Life in a semi-lockdown scenario ~three~

Time is ... merely a concept

A week has gone by and I've opened the blog, to write a post about...this week. And yet, it feels like, it will be a lot like last week. 

Restrictions in Tokyo (and the greater Tokyo region) have become a bit stricter; the Governor, Koike, has asked people to limit grocery shopping to once every three days, to ensure (where possible) that just one family member goes and, as we approach the tradition 'Golden Week' holiday period, she has asked that we 'Stay Home' rather than, as usually happens, people go on holiday. 

I sense we are entering a critical two-week period with the virus, a little on the edge as we wait to see whether or not the 'semi-lockdown' is too little, or is too late. 

An isolation still life

After the beaches were overrun with out of town visitors last week (including my two surfing spots, Ichinomiya in Chiba and Shonan/Kamakura in Kanagawa) the professional surfing association, many surf shop owners and even my surf club in Zaimokuza, have called on all surfers to observe the rules and 'stay home'. By the looks of news footage tonight (compared with last week) it seems the call has been heeded.My first 'breakout', when it is allowed, will be the beach I think.

Of course, news coverage during the week has mostly been on the virus. A lot of footage of 'last week' vs 'this week' scenes of Tokyo in semi-lockdown, streets and streetscapes almost empty. The photographer in me wants to go out and record some of it. But I can't. Lots of workers still struggling with requests to stay home versus 'need' to go to work. he Abe Government is pleading with people to cooperate in getting the day-to-day contact down by 80%, just 20% of people out on the streets for work, shopping, and other activities. It has been mostly around 60%. Those of us who can work at home do, and recognise it for the privilege it is compared with many who do not have that option. 

preparations for a class, online

Some reporting this week too, in the media of people leaving notes of appreciation to the garbage collectors. With so many more at home for longer hours, daily household rubbish volume has increased quite substantially, I note that they are collecting the rubbish a little bit later each day in my neighbourhood. 

My work from home experience continues with its challenges. Although the communication with students remains fairly low-key technologically-speaking, I am now rethinking of ways to engage with them since I'm not getting the responses I expected. My University has also made the decision to extend online teaching to into term 2. I don't know if that means academics will still be unable to go to campus or continue to work from home. I also had to make the very difficult decision to cancel all study abroad programs for the remainder of the year. Unfortunately, the extensive paperwork required means an application deadline in early May, and with no end to the restrictions in sight, we couldn't proceed on the 'what if...may be...' uncertainty. It will be hard for some students who dreamed of the opportunity to live and study away from home, but such is the way of things at present.

Flower play 

I haven't been on a train since returning home from work on 7 April. That's a strange feeling for life in Tokyo. My excursions outside are limited to the convenience store (still) and every so often, an extended walk to the larger supermarket for grocery items I can't get at the local shop. I keep to myself and my books and writing mostly; social media is an interesting source of engagement, the historian in me would like to marvel at the documenting of this period in fifty years time. Or perhaps one hundred years time, in the same way we seek out the historical record of the Spanish Flu of c. 1918. I have taken to dancing, #isodancing, as a way to keep up some exercise and movement, and when the coast is clear, a perimeter walk around the neighbourhood park. Some of us on socmed have taken to sharing pics of our isolives, a couple of examples are included here. I guess there is time to be a bit more creative in these times of not rushing to catch trains on our daily commutes.

The outlook for this week is...more of the same.

The Asahi Shimbun reports that, at 10.30pm, 25 April 2020, Japan had recorded 13,229 cases and 360 deaths. Tokyo is currently seeing an average daily increase in cases identified hovering around the 110 mark. The 'curve' isn't yet flattening, yet the growth isn't in the order of the United States either. Hence, my anticipation for the next couple of weeks...it will tell us much. 

Until next week--stay safe.

Life in a semi-lockdown scenario ~two~

Continuing reflections on this moment in history

Second week of 'classes' completed. Several more 'zoom' meetings accomplished (though I have to set up to host one next week...not sure about that) and life in lockdown, of a politely requested type, continues. 

But, there was TOILET PAPER this week, in the neighbourhood convenience store, at last. Since the first week of supplies disappearing off the selves a couple of months ago, toilet paper has been hard to come by (masks as well, more on that shortly). 

