothly for everyone evacuating to Japan, according to a Tokyo-based tour company Alfainter Inc., which specializes in tours in Central and South America.

Dozens of Japanese Brazilians were on their way from Sao Paulo to Japan in April, according to a company representative. But when they were connecting in Frankfurt, they were refused boarding. They ended up returning to Brazil.

It happened because the Japanese government had not yet clearly stated the standards for re-entry, the representative said.

In May, the Japanese government announced that foreign nationals with permanent resident status or a long-term resident visa may be allowed re-entry “when they have exceptional circumstances that need to be considered for humanitarian purposes.”

But the ministry did not present concrete examples until June 12.

Its list of circumstances includes “if your family stays in Japan and you have been separated,” and “if you travel to visit a family member who lives in a foreign country and is in critical condition, or to attend a funeral of family member who has passed away.”

About 48,000 Peruvians lived in Japan as of the end of June 2019, according to Justice Ministry data. About 10,000 were on a long-term resident visa and 33,000 or so held permanent resident status.

About 206,000 Brazilians lived in Japan. About 69,000 of them were on a long-term resident visa, and 112,000 or so held permanent resident status.