"Stay home" Saitama (Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa) starts tomorrow

From tomorrow, Saturday April 25th, until May 6th 2020, Saitama prefecture is one of four prefectures that will have a proper lock down for the first time. The Governor of Saitama has asked that for the next ten days people stay home and that all businesses close. The other prefectures participating in the ten day stay home drive are Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa. 

The four prefectures have used a Japanese translation of a tag line seen in many countries overseas the past couple of months; "Stay home, save lives". In Japanese:

いのちを守るＳＴＡＹＨＯＭＥ週間

Until now, we have been able to go to outdoor locations without any guilt so long as we could avoid crowds. People were still able to go to work and a few services and facilities were open. However, under the new request we are being asked to completely stay indoors, except for essential shopping trips and / or medical reasons. For shopping trips they advise that only one member of the family should go and to keep a two meter distance from others at all times. 

In a bid to reduce the temptation for people, some parks have started to remove their seasonal blooms. Yono Park in central Saitama City cut the heads of 3000 roses to prevent people coming to see the roses during the stay home period. Other parks have taped off their playgrounds.  The news only broke earlier today, so it remains to be seen what other actions public facilities and private companies will take to do their bit to support the stay home movement.

Personally, I have been both expecting and hoping for these type of measures to be taken. My family and I enjoyed our freedom while we could, visiting remote locations where we could easily keep social distance. But now we are ready to take it to the next level and stay (/near) home for the next twelve days. And if need be, we're happy to do it for longer. Whatever it takes to help get this outbreak under control.

Stay safe everyone, and stay home Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa!