As that stupid virus ran rampant, so was the stupidity. I still had to go to work but students were told to stay home. What the hell am I going to do at work with no students to teach? It was like this until around the end of June. We did not know when the students would return. So we all just sat around the teachers’ office and did our own thing. I got caught up on my reading and story writing so that was the only good thing. I also voiced my complaints about the situation and how it didn’t make any sense. Many of the other teachers agreed. Why did the students have to stay home but we still had to go to work? Was the virus not that deadly? We were told the students would just stay home and study. HAHAHA! They’re teenagers. They definitely didn’t. I know this as I often saw my basketball girls out running when I’d run to the konbini for lunch. Also saw students at the nearby mall.
Things did curb my travels a bit with my wife. We didn’t go to Tokyo as much but we still did other local things.
We did go to an Ichigogari, which is basically an all-you-can-eat strawberries event at a strawberry farm. You pay whatever the price is and walk around eating as many strawberries as you want within a certain time limit.
Have any of you seen the anime or read the manga Boku Dake Ga Inai Machi or Erased as it’s called in English? It’s one of my favorites but I do wish the anime followed the manga closer. The TV drama does follow the manga much closer. Anyway, the present-day part of the story takes place in my prefecture in the nearby city of Funabashi.
There’s one scene in the series where Satoru is arrested after meeting with Airi. I found the spot where it takes place.
I always think it’s really cool to find filming locations or even real-life locations from anime.
After that, nothing really happened throughout the year aside from the basketball tournament for the junior high school third years. There was more stupidity there too as only one parent could attend. Also, the mother of one of the players didn’t allow her to play because of the corona fear. Her final game with her teammates and she couldn’t even go to support them because of the fear the media and government caused.
In Japan, junior high students can only play sports until the summer of their final year. They have to spend the rest of the year focusing on getting into high school. I have voiced my opinions about this many times. The tournament is the last time they can all play together as they’ll go off to different high schools and some may not even play basketball in high school.
Oh, and they won their tournament bracket.
At the time of writing this, those girls who were getting ready for high school, are now getting ready for college. It’s weird to think they’re adults now.
My wife and I did go to Tokyo at one point.
This was the Yamanote line in Tokyo. Completely empty. That never happens.
So now jump to December.
My wife and I took a trip to Nikko in Tochigi Prefecture. It is a tourist spot due to its onsens, scenery, and whatever else tourists do.
It is the final resting place of Tokugawa Ieyasu, one of the three great unifiers of Japan.
The bath in our hotel used natural hot spring water. It was also outside on the balcony. This was in December in 25-degree weather or -4 degrees for you Celcius types. It was oddly relaxing despite the frigid temperature.
We went up into the mountains and apparently, the monkeys are dicks.
When we returned, decided to kill some time in Tokyo.
I finally made it up to the top of Skytree.
They had an Evangelion exhibit going on at the time.
Despite the virus, we could still enjoy the new year.
The Legacy of the Sato Dynasty 