Ah, at last...felt like I'd won the lottery

I have been abiding by the 'stay home unless it is absolutely necessary' requests made of the governments at all levels. I really haven't had to go out beyond the neighbourhood perimeter either for the newspaper and milk, or a little further afield (an additional 850m) to the local supermarket for grocery items. And flowers. I enjoy my flowers although the florist informed me they too will be closing temporarily from 18 April. 

Tokyo Governor Koike is regularly on TV through ads or media conferences, Abe mostly doing press conferences. The schism between the Prime Minister and the various prefectural governors has widened this week. Initially, the state of emergency applied to seven prefectures, including Tokyo and Osaka (technically not prefectures but larger governing entities) and of course this week we saw the ramifications of those 'limitations'. TV current affairs shows showed extensive footage of people from the 'quasi-lockdown' prefectures heading to unaffected prefectures to, in some instances, attend a gym, for example. Hence this week, the state of emergency was extended nationwide. People were grateful for that but worried the call may have come too late. Tokyo's cases keep climbing, not alarmingly, but with sufficient concern about a lack of resources to cope in the event of projected exponential estimates. As we've seen in Australia too, people in Tokyo with holiday homes in other prefectures have moved to those, with the concomitant strain on local amenities. We are not in a 'lockdown' as such, we remain at the politely requested 'please try to avoid' these actions. Police are roaming some areas with move on powers of sorts but no fines or arrests to this point, that I am aware of. 

Prime Minister Abe. There is much talk of 'leadership' in these times, and let's face it, there is going to be so much data for the political scientists among us to analyse when this is done: who did what, well, badly, lacked foresight, had it by the bucketload. One of the memes doing the rounds on twitter suggests the countries that are handling this pandemic well have one thing in common, women leaders...yep. I might add Governor Koike* to that list by the end of this...she stumbles a little bit at times but has been more assertive and clearer in her messaging than Abe and mostly avoided gimmickry. But Prime Minister Abe. His biggest misread this week was getting in on a twitter meme started by a popular singer/songwriter Hoshino Gen, who sang a song about staying home and dancing (or similar) and invited tweeps to share video of them doing just that. PM Abe climbed onboard but showed himself sitting around the house, cradling his dog, having a cuppa, switching tv channels with a remote...I kinda get what he was trying to convey to the nation, but...he shoulda danced. 

Two policy announcements and actions yesterday of note: first, after much political debate, it seems everyone is to receive a payment of ¥100,000 (about A$1450). Now the language used was 'kokumin' (国民) or 'citizens' which raised questions about whether or not foreign residents will also be eligible, particularly those who work in occupations that have been severely affected by closures. Turns out, it might cover non-Japanese residents, probably those paying tax. Details to follow. 

Second, we saw the first deliveries of PM Abe's 'two cloth masks per household' promise, coming in at a cost of ¥46.6 billion (around A$700 million), mind-boggling amounts of money on what, despite best intentions, will be considered poor policy I think. Two masks per household when average households have 3-5 people, delivered to addresses (among which will be empty dwellings), they require rather fiddly care with washing (according to a segment on morning tv) and, as PM Abe wears one everyday, they do appear a bit small in terms of face coverage (contrast this with the handmade masks of Koike and Okinawa Governor Tamaki which are attracting much admiration, but that could be a bit political too). The deliveries are starting too late. Shops have been sold-out of masks for weeks and people have been taking to making their own. Again, a policy with some good intention but needed better delivery and the budget...what could be done with that amount of money in the present climate...

My first full week working at home was interesting. Apart from daily outings to buy the paper and milk, I truly have been living an isolated life (not that I mind). I have three classes online to prepare this term and they are scheduled for Thursday and Friday. At this stage, we are keeping it simple, via email contact and exchange. I received some lovely emails from students as they adjust to this working environment and I have tried to keep my messages to them upbeat as we work our way through these times, as people and as students of political science. The other side of the work coin has meant hours, many hours, sitting in front of the screen on 'zoom' meetings. Wednesday involved four hours straight, no break, that is not good and surprisingly more tiring than real-life meetings. There are emails, too many emails...some things never change.

Cords, all the cords to keep us connected

So at the end of week two...personally doing OK, although I would like to get to the beach soon. I am not bored, perhaps rather grateful for this time to think and re-orient myself, physically and mentally. I've taken to wearing a (home-made) cloth mask outdoors everytime too. And hand-washing, very much hand-washing. I try to maintain a gentle exercise regime as well. The park across the road is getting a workout from families each day, it would be hard being cooped up in the small apartments in the neighbourhood. There are now two loudspeaker announcements each day, reminding us of why we are here indoors and why we should keep doing so, one at 10.30am and one at 5.30pm. And there is the whole new vocabulary we are learning for our everyday lives now, every day something new to learn.

Oh, and I had my tenth anniversary on twitter, which I wrote about (previous post) as well, because I guess it was a distraction from what I should have been writing...(^~^)>

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At 11.00pm 17 April 2020, Asahi Shimbun noted there were 9850 cases, 207 deaths, *not including figures from the Diamond Princess (which seems to be a political decision...just like its sister ship the Ruby Princess...more to come?)
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*Disclaimer: I am a writing a book on Japan's female politicians centring on the maverick conservative Koike and the late progressive Doi Takako. 

Things a little birdie taught me...

...thoughts on ten years as a reluctant tweepster

Twitter tells me that on or about this day ten years ago, I hatched my cyber-identity and joined the evolving social media world, at least, I took my tentative reluctant first steps. Indeed, so uncertain was I that for a little while I kept the account private, unsure what to make of this. 

In the ten years hence, of course, much has changed, some for good, some not so. As I sit here in Tokyo in partial lockdown, in between conducting classes and holding meetings in one form or another 'online', I thought it might be worth a bit of a reflection on the past ten years on this platform. Will I be here in ten years time? I don't know. Ten years ago if you told me I'd be working in Tokyo I'd would have been a little skeptical. 

Before we jump into the ten thoughts on ten years of twitter, here's a short recall on how I got to be here, on twitter, here blogging and over there on Instagram. 

In 2010, twitter still hadn't quite caught on I suppose in the way MySpace (is that what it was called?) or Facebook was emerging; indeed at the time, a few political scientists of my acquaintance were getting rather excited about something called 'Second Life' as an experimental space to create the new ideal fair and just society. But I wasn't having any of it, I had enough to do as a lecturer in a regional university and an amateur musician in community orchestras, thank you. Anyway, this particular semester, I was teaching a subject called 'Politics and the Media' and although not participating in the online world I was observing closely enough to recognise social media was exerting some level of influence in the political sphere. Enter one of our then-recently graduated politics students who appeared to be pretty savvy in this arena, Todd Winther, aka @toddocracy

I invited Todd along to give a guest lecture on this emerging platform, indeed, I suggest he was one of the pioneers of using twitter as a political tool and he gave a most engaging lecture. So engaging, I was duped by his charismatic spin to be the 'look it's easy to set up an account, let's get Donna to set up one now'. 'Er, what?' But in a completely unrehearsed double act, there I was, put on the spot and the account @psephy was hatched. And why, or what, is 'psephy' is the most asked question. Well, when it came to putting a name to the account (at the time there was still a character limit) I asked the students, who were naturally much more accustomed to these things. We settled on psephy, short for 'psephologist' (silent p) because I was always telling students of politics that when they were mocked for being students of politics, I always told them to tell people that you are planning to be a psephologist, it tends to stop the mocking pretty quickly. And a psephologist is, you ask? One who dabbles in the fine art/science of psephology, analysing voting and perhaps politics more broadly. 

I also admired Todd's willingness to put his views firmly in the public sphere via his blog. It took me a little while but I soon gathered the courage, and here we are. 

That's the story.

Birds of Brisbane (a flock of seagulls, tra-la)

Now, ten years on. Why am I still here? Like many here, it has its pros and cons, nay its ugly side but also uplifting and supportive moments. I try very hard to be part of the supportive tweeps. So to my ten thoughts on ten years for what they are worth. 

1. I have met some wonderful people via twitter, some only online, some from an online presence to a real life acquaintance and others I've met in real life and we've continued the conversations on twitter. I do feel that with a carefully curated list, you can be a member of an engaging community of friends and colleagues, close to what I imagine we imagined it would be. 

