Yokohama Navy Exchange was where?

Hi David,

I was wondering how you were, so it is good to know you are sounding well, are safe, and being careful. My husband and I are in NYC, the epicenter of the epicenter, it seems, and also self-isolating and using every precaution we know of. You are possibly in a house, so have some freedom to at least go outside, which is tertific. We are on the seventh floor of an apartment building, so are deterred by our elevators. We have supplies delivered, both commercially but also by family and friends, so we are very lucky, considering everything. We are grateful to all those folks risking their own well-being to keep us supplied and safe.

A constant worry is hearing about those younger people who have lost jobs, are living paycheck to paycheck, and are facing economic disaster. Hopefully this pandemic dies down, but, like you, I don't expect that will happen soon. Current predictions are that there is some possible promise with some drug trials. I think drug treatments may come well before a vaccine.

There may be normalcy now in parts of the country. But some of that is denial about the seriousness of this pandemic.
Hopefully there will not be repeat waves of this awful disease......

Kaoru....I heard a state of emergency is now in effect in Japan......We all wish you and your family well.

Stay safe, Dave, and everyone.....

Steffi

Wife and I are hunkered down in mid-Missouri on the big lake we call home. We can order groceries from our local Walmart and drive over for a pickup, without going into the store. Some of their substitutions are comical.
Wife ordered grapes and some other fresh fruit. We got a triple order of grapes...

We started vegitable seeds March 1 in our beach house/sunroom on the lake front. 100 percent survival; we're amazed. The plants will go out after the threat of frost is over, in a week or two.

Glad to see Dave is still with us.

Itfs good hearing from both of you and how you are dealing with our current crisis. Eric, it sounds like you are in a great place, with plenty of room to plant a large garden and a relatively safe place to pick up groceries. Steph, I donft envy you being in a seventh-floor apartment in New York City but it sounds like you are making the best of it. You have been a survivor all of your life so Ifm sure you will get though this fine. Ifm in a townhouse in a large condominium (1300 units) with a lot of green space and old trees. Ifm pretty much limited to growing flowers here because we have a large squirrel population that eats anything else. Ifve had large vegetable gardens and fruit trees in other places Ifve lived and I miss that. If it ever warms up Ifve got plenty to do outside.
As people who have at one time made Yokohama our home and are now scattered all over we are in a position to record how the Coronavirus is affecting our lives today and how we are dealing with it. Ifve been in isolation for over a month and keeping busy catching up on things Ifd been putting off. Ifm saving money by not being able to go out to eat or travel. Otherwise my life is pretty normal. Barbara and I have been together for over thirty and we are both perfectly happy being cooped-up together. I just heard from a friend in Wyoming who said nothing there has closed yet and they are thinking of going out tonight for pizza. I could never figure out why anyone would move to Wyoming but it doesnft sound that bad right now.
No one else has checked in lately. I hope they are OK.

On the bright side of the virus attack, I can say my GMC pickup truck now turns in 17 days per gallon of gas...

I guess we are all three among the lucky ones. Eric's area sounds gorgeous......I think I read it's the largest man-made lake anywhere.....I too have to say I am pretty content so far, at least, being cooped up indoors, along with my easy-to- live-with husband Ron, who is my soul-mate and has been with me since 1987. There is no shortage of things happening of interest to us, and I have not yet gotten to any of the projects I thought I'd have time for. The process for getting food and supplies is working well, but that alone takes a lot of planning and time.....no more crossing the street for a needed container of milk, or driving to Trader Joe's with a list of a dozen items......

We are lucky to be living in a leafy green and wooded area of NYC.....up on a hill overlooking the beautiful Hudson River. We actually have our own little fyord in another direction on the Spuyten Duyvil Creek.....an advantage of living up high. And If we are brave about going out, our two buildings with 240 apartments sit on 13 acres of walks and gardens.....so this is not hardship living by any means. But, the consequences of getting this disease would be so devastating that we look at, but don't walk outside even in our immediate area.

Regarding the epidemic, the numbers for our area are staggering, and there is certainly no going out for pizza, like Dave's friend in Montana.

Our county has 35,000 confirmed cases, which is 2 1/2 percent of the population, the most cases per 100,00 in the whole of the US. Our zip code has about 300, but I do not know of any infections in our co-op or immediate area.

But it means that delivery people, and those working in groceries, delivering mail, bank tellers, and other in "essential services" working here but living elsewhere may be infected without knowing it.......or worse yet, knowing they are ill but working anyway to pay their bills.....The larger issue regarding numbers is that only 4% of New Yorkers have even been tested, with fewer percentages in the rest of the country.

