Title: “Chunibyo” is More Harmful than Fear and Insensitivity in the Face of Novel Coronavirus Outbreak
BeWater"Chunibyo” (direct translates to “middle-school second-year syndrome”) is a Japanese phrase that describes people with self-centered, delusional and attention-seeking childish behaviours.
According to the news recently, a 50 year-old Japanese man In Aichi Prefecture was tested positive for Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19 for short). Instead of self-quarantining as requested by the authorities, he informed his family that he would rather “spread the virus” instead. The man then took off by taxi and went to two bars that evening. At one of the bars, he told the bar employee that he has COVID-19, which caused quite a scene.
In Taiwan, violation of quarantine regulations would result in a hefty fine of NT$1 million. Unlike Taiwan, there is currently no law or penalty for individuals who violates the mandatory self-quarantine requirement in Japan. It is reliant on the traveler’s sense of responsibility.
On the first evacuation flight from Wuhan to Japan, some evacuees insisted to travel home via public transportations instead of using the chartered buses provided. The quarantine officers was unable to do anything about it as thedecision lies in one’s human right and freedom, protected by the Japanese law.
According to the 2020 Freedom House Report, Japan scored the highest in ‘degree of freedom’ amongst all Asian countries, followed by Taiwan in second. This may be debatable, but I believe that Japan is in fact the country with the highest degree of freedom because many things are beyond legal jurisdiction.
Yesterday’s scandal: Hiroyuki Morota, a politician in Shizuoka, auctioned off a large number of masks online at a vastly inflated price, which was not a punishable crime in Japan. After this incident, the sloth-like Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, finally took action and imposed penalties on the reselling of medical supplies such as masks and disinfectants for profit. Before the new penalties were launched, there was a surge of masks listed on Japanese auction sites, sold at inflated prices. This indirectly proved that there were many unscrupulous profiteers stockpiling masks amidst nationwide shortage.
#ToiletPaperPanic in Japan is still ongoing.
Not only are people hoarding surgical masks, they are also hoarding consumables such as toilet paper, sanitary pads and wet wipes. The Japanese government and manufacturers reassured that they have sufficient supplies of such goods (provided that panic-buying ceases). Even AEON displays vast amount of toilet rolls to reassure worried buyers. Yet, these daily goods are still hard to find at usual point-of-sales. Gradually, people found that the hoarders aren’t ordinary citizens, but deliberate stockpilers. Under Japan's law, stockpiling is not a crime, and the ban on gouging only applies to medical supplies, excluding daily consumables.
With consumables out of stock, major activities cancelled, school and shopping mall closed, economic downfall and travelling suspended, the changes in lifestyle have spiked stress levels almost off the chart for Japanese citizens…
“Isn’t it just a flu? What is the world coming to?”This is the thought of many Japanese and so they start to display rebellious behaviours, such as “Chunibyo”: Mocking people who wear masks; deliberately coughing and spitting in crowded places; and even bullying youngsters who are worried.
A Japanese friend said that he went for a drink after work with his boss and colleagues, and was then dragged to the karaoke by his boss. After a few rounds of drinks, his boss started to blame those who are worried about the COVID-19 outbreak. He said that the existence of these people caused companies to suffer loss and hence contributing to the downfall of the Japanese economy. Then, acting as if he was drunk, he kissed every staff at the bar on purpose and forced them to drink the beer from his glass. Under the highly hierarchical culture in Japan, employees could only quietly endure the bullying by their boss.
“Actually, a few managers were coughing that day, but no one knew what to do. We could only pray.” said the Japanese friend.
Japan’s high degree of autonomy isn’t without reason. It works as Japanese citizens are highly educated and self-disciplined, hence the country can function even under rather loose regulations. However, in such critical times, can citizens continue to uphold the nation’s virtue of “self-control”?
(In photo: AEON deliberately displayed large amount of toilet paper for sale in order to debunk rumors of toilet paper running out of stock. However, customers are still panic-buying toilet paper at supermarkets in Tokyo today)
Source: Facebook, (07-Mar)