Into the World:
The Random Thoughts in My Mind

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.

At first sight, the massive two-floor Patagonia store in the heart of Tokyo sounds like a place where the fashionistas of the world would spurn. Ceiling-to-floor posters extol the value of independence and ruggedness, as beautiful men and women are pictured cooking, kayaking, and hiking in the resolute mountains of, well, Patagonia. The men and women in the posters are simply dressed, with durable dark-colored, simply designed coats, jackets, and pants, a far cry from the vibrant colors and thoughts put into the arrangements among clothes worn by the passersby on Tokyo's high streets.

COVID-19 has reiterated the importance of selling products online. As the fear of contracting the disease compels people to minimize time outside the home for as long as possible for many people, online shopping has become the primary method for many people to secure both their daily necessities as well as simply indulging in the pre-COVID habit of window shopping on the high streets, but only online. As materialism grips Asian societies , consumers increasingly find themselves unable to get away from the urge to browse what to buy next, even if it can only be done in front of a smartphone or a computer screen.

As the coronavirus epidemic continues to spread around the world, moving abroad to improve career prospects may be the last thing that many people are thinking about. But individual careers do not take a break just because parts of the world economy are temporarily shut down to help suppress the further spreading of COVID-19. Just as it was before the emergence of COVID, moving to a different country for work may be extremely helpful for career development. In particular, in the post-COVID world, Japan and South Korea may be two locations that prospective job seekers should examine.

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.