Spring Equinox 2020 - how a travel company in Tokyo reacted to Covid-19 during the spring of 2020

 It was sometime at the end of December 2019 when we began to hear about a new type of flu in Wuhan in China, and the Japanese expats there have started to fled back to Japan. 

Back then, not so many people around me seems to have cared too much, as Asia has seen flu pandemics in the past such as SARS and MARS. Both were controlled in the end, and we assumed it will be the same situation once again. Asian countries will control the virus, and everything will be fine in a few month or so. Some argued that Japan should be more prepared for the possible spread of pandemic, and we discussed a little on social media. But we could not make any constructive discussion at that stage, as we have almost no idea what this new virus was about. All we could do was to watch the progress reported in the media.

But as the days gone by, we heard another case of pandemic – this time in a cruise ship which was just docked at the port of Yokohama, that some of the guests were contracted to Corona virus. That was when I started talking about it quite often and worried about the situation as I heard through my friend that her acquaintance and his family was on the cruise ship. It was a sad and irritating period as we could do nothing significant to help them.

While we wait for some good news from the cruise ship, there was a change of season – the spring equinox was here. Lots of flowers were blooming under the sun – narcissus, plums, tulip – all in bright colours. These colours are something that you wouldn’t notice if you are spending day at a office and on a train at night. I felt that they are truly the feast to one’s eyes even though they are just ordinary flowers which appears every year.

Narcissus

Tulip

Plum

After this, there was a change at our office, too – we started to cancel our business every day. Corona virus landed in Europe, and soon many countries in Europe have started to close their shops, restaurants, tourist attractions. Some of the major tourist attractions such as Cenacolo (Da Vinci’s “Last Supper”) in Milan was quick to make decision for a closure, as the place was always crowded with visitors from all over the world. Cenacolo is one of the most favourite place for many Japanese travelers, but as the decision was made, our clients bitterly decided to cancel the tours for spring period. We could do nothing but follow our client’s decision, and prayed safety for the colleagues and partners in Asia, Oceania and Europe.

However, colleagues around us were quite nonchalant. One of them was claiming that the business will pick up by autumn so we should brace up for the coming peak season. We only looked ahead, did not even imagine what was about to happen.

Around that time, I received a message via LINE from my sister asking for situation in Italy and France. One of my niece was going to a trip in Italy and France, wanting to know if it is still safe enough to visit there. Medias reported the situation in Italy quite seriously and my niece and her friends needed to make decision whether to go or not. That was a beginning of March, I was too optimistic to inform them that Italy and France were still safe enough, except northern Italy where the first case of Corona patient was reported. But as days progress, I had to change my mind because the reports from our branch office in Italy was getting more and more serious, informing the temporary closure of many tourist attractions in various cities – as the infection of corona virus was spreading southward in Italy. I sent message to my sister every day to update them with situation. In the end, my niece and her friends made a decision to cancel their trip.

By the end of March, we cancelled every tours scheduled in April.
My colleague and I met during lunch break, both stand aghast and dumbfounded. We have never thought the situation would turn out to be this bad.