Into the World:
The Random Thoughts in My Mind

For a publication that is known for supporting liberal causes, most important of all the respect of human rights around the world, the Economist can be highly pragmatic. The magazine argued for institutionalizing international migrants as second class citizens in their host societies to placate the worst tendencies of anti-immigration xenophobia that has made headlines in many recipient countries. Setting aside the discussion on whether systematically introducing bureaucratic and economic inequalities between migrants and "natives" contradicts the principle of universal human rights, one should not doubt that the Economist  values practical solutions over lofty ideals in dealing with real-world issues.

In a TV interview in the aftermath of the World Food Program (WFP) receiving this year's Nobel Peace Prize, a former senior Japanese official at the WFP spoke of the one big lesson from his more than 30 years with the organization. He noted that every inequality, no matter how far away, is relevant to every nation and people around the world, and it is necessary for everyone to keep their eyes peeled for every conflict that emerges to better understand themselves. The words of the former WFP manager could not more in time today especially in Japan, as a deadly military conflict rages in the Caucasus with little mainstream coverage.

On the streets of Katsuura, a small coastal town on the far side of Chiba prefecture is a scene that one will never see on the streets of Tokyo today. Two brightly lit stores with giant "Sale!" signs specialize in the latest repertoire of portable fireworks, for people to enjoy in their backyards. The stores are not meant to be discreet. Occupying the two prime spots across each other on one of the town's main shopping streets, their wares spill onto the streets on carefully laid out tables, standing out from the other, much more dimly light lit outlets of restaurants and banks.

When I first heard about the massive explosion that obliterated the port of Beirut, my first thoughts went to the small West African country of Gambia, where I jetted off back in 2012 as a grad student in London. To my surprise, the country was filled with Lebanese residents. The Lebanese dominated the local economy, running everything from local shops selling imported goods to large logistics companies that made international trade to that remote corner of the world possible. Locals seem to be accustomed to the Lebanese presence, established over course generations of migration as part of European colonization.

The "Go to Travel" campaign was supposed to symbolize the return of Japanese tourism. In an industry that has been battered by a 99.9% decline in the number of foreign tourists, the government-initiated campaign promised to save restaurant and hotel operators around the country by subsidizing domestic tourists to make up for the shortfall. Yet, just a few days before the campaign was due to start, the government announced that trip to and from Tokyo, the epicenter of COVID transmissions in Japan, will be excluded as a target for subsidies, leading to a surge of cancelations of hotel and tour bookings.

As COVID-19 progresses, it has become a statistical fact that East Asia has fared noticeably better than many other world regions. While the likes of Vietnam, Taiwan, and Japan did not experience much of an outbreak at all, and China and South Korea, despite doubts about data and secondary outbreaks, largely kept new infections under control, the same cannot be said in many other world regions. Western Europe received the unglamorous title of the world region with the worst rate of infections for a time, before the US, Brazil, and now India and Russia well on the way to surpass the tolls of the epidemic in former hotspots like Italy and Spain.

COVID-19 has been a difficult time for those who love to travel. As countries enforce lockdown to minimize the risks of citizens contracting the disease from one another, shutting national borders has been a standard procedure. Airports emptied out as airlines canceled flights, and even among supposed visa-free travel zones like the EU, internal checks on supposedly non-existent national border controls have made it difficult for citizens to exercise their right to move, live, and work anywhere within the zone. While the talks of regional "travel bubbles" abound among countries that seem to have suppressed the epidemic, the return of unhindered travel around the world remains far away.

A few days ago, a few hundred Japanese and (mostly) foreigners in Tokyo and Osaka marched through downtown streets to show solidarity with those protesting racism in the US and around the world. The protestors were triggered by news of a Kurdish long-time resident of Tokyo being brutally handled the Tokyo police, for no other reason than arguing back about a suspected traffic violation. No doubt protesting for a noble cause, the few hundred that marchers created little ripple in Japan aside from a few short news articles in the country's few English-language media.

The Chinese Communist Party is found of using the statement, "hurting the feelings of Chinese people" when speaking about actions and words of foreign governments that it finds distasteful. The phrase has often been mocked outside the country as nothing but a propagandistic tool. The mockery stems from the belief that unelected government cannot speak for the "feelings" of a citizenry that did not elect it, and that the Chinese elite, secluded in their own world away from the general public, neither have a clue nor any interest in finding out whether the majority of the populace really see eye-to-eye with government officials on the foreign "offenses."

