Mass hysteria over the swine flu in Japan
Tsuyoshi Takashiro, the filmmaker husband of Erika Sawajiri, has written a post on his blog[via Itai News] in complaining about Japan’s overreaction to the H1N1 flu. He comments on the scene inside Heathrow Airport, where almost everyone is not wearing a mask. The only people wearing surgical masks for protection are Japanese tourists. Some people assumed that the Japanese wearing masks must be sick, and avoided them.
Takashiro’s foreign friends noticed this spectacle, and assumed that the swine flu must have hit Japan pretty hard. In reality, only a handful of H1N1 flu cases have been confirmed in Japan, none of them serious enough to threaten the lives of those involved.
In Takashiro’s opinion, Japan is not suffering from a swine flu outbreak, it is suffering from mass hysteria. He guesses that the media must be spreading the fear, and thinks that the situation is almost the same as the hysteria that swept the United States following the 9/11 terror attacks. (And comments on how he feels like reading some Noam Chomsky books.)
Perhaps he has a point.
About 6,000 people worldwide have been infected with the H1N1 flu, with a mere 63 cases resulting in death. Most of the deaths have taken place in Mexico, and Mexican authorities are already claiming that the flu is on the wane and that it is safe for tourists to come back. Much of the world seems to have realized that the flu is not the horror it was initially expected to be, and life is returning to normal is most first world nations.
In Japan, however, the H1N1 flu is still being treated as something very serious. Checks are being carried out on every person who enters the country, and those found to be infected or at risk of infection are being forced into quarantine. Even with such strict measures in effect, the fear that some flu carriers might be in Japan is enough to cause schools in Osaka and Tokushima to cancel class trips. There are no known cases of the new flu outside of quarantine facilities, but a lot of kids are going to not have their class trips to Kyoto because authorities are afraid that there might be H1N1 flu somewhere in the country.
And for those interested in what Hollywood stars think of Japan’s reaction to the flu- Three minutes into this clip from the Daily Show, Tom Hanks, who just got back from Tokyo, jokes about all the forms he had to fill out about his health [hat tip to Keeping Pace in Japan]:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | M – Th 11p / 10c | |||
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