New Way To be A F*cked Gaijin

[Mulboyne]

Yomiuri: Quarantined travelers lonely, bored
A 52-year-old American man is among unfortunate travellers quarantined in a hotel near Narita Airport because they sat near high school students found to be suffering from the new type of influenza on a Japan-bound flight from Detroit. The Yomiuri Shimbun contacted the man by cell phone and e-mail Saturday. He said the situation could not be helped, but he was frustrated because he had nothing to do inside his hotel room, where he must remain, except at mealtimes...A Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry official asked the man not to leave his the room, except for meals, to wear a sanitary mask and not to touch anything if he had to leave the room. Hotel employees have been prohibited from entering the travellers' rooms, so the man cannot get room service, he said. He said he has to wash his clothes in the bathroom of his room. He puts used towels inside a plastic bag and leaves them outside the room to be picked up by a hotel employee, he added. For lunch Saturday, he said he had curry rice in what appeared to be a conference room. In the room, about 15 round tables were set at intervals of about three meters apart, apparently to prevent quarantined people from coming into contact with each other and spreading the virus they may possibly be infected with, he said. He sits alone at a table to eat, he said. For dinner that day, he said he had steak. He was asked to take his temperature in the morning, afternoon and evening. A doctor visited him Saturday evening and told him he showed no flu symptoms, he said. The man said he was in an unfortunate situation, but quarantining him and the other travelers was the only way to prevent the virus from spreading. Given the seriousness of the situation, he believed the measures taken were appropriate, he said.

[TennoChinko]

Does it indicate anywhere whether the costs of the stay will be borne by the quarantined traveler or the Japanese government?

That would be a real bitch ... having to pay out of one's own pocket for a boring 1-star hotel stay with even crappier meal service!

[bolt_krank]

Can't they just take a blood test and get on with it ?

Another sign of "Be paranoid of anything foreign"

[TennoChinko]

[Samurai_Jerk]

It's not clear from the article but did they quarantine any locals?

[Mulboyne]

It's not clear from the article but did they quarantine any locals?

Yes, that's in the second part of the same piece

Thirty-two students and teachers of high schools, three of whose students were confirmed infected with the new strain of flu virus, also are staying at the hotel.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Yes, that's in the second part of the same piece

Got it. I thought the article ended at the dashed line. Anyway, I'm not sure if I should be impressed the J-gov is taking this thing seriously or annoyed by their to-be-expected over reaction.

[Osakadave]

Does it indicate anywhere whether the costs of the stay will be borne by the quarantined traveler or the Japanese government?

That would be a real bitch ... having to pay out of one's own pocket for a boring 1-star hotel stay with even crappier meal service!

The artice doesn't say, but a co-worker ages ago was quarantined in hospital for Shigellosis. I seem to remember she didn't pay.

[Cyka UchuuJin]

mass hysteria, japan style.

i'm not sure if i'm more amused or disgusted. it's a flu. old people die of flu often. people with compromised immune systems die of flu. i had a flu in january that was 10 times worse than the symptoms they've listed for swine flu, and just about everyone i know had it in europe and the middle east.

obviously japan needs another nakagawa incident or a pop star to wander around with this trousers down so they have something else to focus on.

[TennoChinko]

Answering my own question ... it looks like the Japanese government is footing the entire bill.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200905110190.html

[SIZE="4"]Quarantined students worried, bored[/SIZE]

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

2009/5/11

NARITA, Chiba Prefecture--A teenager sits alone in a room, copying English words and difficult kanji characters from an electronic dictionary on a sheet of paper.

There is little else to do.

"I'm so bored it's driving me crazy," the student said. "I look at airplanes from my window. I want to get out of here."

Boredom and frustration have set in among the high school students who have been quarantined on the eighth to 10th floors of a hotel here since they returned last Friday from Canada.

They are among 46 passengers and two crew members aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 25 from Detroit who are now quarantined because they were near two of four other passengers confirmed infected with the new swine flu virus.

