Week: Part 2

Monday

"Death" (死) was written on an absent boy's desk and I wondered if he'd committed suicide. I didn't follow up on this but I didn't hear anything about a suicide so I assume he's okay.

Tuesday

I did some research to support my conclusion that surgical masks are not effective at preventing the spread of respiratory illness. I found a four year old discussion on Japan Today which was interesting. I didn't find any articles to match my opinion exactly but one article said that if masks are used improperly they can increase the spread of respiratory illness; Pulling a mask down to your chin and back up to your face collects bacteria from your face and puts it straight in your mouth, a warm and moist mask worn all day becomes an ideal breeding ground for bacteria. There's also the question of whether the mask you choose is of a high enough quality to stop small flu bacteria getting in. In the end though, it's a goddamn mask and wearing one all day is not something my western mind will ever accept. I'm now used to seeing Japanese wear masks but when I see foreigners trying to fit in by wearing a mask it sheds fresh light on how strange it looks.

Wednesday

More of the annual hysteria about "INFLUENZA", the fatal infectious disease that kills almost instantly. INFLUENZA is ever present and breeds on every surface and rides every breath, but if we open the windows for ten minutes in the morning and play some Communist Party music to "change the air" all traces of INFLUENZA will disappear? Then we can go back heating the classrooms with kerosene in 2013 and making everyone feel like crap. Every year teachers have the same level of surprise and fear about INFLUENZA, even though it comes and goes every year. Instead of an annual panic and Influenza Prevention Announcement overload, why not have good personal hygiene all year round?

Thursday

Going to the gym less makes me more tired. Being less active overall makes me more tired. I know that's normal, but I have a hard time explaining it to people who can't accept that doing nothing will not increase your energy. 

Friday

The convenience store didn't have either one of my trademark chicken pasta salads and only had the disgusting shrimp salad. The shrimp salad has fish eggs as a dressing, which adds insult to injury. They didn't even have the small cartons of orange juice, but had every other flavour. This is surely an intentional personal attack against me. The same thing happened at the supermarket. I was regularly buying sliced baguettes for making garlic bread, but they suddenly stopped being sold. Only recently have unsliced baguettes made a return. A friend and I were always buying a ton of delicious 88 yen banana flavoured milk drinks every week and they stopped being sold too. This is clearly a personal attack aimed at discouraging foreigners from shopping at these places.