March 7, 2020

I was supposed to be down the street from my home at the Meijiza Theater right now to watch kabuki with my wife and a group of friends, then have dinner afterwards, but it is not happening thanks to the coronavirus.  I felt bad when I had to cancel reservations for 21 people at a local restaurant, but when I did I had a feeling they were expecting it.  Last night, a Friday, local restaurants seemed to be close to normally full.  Other nights this week it was dead.  It’s like living in a ghost town where all the ghosts wear white masks.  Department stores are empty, hotels have perhaps ten percent of the usual number of guests, Asakusa’s Nakamise shopping street is deserted, and it is once again possible to walk through Ginza without having to fight crowds.

My point here being not that Tokyo is a dangerous place but that this is a great time to visit Japan.  At least for the non-elderly, people with weakened immune systems or other severe health problems.  And as long as other countries don’t impose travel restrictions on people coming from Japan, a concern that has caused several people I know to change their travel plans.