Wong-san was desperate that he could not grab a packet of mask when I met him in front of Ito-Yokado. Swine flue is spreading in Japan. The news flash in television and newspapers goes like a wildfire and people are worried about the coming days.
Prevention is better than cure. Precaution against any kind of spreading disease is better than getting it and treating. When the life enters to a certain degree of improbability or uncertainty, we feel insecure. Japan was under a grip of strong sense of security against many kinds of social crimes and spreading diseases. It seems, the life here was going smooth for many years after the World War II. Uncertainty brings panic.
Wearing masks is only a protection, but it is not a prevention of death! Who can prevent the death? Masks are only a hideout from the enemy. If the real enemy is within ourselves who can save us! The immunity system within our body is the one which can safe guard us to some extend from the spreading diseases. Unfortunately it is not developed in one day or just by wearing a mask. After all who can guarantee the life? Can the God guarantee?
Most of the Japanese do not have proper faith in God. It is a kind of atheism that got prevalent dominancy in Japanese society. Gods never saved Japanese people! Fortunately there are not many Gods in Japan. The one who is being worshipped, Buddha, really denied the existence of God by himself in all his teachings.
Instead of standing in long queues in front of a temple, Japanese people would prefer to stand in queue in front of a medical shop or any other shop to grab a packet of mask. Japanese people rarely wear mask if I put their natural habits in a double meaning. But they wear a mask when they get flu or before the start of blossom. Some people are allergic to the pollen grains.
This time it is the swine flu which is terrifying the routine Japanese life. Commuter trains are heavily packed and the chances of getting affected are much easier in public places.
When we went for lunch at Makudonarudo (Mc Donald), Remus-san has taken some photos yesterday. Remus told me to write about this queue with photos. When Remus visited some other places in Tokyo, he saw some shops displaying banners with “Masks sold out” No more masks available etc. Interestingly some shops had more than one banner with the same caption. The shop owner may want to invite the attention of customers looking for masks. Two banners can not be neglected by many of the customers!
Today the queue was much longer in the Ito Yokado. People are really scared of the swine flu in Japan. Mask manufacturers, distributors and shop owners will make good business. They have employed some extra staff for controlling the queue.
Swine flu, God and Mask do have some thing in common as Death, Disease and Pollen grain do have. The only thing remaining mysterious is the queue. How long a queue can go? The queue for mask and the queue for swine flu – both are competing for the length of queue. The queue for God is getting shorter day by day.
Swine flu is called and influenza in Japan. The pig fever is not a favored one. Probably Japan is one of the biggest markets for pig meat. The swine flu was brought to Japan by some of the students returned back after visiting Canada. Now Japan is the fourth worst swine flu affected country.
The spread of swine flu is not good for anybody for sure and the harm it does to the Japanese society will be much deeper as is it with any other country. The sale of masks has gone high upto 30 percent since the news of swine flu in Japan. The goruden uiku (Golden week) holiday tours are also negatively affected due to swine flu.
Pigs can really do much harm to human beings than we think! Did we underestimate the pigs? They are not just pigs. They also stand in queue in the slaughter house. The life for them is also uncertain when they stand in the queue waiting for their turn to be butchered. It is that uncertainty from their mind spreading to human beings now. Darwin smiles sarcastically.
