LETTER FROM HAPPY ENGLISH SCHOOL June 22nd, 2020

Hello. How are you combating the coronavirus? Social distancing and washing hands are OK, but wearing a mask is going to be really uncomfortable and even stifling in the steaming summer, isn’t it?

Infection cases and death tolls from the virus in Japan are relatively kept in check compared to other G7 countries despite the country’s low PCR testing capacity and stay-at-home orders unpunishable by law. Yet some experts are wondering why Japan can keep the numbers of infections and deaths lower. They say that it may be Japanese people’s practices and mindsets that contribute to the rather small numbers.

Japanese people are not hesitant to wear a mask. There are many people with hay fever who need to have one on in spring and even all year around, regardless of the season. In fact, there are some people who are allergic to various pollen. In the peak season of the flu, we also see many people wearing masks. Mask wearing does not necessarily mean weakness and sickness like westerners think, but it means protection, hygiene, and etiquette. It is an act of self-protection and it is also an act out of consideration for others not to bother or transmit an infectious disease to others.

We are often told to wash our hands regularly before meals and we use disposable chopsticks at restaurants. There are not many obese people who are more subject to the virus in Japan. What is more, we do not hug and kiss when we greet people and keep some distance when we talk with people. We bow when we meet and we rarely even shake hands. We have less physical contact when we socialize than westerners, even though we tend to act in groups. It is said taking a bath every day may make a difference to combat the virus, too.

Conformity and peer pressure may play a significant role to fight the virus. Japanese people try to follow other people because our society requires us to do what other people do to keep in harmony. If you become a nail that sticks out, you are harshly criticized, smeared and slandered. In old times, people were divided into groups in their neighborhood and tax was collected by the heads of the groups. When someone failed to pay tax, the entire group they belonged to was punished. It is not for only tax payment, but also other activities people did in the group if they were found unfavorable, people were punished and even ostracized.

I desperately hope we can keep the numbers low and the coronavirus is contained as soon as possible, not only in Japan but also in the world, so that a second wave and a third wave coming from abroad might not hit us. We need to get the situation better and eventually eliminate the virus globally with no people and no country left behind.

コロナとの戦いは続いています。それが日常になって、感染者の数が減り収束に向かうことを切に願いますが、残念なことに、今アメリカで南米で猛威を振るっているようです。健康や科学より政治や経済をもっと重視する指導者のいる国では、コロナの勢いが衰えていないようです。世界全体が終息に向かわないと第2波・第3波はやってきて終わりがありません。ワクチンと薬が本当に頼みの綱です。

グローバル化と気候変動が進み、コロナの発生があり、世の中の不平等や格差が以前よりももっとあらわになってきました。しかしこれを契機に、人が真摯に様々な問題と向き合い、世界が変わり、コロナ後の世界ではもっと人が人らしく暮らし、地球環境により調和し暮らせるのでしょうか。いいえ、残念なことに、人が自分本位で、憎しみあい、戦争し、地球環境を破壊している限り、コロナが終息しても、何も世の中は変わらないでしょう。

コロナによって加速化されるAIやITの技術の普及が人の生活を便利にしてくれるでしょうが、それらの技術は、悪用もされ同時に人をも不幸にもすることは目に見えています。そこに愛がない限り(お茶のコマーシャルみたい)、環境問題に取り組まない限り、人を思いやる心や人の立場に立ってものを考えるという共感がない限り、犯罪や戦争などの私利私欲のために、これらの技術が使われることになるからです。

大袈裟かもしれませんが、地球のため人類のため自分に何ができるか、それぞれが考え日々の生活を送ることが本当に大切だと思います。Happy English Schoolの生徒は英語を学習しに来ているわけで、少なくともここに来ている時は、英語力を高めることに一心になって、役立つ英語を身に着けてほしいと思います。それが遠からず、自分のためになることは間違いないことで、それが人のためになり、国連で「大人のせいだ」と地球温暖化問題のスピーチをしたスウェーデンのグレタさんのように地球環境のためにもなればいいですね。

まあ小さいことからコツコツと自分のペースで’Think globally and act locally.’

(地球規模で考えて、地域で行動しよう)

まずはグレタさんの本を読むことから始めましょうか。“NO ONE IS TOO SMALL TO MAKE A DIFFERENC” by GRETA THUNBERG published by Penguin Books