Photo/Illutration Visitors wearing masks walk under decorations at Nakamise street leading to Sensoji temple in Tokyo's Asakusa district on Jan. 9. (Reuters)

In the late Edo Period (1603-1867), cholera was commonly called in Japanese “teppo” (gun), “kenkyu” (must be seen quickly), “obyo” (unexpected illness) and “mikka korori” (dead in three days).

These were all indicative of the public’s dread for this infectious disease.

Transliterated into Japanese, “korera” (cholera) was written with three kanji characters that stood for, respectively, “tiger,” “row” and the verb “to pierce.”

A special exhibition started on Jan. 14 at the National Archives of Japan titled “Eisei no Hajimari: Meiji Seifu to Korera no Tatakai” (literally, The start of public hygiene: the Meiji government’s battle with cholera).

I went to see it and my attention was glued to government documents chronicling a Meiji Era (1868-1912) cholera outbreak that claimed about 100,000 lives.

Some people became infected from eating octopus and leafy green vegetables. Others contracted the disease from drinking river water. Such detailed records helped me readily imagine the dire predicament of the people of the time.

Will there come a day when our present battle with COVID-19 becomes a distant memory?

The government is reportedly considering downgrading COVID-19 this spring to a less-severe Category 5--the same as seasonal influenza--of the five-tier system under the infectious disease prevention law.

If that is realized, the government will no longer be able to declare a state of emergency or enforce restrictions on various activities. It would be a major turning point toward a “post-COVID” era.

To be honest, I find myself yearning to return to the “normal ways” of the past.

The Asahi Shimbun recently ran a letter from a reader who wrote about a 3-year-old who saw their nursery school teacher’s maskless face for the first time and exclaimed, “Sensei (teacher), you have so many teeth.”

I sighed at how the unusual has become the usual.

That said, I also have serious reservations about what the government is considering doing.

Is it really safe to ease restrictions? The eighth wave of infections continues and the fatalities among the elderly are currently at a record high. Wouldn’t an untimely easing of restrictions exact a toll on some people?

When a lockdown was imposed on the Chinese city of Wuhan three years ago, I agreed completely with a local author who noted to the effect: “The level of civilization is not determined by powerful armed forces or advances in science and technology--it is determined by how society treats its vulnerable members.”

It’s all right to pause and think.

I demand the government first discuss its plans carefully and openly.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Jan. 20

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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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