Good morning everyone! I hope everybody is keeping themselves safe during this stressful time. Here’s an update on what’s happening over here:

Yesterday it was finally announced that the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be postponed until next year. So far in Japan, the situation has been very relaxed. I went back to work on Monday and people continue to walk around and mostly go about their usual business. Until yesterday, supermarket shelves were fully stocked. However, the Japanese government has tested very few people for coronavirus and this is all in an attempt to keep numbers low and therefore avoid postponing the Olympics. So basically now that the Olympics has been postponed, Japan no longer needs to pretend like everything is fine and as of yesterday, the Prime Minister has told everyone to stay at home over the weekend. Supermarket shelves are now empty and people are panicking.

Despite Granny Sue’s protests, I will not be coming home and I don’t actually think that this will be possible anyway. Obviously telling people to stay in their houses for just the weekend is not going to put an end to coronavirus in Japan so I imagine that over the next couple of weeks I will be self-isolating as well. Unfortunately this means I will have limited time to explore more of Tokyo/Japan but I have a backlog of my Japantics so you can expect some more posts soon!

Unfortunately this period of self-isolation will be coinciding with Japan’s cherry blossom season. This started last week and will most likely only go on for another week or two. Luckily I have been able to see some of the cherry blossoms, or sakura as they are known in Japan, in the past few days. In Japan, hanami parties are very common over the cherry blossom season. These are day-drinking picnics that people have in parks around Tokyo. Last Friday, I went to Yoyogi Park in central Tokyo and drank some tinnies and played cards with my coworkers all day and the following day, I took the train to Inokashira Park, where I had a hanami party with some of the Leeds alumni people.

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On Wednesday I had the afternoon off so I walked up the Meguro river, one of the best spots to view the cherry blossom. I took the train to Gotanda and then I followed the river north, walking about 8km in total. Seeing as it was payday and I felt like splurging, I treated myself to an overpriced strawberry, chocolate and whipped cream crepe as I began my walk.

The river takes you through various parts of Tokyo, some more isolated and residential, and others that are bustling full of street vendors and people having photoshoots among the blossoms.

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About halfway through the walk, I reached Nakameguro, which is one of the most popular parts of the river. The area was full of locals and tourists taking pictures and sipping strawberry beer, prosecco and sangria – a sakura speciality! This part of the river is lined with boutique shops and trendy-looking cafes and bars so I definitely plan on returning even outside of cherry blossom season.

Eventually the river forks in two and so I continued heading north, this time following the canal. This part of the river was beautiful and almost no one was around. The weather in Tokyo this week has been amazing (sunny and in the twenties all week!) so I was planning on walking the whole way back but about an hour from Koenji, I passed a train station and I couldn’t resist the easy route home. Anyway I hope you enjoyed the cherry blossom pics and more corona/Japan updates to follow!

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