President Trump was not shy about claiming the credit for giving every American citizen USD 1,200 as part of the stimulus package to "wage a total war" on COVID-19. While the letter, awkwardly sent weeks after the actual USD 1,200 was paid out through bank transfer or personal checks, was clearly intended to boost Trump's upcoming reelection campaign against Joe Biden, the point implicitly made in the letter goes beyond his simply reiterating his supposed care for the American people; it speaks to the financial capacity of the United States as a nation that goes beyond the will of an individual president to bankroll his way back into the White House for another four years.

Tokyoites, living in their train- and bus-filled metropolis, often take for granted that getting from Point A to B within the city takes no more than a few minutes of wait at the local train station or bus stop. Even in the depth of the coronavirus epidemic, the city's trains and buses have continued to run their regular schedules, with little changes beyond keeping windows open for better air circulation. Judging from half-empty trains even during what would normally be considered rush hour, revenues from collecting fares have undoubtedly seen a significant decrease, but that has not changed the operations schedules by much.

家醜不可外揚, or "don't tell others about the negatives of one's own family," was a principle that my parents have mentioned upon multiple occasions. They stated that for others to be in on the knowledge of the family"s misfortunes and misconduct will tarnish the family's image so badly that it will be more than just an issue of the usual "losing face" when interacting with others  or bringing embarrassment, ridicule, or shame upon the family. To keep negative information private was often seen as a precondition for the family as a unit and its individual members moving up in the social hierarchy by keeping public reputation squeaky clean.

The prediction about the potential death toll from the coronavirus has become grimmer by the day. With experts in the US predicting that the virus may kill as much as 200,000 people within the country, extrapolation of the prediction to the entire world would see millions perish as the virus continue to rage uncontrollably in corners of the planets that are less capable of implementing measures designed to suppress excessive face-to-face contact among residents without their suffering grave economic consequences. The permanent loss of a significant portion of the world's productive labor force is now not unimaginable.

Yesterday, in a dramatic press conference, Yuriko Koike, the governor of Tokyo, noted that the city is on the cusp of a major spike in the number of new cases of coronavirus infections. As a measure to prevent further spreading of the virus, Koike called on the city's residents to voluntarily refrain from unnecessary outing over the weekend. As an additional measure, she announced the closure of the city's major parks to prevent people from gathering to view cherry blossoms that are blooming at the moment. The country's major news outlets duly reported Koike's press conference as headline news.

In the past few days, the charts for new infections and deaths from the Covid-19 epidemic has made for some grim reading. Even as the number of new cases tapers off in mainland China, the number of new cases and deaths has jumped manyfold in Italy and across western Europe. The list of countries with infections is continuing to grow, with cases now being uncovered in countries that have less institutional and medical capacity to stem future spikes in new infections. As the World Health Organization declares a pandemic, countries are quickly shutting down borders to save themselves.

As the coronavirus continues to strike fear into the heart of the general public across the world, the most urgent task is to find enough medical supplies to handle surging demands for those seeking them just to soothe their concerns. Masks, hand sanitizers, and soap are flying off the shelves, leading to massive shortages and waiting lists for manufacturers not set up to increase production to unprecedented volumes even as they face their own difficulties from lack of raw materials, logistical bottlenecks, and staff members who are too afraid or simply cannot make it to the assembly lines.

As the coronavirus rages on both in China and across much of the world that the Chinese have frequent contact with, there has been an increasing emphasis on how the general public can avoid catching the virus just from going about their daily lives. While the talks of the need to arm oneself with proper tools and behaviors for isolation from potential carriers has led to shortages in everything from surgical masks to rice and toilet paper, even the hardiest isolationists must concede that in a global economy that depends on international movements of goods and people, people locking themselves indoors for weeks on end simply is not feasible.

It is funny how situations can change so quickly when it comes to a spreading virus. Just a week after this blog praised Japan for its relative calm despite having the largest number of cases outside China , the country is making a gradual but visible descent into increased concern and vigilance about the virus at the grassroots level. As several pieces of news about growing infections in Japan, the general public is becoming visibly irritable.

I thought the assassination of General Qassem Suleimani was the pinnacle of how a superpower can display its unhindered political power. Here it is a sovereign country A murdering a top military official of sovereign country B, entirely within the territory of sovereign country C without any sort of explicit agreement from elected officials of said country C before the event taking place. Complaints from C's officials are almost entirely ignored by their counterparts from A on the ground of national security taking precedence over respecting sovereign rights.

Global media outlets and government institutions are going into overdrive to spread information about a new strain of coronavirus originating in a seafood market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. With more than 800 people infested, dozens dead, and cases already spreading to eight countries, there is clear urgency for significant measures to be taken globally to ensure that necessary precautions and medical resources are in place to prevent it from becoming a global-scale epidemic in the coming weeks and months. The Chinese government, for one, has taken dramatic measures to lock down entire cities to prevent the disease from spreading.