2. As a specialist in Japanese politics and society, twitter early on gave me access to Japanese sources of information I might not otherwise have come across while living in Australia. This was never more more so with the 11 March Tohoku Earthquake/Tsunami/Fukushima meltdown. I would go so far to suggest that it shifted my research direction and partly contributed to finding myself in my present position, back in Japan doing research on democratic politics.

3. In the early days, it seemed everyone was willing to exchange a 'tweet', journalists, politicians and others in a way that made you feel like you were in a big conversation. That doesn't happen so much now. 

4. You are what you tweet, or you should be. I have always maintained a policy of tweeting others as I would want to be tweeted. I have no false persona, I have no wish to engage in the troll wars, I do not swear (well, hardly, maybe the occasional 'bloody'), but that requires much self-discipline of late...

5. I tend to keep to tweeting what I know or find of interest. That seems to fall into two main areas--one is as a conduit for exchanging information on Japan and Australia, either the relationship or social or political phenomena; the other is engaging with tweepsters as friends, sharing aspects of our diverse lives (in recent times, I've tagged that #tokyolyf). 

6. I have twitter to thank for becoming part of the ABC Brisbane family. One random tweet one day caught the eye of one of the producers and, one thing after another, I've had the privilege of contributing on occasion to different programs. Even today, I still manage to participate via the twittersphere, from here in Tokyo. In my line of work, a media presence is valuable and I thank my friends at ABC Brisbane and regionals, for the opportunities  they've given this once shy media person.

7. Twitter the platform, needs a lot of fixing. Others have spoken about this at length elsewhere. I get followed by the weirdest 'bots' and it is disappointing when what we all identify as being so wrong with the platform seems to be left unattended as if it is deliberate. This problem has loomed large in my thoughts as I weigh up the value of staying versus going. I would leave, if a better platform emerged. I reckon.

8. I adjusted to the shift from 140 chars to 280 chars more smoothly than I imagined, though it was always possible to express much more in a Japanese tweet of 140chars. The improvements to the site over the years, while controversial at the time, have settled (except for the bad bits, see 7 above). The ads can be a bit heavy-handed, in Japanese and English. Oh, and an edit button would be good (does anyone else remember that brief moment in twitter time when we could edit tweets, using MT for 'modified tweet' as opposed to the more common RT?)

9. I set up a blog once I realised that getting my 'view' out in public quickly wasn't such a bad thing and that as I grew in confidence, I needed more than 140-280chars to expand on some ideas. I guess being trained in academia with its propensity to need to knock you down more often than not can hinder personal progress in that way. I think too, my academic training also makes me cautious in what I'm prepared to tweet, or not to tweet. My basic rule still rules, before you hit send (on an email) or tweet, are you sure it is something you would say to the recipient in person? If not, delete. I've deleted more than a few drafts. 

10. So ten years, and 105,775 tweets later...still here. It has allowed me develop an alternative path as an academic contributor to the public arena,* not necessarily in a way accepted by the academy, but overall, probably closer to what I wanted to do when I decided to pursue an academic career. I guess that too is still evolving so, for the foreseeable future at least, I still be around, tweeting from my little corner of the twitterverse. 
*However, I remain puzzled that my tweets that garner the most likes rarely, if ever, have anything to do with my professional expertise but often just a (trying to be) pithy comment on the issue of the day. Teehee.

Thanks for being part of the journey, thusfar. 

Birds of Tokyo (true, outside my window, in the 'burbs)

Life in a semi-lockdown scenario ~one~

Life in a time of a pandemic

How many of us will be writing of our experiences during this time of a declared world pandemic in the early months of 2020? Quite a few of us I imagine, and I imagine quite a few of us who can, probably should.

My contribution to this project will be largely from the perspective of living in Tokyo during these times. Besides personal anecdotes, I will also present some 'first draft' analyses of how the politics of the pandemic are playing out, with a little Japan-Australia comparison for good measure.