So, no one really knows the true numbers of previously or presently infected persons in the United States. The news about antibody testing being done by 70 different companies, with varying criteria and levels of experience is not reassuring either.

Dave is right, though. We have experienced much worse on a personal basis in various ways in the past, and we will get over this eventually as well.

Stay safe, everyone, and take care.....and keep in touch.

Steffi

I am glad to hear the messages of the members here who are fighting Corona.

This thread started 16 years ago with Steffi's husband Ron-san's first posting. From then on, I sometimes wonder if there are any members who have lost...
I remember the names of so many members. If you can, please give us a little post.

BTW, in Japan, there is no Corona virus infected person in "Iwate" prefecture in the northeastern part of Japan now. It is a relatively large prefecture, with a bit low population density and many victims of the Great Tohoku Earthquake. I'm thinking about how Iwate is different from other prefectures. Or maybe some people are infected but not affected. My mom was born in that prefecture and married in Yokohama city early 1950s.

Thank you,

Hi Kaoru,

Small correction......the person who began this thread is named Ron, but he is a different Ron, and not my husband.

Glad to know you are well. We are continuing to self-quarentine as cases continue to mount, though at a slower rate.

Let's hear from anyone else who is still following along here, are Kauro has suggested......

Stay safe, everyone.....

Oh, I'm sorry Steffi-san, I was misunderstanding.

Now Japan has consecutive holidays but there is no heavy congestion during travel and homecoming. I often drive to Yokosuka, but the road not jammed at all.

I heard Navy hospital ship Comfort is returning from NY to home port, it will work well again.

I hope everyone's health, let's get through this together.

Good news from Virginia. We may gradually start to reopen some nonessential businesses, beginning 15 May, that have been closed due to Coronavirus restrictions. I view this as good news because we are currently in a dangerous financial situation due to the current economic shutdown and people need to be allowed to return to work. States south of us are loosening restrictions with good results so far. States to our north may have to wait a little longer.
Itfs good hearing that everyone who has checked in is still doing well but it would be nice to hear from a few more of our regular posters. Kauro-san, good to know that you are doing well.
Ifm sorry to is hear that Tokyo and Yokohama will be in a state of emergency longer. I still have very warm feelings for Yokohama and Japan and hope to return someday.
Stay safe.

Yesterday, wife and I had lunch at one of the Mexican restaurants hereabout. Governor Parson had announced restaurants and barber shops could reopen so Monday, I got a haircut and yesterday, we celebrated "Cinco de Mayo, a Mexican holiday celebrating the Battle of Puebla.
Good fun...

Because of our density here in our New York City region, our numbers of illness and deaths are still terrible as everyone knows, but at least the number of daily new infections is gradually declining, which is not the case with much of the rest of the country.

Have fun, but please be careful, people. Just because restrictions have been lifted, or are about to be lifted, does not mean it is once again totally safe and normal out there ........we don't want any of our group to catch this awful-sounding illness.

Virginia is starting to reopen today but we are still on hold in the part of Virginia included in the DC metropolitan area until, at least, the end of the month. I did go out to pick up a prescription yesterday and noticed a lot more traffic than the last time I was out. I think in the long run we are going to see the areas keeping everything closed suffering greater consequences than the areas keeping as much open as they can. Wefll see. Either way most of us in the at-risk category will continue social distancing and self-protection for the foreseeable future.
Ifve read that a lot of the people in New York City who are able to leave have done so. Thatfs true in my area too. Maybe we should all move to Missouri. Anybody heard from Peter?
Stay safe everyone.

I agree that those of us at greatest risk need to be really careful. It is also hard to not over-react because the science about how this virus behaves is so new and not totally clear. I was in Columbia NY Presbyterian Hospital yesterday, which was my first outing other than taking out trash, or sending mail. There were major precautions being taken, and relatively few people coming in, and everyone extremely aware.. Roads and streets relatively emoty. My husband Ron drove me, and waited in the car until I was done.......we are highly protective of him because he is on immunosuppressive meds, so this was literally the first time he has left our apart in 7weeks. So far so good.....but It was a surreal experience.

We have a summer place we could escape to in New England, on a lake, but are reluctant to face shopping there, and unanticipated problems, and lack of good medical resources in case of emergency, and the cultural institutions are all closed for the summer.......so we will probably stay here in the epicenter for the summer, weird as that may seem....the infection rates there are negligible compared to NY, so perhaps we are being overly cautious....I'm not sure. It is true that people here in NYC who can are renting houses in surrounding rural areas, and that those rural communities are not thrilled about that......I left a car at a friend's in the country, which I will probably just have to give away.....a much loved 1987 Camry wagon, in perfect condition, which is locally registered.....

