Anna Matsushita

  A tale from the distant past unfolds when a colleague from the travel agency bid us farewell, prompting the team to gather for a celebratory meal. Opting for the favorite Spanish cuisine of the departing comrade, our second-year colleagues discovered a delightful eatery nearby in Tokyo.   Run by a Spaniard, the restaurant was conveniently close to the office, and on that day, they had arranged a private room for our group. As we indulged in classic paella and fine wines, the jovial atmosphere escalated, and the affable owner inquired if we desired anything more. It was then that someone exclaimed, "We'd love some sangria!"   The proprietor's momentary hesitation upon hearing this request left me a lasting impression. Returning from the kitchen, the owner presented us with three large pitchers of sangria. Brimming with oranges and other fruits, this chilled concoction was a refreshing delight for our somewhat inebriated selves.   However, the lingering ex

 It must have been about twenty-five years ago. Our colleagues and I had just graduated from university that year and landed jobs at a small travel agency. Specializing in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, the company thoroughly immersed us in the geography, history, tourist attractions, and various local cuisines of Europe through our work.   Among our colleagues were those who, during their student days, embarked on budget travels abroad, boldly exploring various countries. We exchanged experiences, learning from each other, and absorbed knowledge like sponges from our seniors, as we navigated through our daily routines.   At that time, my role involved researching travel ideas for sales outside by obtaining information from overseas branches. Information available domestically required my personal research, compilation, and storage. Despite the bursting of the economic bubble about five to six years earlier, Japan still had a thriving population eager for information on l

 New COVID variant is now spreading across Japan. I almost lost track of how many waves passed by, but the media reports that this is the 7 th wave here. The number of positive cases doubled over the past two weeks. Tokyo now sees more than 30,000 patients.   Despite this depressing news, I saw few positive changes.   My former employer, a travel company selling tours from Japan to Europe and Middle East, has brunch offices across Europe. These offices are now hiring some specialists who has experience working for group tours from Japan. It seems that European offices are ready to prepare for incoming tours from Asia.   The company used to handle tours from Asian countries to Europe and Middle East. With COVID-19, I heard that the offices in Japan is half closed, some comes to office for quotation and few tour operations. The employees there have been given temporary jobs at various institutions and organizations. I was relieved to hear that my former colleagues are still

  HR sent us an e-mail. “CEO will give us a speech. Please make sure to log on to computer. ” By that time, we cancelled all the businesses we have prepared for the year 2020. One day during lunch break, I chatted with some of the sales staffs, and was enlightened that they were working on few quotations. “I don’t know the exact purpose, but some are seemingly traveling abroad. Not sure if they are travelling from Japan. They are all last-minutes booking. I can only give them a couple of days to decide whether they want to book or not.”  So, we still had some businesses. I knew the volume was not sufficient to feed us all, but looked like business was still continuing – but until when? That was the biggest question I think most of us had in our minds. At the speech, the CEO formally announced that the company will lay off some employees. The detail was to be announced through managements. I remember we were all very quiet, listening to what the CEO was saying through the computer scree

  July came. I was already adjusted to new daily routine, both at office and at home. The office was always quiet and looked empty, with only one third of us were on a shift. Some people only turn up at office half a day in a month, due to the company's instruction to use up this year's paid holiday. We were supposed to be bracing up for busy winter period. Because the company expected that once the business return in winter, we would be too busy and no one couldn afford to take any day off. We started to cancel business scheduled in autumn. Anxiety begun spread among us, as the business was estimated to pick up from autumn onward. Our CEO was constantly in touch with employees, trying to convey his principle to keep the employment. However, rumour continued to spread about possible closure of some of the branch offices. All we could do was wait and see if the corona infection will cease, or at least remain at low level after the lockdown in almost all over the world. Europe se

  The Japanese government lifted the state of emergency at the end of May 2020. I was glad to go back to office, just in a hope that Covid situation will improve. I understood that many specialists were saying that the second wave was on its way, possibly after autumn. I only hoped that the situation will be back to normal as soon as possible, and countries will open up their border for visitors. Due to reduced working days, I returned to office in the beginning of June. On the way to Tokyo, I saw many changes which took place during quarantine period. There were many empty seats on train even through it was peak hour in the morning. Train stations and annex shopping complex, usually crowded by commuters, were almost empty. At office, I was glad to meet my colleagues after long while. We congratulated each other for surviving the past two months. Luckily, no one was infected by the virus, and everyone looked just as healthy as ever. My first task at office was to cancel tours scheduled

  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.