The coronavirus: How it's affecting Hokkaido, Japan

The coronavirus has been a headline in our news for the past few weeks and it doesn’t seem like that’s going to change any time soon. From my Facebook newsfeed, to general discussions with friends, the topic seems to be popping up everywhere. I don’t think there’s a single person that hasn’t heard about it, especially if you’re someone who’s planned or is planning a trip to Japan, South Korea and/or Italy between now and the middle of the year.

What seems to be the trend with a lot of these cases, not just the ones in Japan but all over, is that they can’t seem to find the link to how the infection came about. So, yea people are freaking out *nervous laughter* and rightfully so. I mean being precautions is of course, the way to go.. you’re not stupid/that ignorant to not at least have some curiosity, right?

There are a lot of big articles out from the press giving the government updates and the lowdown on their recommendations, but I also think that it’s important to have the local point of view as well. Because in all honesty, it is a lot different to what we’re seeing in the headlines which is all ‘panic’ this and ’emergency’ that, and although it IS a bit grim (especially on the tourism side of things) life is actually pretty normal.

For those of you trying to figure out for yourself if cancelling, postponing or booking your trip to Hokkaido is a good idea please read on.

The status of Hokkaido & COVID-19

To date, Hokkaido as a prefecture has the highest confirmed cases of coronavirus in Japan – 72, as of the 1st of March. The prefecture is in a ‘state of emergency’ and from today (2nd of March) until 19th we have been told to avoid any unnecessary travel. This means no traveling abroad as well as just don’t even leave the house if you don’t have to. If you’re keen to keep track of updates I recommend checking HERE regularly for confirmed cases in Japan.

The Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made the request earlier that schools should close through till the end of the spring break. This did not apply to day care and after-school facilities however.

As of Friday the 28th of Feb, the health and welfare ministry supported the PM in advising all schools to close down for at least 2 weeks, which most of the 1,600 locations did abide. The shut down date would have been earlier but they decided to give parents some time to sort out their lives and figure out how and who is going to look after the kids while they’re on ‘holiday’ for the next couple of weeks.

After the 2 week break, there will be another decision made for how to precede, option A being to re-open the schools and live life as per normal, or option B being to continue waiting out the coronavirus from home.

The effects on our lifestyle

As a foreigner living here with no children, I’m not affected in much of a way because of the school shut downs. However a bunch of my friends are.

They now have to find (and potentially pay for) caregivers to take the place of what should have been a few normal school weeks, or if that’s not doable they must reorganize their entire schedules so that they can stay home and look after their kids themselves. Whether it be taking their paid holiday leave now, or just having to take unpaid days off.

Aside from home life, going out shopping or eating is seeming a lot less appealing to us. Not because we think going out will get us infected, but because we’re not sure which restaurants will actually be open. We’ve also seen online (not in Hokkaido!) that some restaurants have put up signs indicating that they will only accept Japanese customers. This is definitely not the case for any shops or restaurants that we have seen here in Hokkaido, but it can make you feel a little bit strange to wonder if other people think that we are tourists (and therefore of some kind of threat) when you’re walking around.

We did our normal supermarket shop on the weekend, got our average shopping load (yes, there was toilet paper available) bumped in to a Japanese friend for a little chat, and made our way home. The place wasn’t running out of food, wasn’t busier than normal (although, is always quite packed on the weekend) – it was just an average Saturday.

Work-wise

I’ve seen a few people that I know whose workplaces are also being shut down because of the coronavirus, either because they are ‘tourist’ facilities (ie. attractions, guest houses etc.), or they work with children (ie. schools).

One that I’m seeing the most are foreigners who work at English schools or are teaching English at schools and are being forced to take leave for at least the 2 weeks that it’s being shut down for. Some of which are actually being forced to use their paid holiday leave to cover this period, which essentially means that they’ll have no paid leave for the time that they had planned on using it for (normally over the Christmas/New Years period).

The tourism industry has definitely taken a massive hit to their income, and obviously so. Due to the massive scare that all of the covoid-19 headlines hitting the world, people are deciding to postpone their trips or cancel them all together. But these last minute cancellations are coming at a huge cost to our local economy. A lot of guest houses, tour companies, bus companies etc. within Hokkaido have had to completely shut down, in hopes of being able to recover later on in the year, or have gone bankrupt all together. With winter being the highest season for tourism here, and this year’s winter being cut short (and perhaps all of spring as well), it’s going to take a lot of work to recover.

Even if you’re not in these industries, if you have a child that’s supposed to be attending school but it’s now shut down, you are also being effected. I’m one of the lucky ones where I can work remotely, from whatever time of the day and in any place I like. But for a lot of others in Hokkaido that’s not the case. For someone as a personal trainer or cafe barista etc., working from home while they look after their children isn’t an option. And for most cases, taking that paid and or unpaid leave if definitely going to be an unforeseen blow to the budget.

On the opposite side of that, I would say that everywhere seems a lot less busy than usual. Work places are a lot more calm and a lot less packed, malls and shops included. And although a decrease in demand may seem appealing to some in such a time for crisis, it’s actually had some very hard and real effects for others.

Hokkaido and travel

This status is obviously going to change over time (and hopefully soon in a positive way), but from what I can tell you now is that a lot of people are choosing to either cancel or postpone their travels here.

Now, to be fair, not all of them are making these changes because they’re scared of the virus. A lot seem to be making them because of the effects that have come about them – ie. the closing of many of the attractions that were planned to be the bulk of their trip to Japan. But, I would say that having these closures isn’t all a bad thing.. for some, it might actually make their time a lot better!

Should you travel to Hokkaido?

So I am no health expert, so this cannot be looked at as a ‘health recommendation’ website, but even so, health wise the answer seems to be no. The world needs to get a hold of this virus and bring it to an end, and more people traveling from one place to another might slow this process down. So if you’re not already booked to travel (anywhere in general) then I suggest keeping your travel miles to a minimum until things begin to settle down.

However if you are a nature lover, an outdoor adventurer, or a wildlife photographer, or if these kinds of activities interest you, I do actually recommend continuing with Hokkaido as your travel destination. This is even more applicable if you’ve already got flights and your travel arrangements booked to come. I think that you should continue your plans as normal as it would be such a waste otherwise.. especially if things are not refundable/postponable.

Traveling will come at your own risk, but doesn’t it always?

For those that do decide to continue with their travels (which we know there still are), the plus is that all the normally packed touristy places (such as the blue pond) will be almost deserted and free for you (/your group) to enjoy at your leisure. This can make things like a kimono photo tour or seeing the cherry blossoms in Maruyama park even more epic with no photo-bombers in the background, and also makes travel times to and from places a little easier and faster as there’s less traffic and/or foot traffic during peak hours.

We’ve seen people still really enjoying themselves here in Hokkaido, regardless of being told that things are shut down. Like this tourist who went to the Makomanai Takino Cemetery – see pics below!