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The latest Corona virus from China and its consequences have reached Japan, and 45 people have been infected in Japan to date. While the Japanese people are not prone to panic, you can see that something is wrong if you know where to look: More people than usual are wearing face masks in public. Even though production is at its limit, the masks are so much in demand that they are pretty much sold out. My very own Izumiya drug store has imposed a limit on the purchase of face masks: Only 2 packs per customer per purchase.

As I said above, it’s not that the Japanese are prone to panic, but in this case, many Chinese living in Japan buy those masks to send them to their relatives in China. And that’s on top of the donations from the Japanese government and even sister cities, and the official purchases directly at the producers.

Personally, I still don’t wear these masks and I don’t see myself donning one any time soon. But then again, I don’t use public transport much and avoid the inner city of Kyoto whenever I can. So much so, that I only heard through a friend about the news report showing the “empty” streets of Kyoto. Hmm… maybe it’s time to visit my favourite places again, now that they are not overflowing with (Chinese) tourists?

In the last weeks, two of my friends have lost pets. One of my friends took in a sick kitten from the Tamayuran and gave her a joyful final week. The other lost her beloved Pekinese dog of 12 years to cancer. It’s always painful when a pet dies, they are a part of the family and often best friends on top of that.

In my family, we have always had cats and it was hard to lose them, especially when I was a child. Since we then had a very large garden next to a big forest, our dead cats were buried somewhere on our property. Not that this is officially allowed in Austria, mind you, but I guess many people in the countryside do that nevertheless.

In Japan, customs are a bit different, obviously. What happens is that there are special crematoriums where you can bring your dead pet and you will receive an urn in the end. Then you can choose to keep the urn in your home or bury it in your garden if you have one, and there are even special pet cemeteries.

Both of my friends made a point to explain that the funeral of a pet is very similar to the funeral of a human loved one. One of them showed me photos of her dead dog covered with fresh flowers before the cremation, and afterwards the urn wrapped in cloth next to a photo, some toys and dog food. This is exactly what happens in a Buddhist funeral, and once the urn is placed in the tomb, the descendants will place flowers, food, and water or alcohol on the tomb at special days like Obon.

What I found extremely interesting is that the urn for the dog did not seem much smaller than the urn was that contained the remains of my grandmother. In Japan, cremation for humans is not usually complete. There are bones left that are picked out by the relatives to be placed in the urn, one of the main parts of a funeral. Apparently, also for pets you receive bones and ashes, although you don’t pick them out, and you can choose which you prefer.

I’m sorry for the morbidity here, but I do find these things interesting. Probably part of my Austrian heritage?

I don’t know about you, but here in Kyoto we are having an extremely warm and dry winter so far. Temperatures are like in the middle of December, especially when it is sunny, and even when I am going home on my bicycle in the evenings, my extra thick gloves feel almost a bit too thick. And although I am getting cold easily, I am not using my space heater that often this year; yesterday I didn’t need it at all.

I am even wondering if I should already unconsolidate my home, that is, move my futon back to my proper bedroom instead of sleeping in the living room where it is warmer. But then again, winter is not over yet, and who knows when the winds from Siberia will turn and blow towards Japan.

This year, there is no snow at all in or around Kyoto, only a single time have I seen snowy caps on the mountains north of Kyoto. Note that I’m not complaining about the weather – it does save me a significant amount of money for heating – but it must slowly be obvious even to the biggest deniers that global warming is real and that we need to do something about it. And yes, I am using “global warming” because I find “climate change” misleading and not strong enough to describe the problem at hand. There.

Anyway, I am looking forward to setsubun next Monday. There are fun events at almost all shrines and temples, and I want to go to a new place this year. Setsubun in February is usually around the coldest time of the year, so I am looking forward to not freezing to death while I’m waiting for my lucky beans this year.

In my newly renovated supermarket, a change has taken place: Semi-automated cashiers are now everywhere. I don’t mean self-checkouts (there are maybe 5 of these), but cashiers where there is a real human ringing up your purchases, and when done send you off to pay at a machine nearby. It does annoy me, a little at least. I always chat to the cashiers, and I have my favourite lady over at the roast chicken stand too. But now, there is barely any time to talk to the cashiers anymore. Not that they got much human interaction before anyway.

And in the uniqlo I go to in town, they have done the same. And it’s even worse, because there are only two manned cash registers (where they still don’t handle your money anymore, but at least they pack your things for you) and another 10 that are self-checkout. Fun fact is that there are tons and tons of staff everywhere, so it’s not as if they are trying to save money, really, not unless staff with permission to handle money are paid better.

I have to admit that the lines in my supermarket are moving much faster now, obviously. Not just because the cashier can ring up the next customer while you pay, but also because there are four or five machines where you can pay for each cashier. I don’t want to test it, but I guess not even during rush hour in the weekends would you ever have to wait to pay. Efficient, definitely. Humane, not so much.

I wonder where this is going. I do understand that Japan is facing a severe labour shortage and they need to start early to do something against it. But going all the way robotic, I’m not sure… Is this hotel below just the prototype of where we’re heading? And do we really want that?

https://www.hennnahotelmaihamatokyobay.com/en-gb