It is also true that we get just general numbers about other states, so we don't know about conditions in specific areas within those states.

Obviously NYC will be the last to open up fully in our state or region......probably not before better treatments, much lower numbers of new infections, or a reliable vaccine, and knowing what to do about our 1.1 million school children, or transportation. The rest of the state began opening up yesterday..... The plan is to do things in stages. The current closings of much of the economy is unsustainable....... but making good choices is a balancing act and no one seems to have totally good answers. The country is divided, which is problematic.

Hope everyone remains careful......keep in touch....

Hi Dave san and everyone.
Peter here..Im ''alive''
Its been a haul here and no end in sight. Many pleadings before several courts and the result was 4 days with almost no sleep. As we work from home this madness has not killed us..yet..
Personally given the ''balance '' I think a summer at the lake ..either in Massachusetts or Missouri seems
pretty good to me.
Quite frankly..I have not been well..Lets leave it at that.
I hope you -all are ok and are coping as best as possible.
Take care
Peter

ps
I made two ''masks'' using t shirt sleves that I cut off. They look funky but they pass.
At least the oil season is ''over'' .

I'm doing ok here in NW Washington State. Our state "powers that be" are planning a slow, gradual re-opening of public gathering places. The plans are to open some places on a restricted basis (limited number of people). They will observe how that goes, then decide on the next "wave" of re-opening(s).
I want everyone to continue to take care and use wisdom in everything you do.

Use wisdom always
COVID virus is no joke
We shall overcome!

---Lori

The lake of the Ozarks is now known world-wide as the place to party in the USA.
The combination of the governor-approved "opening," Memorial Day and beautiful weather brought thousands to the lake.
NBC, CNN and at least one UK newspaper ran with folks in the restaurant swimming pools, dancing and drinking.

Wife and I stayed off the water for the weekend. It was skoshi baka out there...

To us here in the East the weekend doings at your lake looked shocking and more than just a little "baka"........haven't heard that word in a while.

Glad that you, Erik, are remaining safe.

Hope that not too many more infections are reported in the coming weeks as a result of all that crowded partying....there and also elsewhere, like at the New Jersey shore resorts just south of us.

Glad to hear also that Lori is well.....hi Lori.

Regards to everyone.....

It is good to see that a couple more of our group have checked in. With Vermont and Washington state covered we ex-Yokohamans pretty much have the US coronavirus pandemic bracketed. The good news is that none of us have reported catching it so far.
I have nothing new to report. Although Virginia has started to reopen, Barbara and I are still staying home for the time being and my peaceful neighborhood is unchanged. If it wasnft for the internet and the newspaper, I wouldnft know there is a pandemic or anything else going on. We are planning several trips later this year after the virus danger decreases substantially: Boston, Texas, New Jersey to see grandkids and hopefully the Delaware beach and a military reunion in Nashville. I still want to visit Yokohama, too, but thatfs not going to be for a while.
Much of the US has become takusan baka the past few days. As with the pandemic, some places are dealing with this crisis responsibly while other places are chaotic. Itfs hard to believe that within five miles of my peaceful neighborhood, in downtown Washington, DC, there have been massive peaceful demonstrations as well as rioting and looting.
One thing I remember from living in Yokohama as a kid from 1952 to 1954 is how the Japanese police were professional, friendly, and respected. There simply was no crime that Americans needed to worry about. I went everywhere, even areas that were off-limits to the military, and never had any kind of trouble. That was far different than Newark, NJ, where I went to school after returning.

I can confirm what Dave is saying about the lawful behavior of people in Japan. My mother would talk about how, even during the deprivations of the second world war, there was no stealing, ever. In Karuizawa, she had to keep some of our food supply outdoors, and none of it ever disappeared. And I really don't think we ever had any locks on our doors...no need.

Dave...it is funny to hear that you were in Newark after you returned from Japan......I was working there in September 1962...small world indeed. Did you know that there are now high-end condos in the buildings on Broad Street that once housed Haynes, Bamburgers, Klein's department stores? I remember the 1967 riots, with areas burned down that never recovered......thank goodness things are quiet there now.

As for the demonstrations playing out now nationally and also not far from us, it is similarly totally quiet and normal here in our northeastern end of the City.....except for everyone walking around in masks, and the 7PM daily citywide clapping, etc in acknowledgement of our front line people, there is no change in our immediate environment.

Hope they are wrong with predictions about the severity of this year's hurricane season......

Stay safe, everyone....