The Abe Government late last week decreed a 'state of emergency' in seven prefectures including Tokyo. Some would say it was too late. There has been a battle of wits between Prime Minister Abe and, in particular, Tokyo Governor Koike (more on their personal rivalries later). While the national and prefectural governments do not correspond directly with Australia's federal/state relations, we have seen similar power plays between the Prime Minister and prefectural governors, not unlike the challenges presented by PM Morrison and state premiers. The state of emergency gives prefectures some room to announce quite strict measures regarding staying at home, what might be considered essential vs non-essential services for purposes of opening and closing hours, and who should be going to work and who should be 'teleworking'.

I work at a University and much of the past couple of months has focussed on, in the first instance, the welfare of students studying overseas, planning to study overseas, planning to come to Japan to study at our University and an unfortunate few who, just one or two weeks into their long-cherished dream of overseas study had to return home. My role as Director of International Relations carried a particular level of responsibility. On the other hand, a move to domestic responses and the likelihood of all classes going online for at least the first term, saw me shift gears (just a little) as Chair of the Department of Political Science. As the year proceeded, our significant academic markers--graduation ceremonies, inductions, orientations--were gradually cancelled as the reality of COVID19 bore down on us. I still find graduation ceremonies one of the most important events in the academic year, particularly since this cohort had started university the same year I started working here (2016) so we shared a sense of achievement, a sense of 'making it'. As for the first year students, what this 'introduction' will mean for them is yet, I suspect, to play out.

With the state of emergency in place now, students and academics are not permitted on campus until at least 6 May and a significant number of admin staff are required to work from home. Ironically, our university had been preparing for a more comprehensive online environment starting in 2021, but circumstances have forced a hasty reworking of that plan. Classes 'commenced' last week, via an online platform. My classes for this term are mostly 'reading' classes which don't require screen time (I mean they could but I'm not sure all students are immediately in a position or environment where they can download the data required). Rather, I am encouraging students to use this time as a 'deep reading' opportunity, with a reading guide each week. First-year classes have been delayed for a couple of weeks to ensure all students have received the necessary resources to get themselves up and running online. I can't help but think this is not an ideal introduction to their new uni life but I guess we will see soon enough. As it was, the academic year was planned around the Olympics due to be held in 2020. Our Tokyo Bay campus is in the heart of many of the venues and was due to be utilised as part of the Olympic administration. We now have to rethink that for 2021.

In the meantime, I am myself adjusting to working at home and not going out unless absolutely necessary (which generally means popping down to the convenience store for milk, newspapers and other essentials and the local greengrocer for essential strawberries and apples and veges). I am in a fortunate place where in some ways, being a 'homebody' is a preferred life choice anyway. But we are not yet one week in and I expect my longing for a walk in the park or a visit to the beach will come along soon enough. I am also reflecting on the fact that, even if I wanted too, I cannot presently return to Australia, indefinitely; that has a particularly surreal element to it. Nonetheless, I shall do what needs to be done. On twitter the other day, I posted a pic and a comment to the effect that I seemed to be adjusting OK--at 3.30pm, the coffee I made two hours previously was now cold, the morning paper had remained unread and I seem to have spent the bulk of my time on work emails...*just like a day at the office*...

Just another day at the office, really

In future posts, I will consider the political decisions taken as we moved into this 'requested' (as opposed to compulsory) lockdown, how the government leaders in Abe and Koike particularly 'finessed' the Olympic decision, and try to convey some of the day-to-day realities we find ourselves in.

And the latest national figures available today, as we watch the curve,

Cases confirmed*: 7268 people
Deaths: 138 people

Source: Asahi Shimbun at 10.00pm 12 April 2020

That asterisk? * 'excludes numbers from the cruise ship Diamond Princess', about more of which in subsequent posts.

Thank you for reading.

On being 'mobile'--thoughts on the international academy

How mobile should our careers be?

Recently, I was asked to contribute to the Research Whisperer blog, a fantastic resource for researchers from around the world, curated, edited, facilitated and all the other things necessary to run a fabulous blog, by Tseen Khoo and Jonathon O'Donnell.

I hope they don't mind if I post the link here (originally posted 10 March 2020).

'When you choose to re-locate'

If nothing else, it has been a prompt to get back into my own blog-posting.

With thanks to Tseen and Jonathon for giving me the opportunity to convey a few thoughts.