By Katie Nguyen
On February 26, 2020, it has been announced that the Anime Japan event, a Japanese anime consumer show, has been cancelled due to COVID-19 or the coronavirus. The coronavirus is an illness that produces flu like symptoms. They are zoonotic which means that they can be transmitted between animals and people. The coronavirus has caused quite an epidemic and has started to spread in the United States. Many fans were upset due to the cancellation of the event, however, it does prevent them from transmitting diseases to each other as it is a big event. A fan wrote “I can’t help it. Now, to prevent the spread of infection, It’s good that we announced the cancellation one month ago.” Another fan wrote, “The most important thing is to take care of people. Hopefully things will calm down and we pray that everyone is well 🙏.” It is very important to ensure the people’s safety. I believe that this was a smart decision to cancel the event, if there is a chance that someone will catch the coronavirus; even if there is a small chance, it’s still too risky.
It is pretty devastating that the coronavirus has caused the Anime Japan Event. This could possibly mean that the Sakura Matsuri could close as well. I was pretty excited for the Sakura Matsuri as Japanese Plus is confirmed to have a booth there. I wanted to share what my class does and how it impacts and encourages me to further pursue my interest in Japan. I was also hoping to encourage DMV high school students to join Japanese Plus, as it was, in my opinion, the best language class I could hope for, and to promote our new book, Japan In DC. I hope that the Sakura Matsuri doesn’t close but it is still important to care for our health so it would be best for it to close in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus, especially now that it has spread to the DMV area.
Additionally, many people are exposed to it and most people don’t know how to properly put on a mask. To wear a surgical mask, you must wash your hands with alcohol-based hand rub or soap with water in order to prevent germs from getting onto your mask. Next, you should cover your mouth and nose and make sure that your face is covered, meaning that there should be no gaps from any sides of your face. If you want to touch your mask, you should wash your hands as you would when putting it on. You should replace your mask as soon as it is damp and you should not reuse it either. You should always take off your mask from the back and never touch it from the front. This is to ensure that you don’t catch any other germs that were caught from your mask. Afterwards you should wash your hands once more. This was all recommended by the World Health Organization, so please follow these instructions, even if the coronavirus hasn’t reached your country yet.
NOTE: The April 4th Sakura Matsuri was in fact cancelled, along with all other large public gatherings in DC.
Sources:
GLOBALIZE DC: JAPAN 