The 27 students, as well as five teachers, are from three public high schools in Neyagawa, Osaka Prefecture, who went on a language-training program in Oakville, Ontario, from April 24.

They are stuck in the hotel until at least May 18, when the 10-day quarantine period ends.

To keep other hotel guests away, the elevator buttons for their floors are covered with adhesive tape. A security officer guards the eighth-floor door leading to the emergency stairwell.

Every morning, a medical team of five to six people clad in protective clothing visits each room, asking questions such as, "Do you have a fever?"

A 17-year-old student with a slight fever is taking the anti-flu drug Tamiflu. "I'm very worried that I'm infected with the new flu," the student said.

For meals, masked staff usher the students through the emergency stairs to a large room on the 10th floor.

They have to eat alone; each table is about 3 meters from the next one.

One bright spot is that the students can enjoy some familiar food.

On Saturday, they were served seafood curry for dinner. On Sunday, they received rice, miso soup, grilled salmon and pickles for breakfast, udon noodles for lunch and sashimi, soup and a dish of meat and potatoes for dinner.

"Because I was eating Western food during the trip, I was happy to have Japanese food, which tasted very good. I want to go home soon and eat meals cooked by my mom," one of the female students said.

She added that all of her friends looked tired during the meals and did not chat with one another.

The students do their own laundry--by hand--in their hotel rooms with packets of detergent delivered there.

One student talked about hanging clothes in the hotel room and letting them dry with an air conditioner.

Another student stayed up all night talking with a friend in the hotel for 13 hours via the house phone.

"I felt so lonely. We were on the line all night, even after we ran out of things to talk about," the student said.

The government is paying for the forced hotel stay of the quarantined people. The health ministry has booked the entire hotel from Sunday through the end of June.

The four people infected with the new swine flu--three second-year students and one teacher--all come from the same school.

Three were confirmed infected on Saturday, including two who were ill during the flight, while the fourth confirmation came Sunday.

Health officials were trying to locate some of the 409 individuals aboard Flight 25.(IHT/Asahi: May 11,2009)

[Samurai_Jerk]

One bright spot is that the students can enjoy some familiar food.

On Saturday, they were served seafood curry for dinner. On Sunday, they received rice, miso soup, grilled salmon and pickles for breakfast, udon noodles for lunch and sashimi, soup and a dish of meat and potatoes for dinner.

"Because I was eating Western food during the trip, I was happy to have Japanese food, which tasted very good ..."

[Iraira]

You all realize that this swine flu quarantine thingie is just a test program. The disease is relatively benign, provided you are of sound immune system, so the J-gov (and perhaps the WHO in general) is testing whether they can prevent this thing from getting in, in case/for when something mutates into a real killer.
My Monday night not-really-a-conspiracy conspiracy.

[Mulboyne]

Yomiuri: Quarantined American keeping in contact with wife

An American being quarantined at a hotel near Narita Airport since he sat on a flight from Detroit near passengers found to be suffering from the new type of influenza has been regularly calling and e-mailing his Japanese wife about his situation. "The level of care and concern demonstrated by the Japanese health officials is quite impressive," the 52-year-old North Carolina resident said in an e-mail to his wife Sunday afternoon. His wife, who lives in Tokyo, said: "My husband has an upbeat personality, and I believe he'll come home safely because it seems those in charge are taking care of the situation properly." His work as a financial consultant means he flies regularly between the United States and Japan. He arrived on the flight Friday and had planned to be here, meeting clients, until May 28. His wife works at the Japanese office of a foreign-owned company, and they usually converse by phone or e-mail. He reportedly had been looking forward to spending time with her. However, he was detained in the airport Friday evening, and they were unable to reunite in the arrivals lobby. He was transferred to the hotel Saturday morning, and they have not yet been allowed to meet. In addition to e-mailing his wife, he is keeping up with the latest news on the new flu strain through TV and the Internet. He can leave his room only during mealtimes. During a telephone interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun, he mentioned that it would be nice to be given something to do.

[Samurai_Jerk]

the new type of influenza

I hate this kind of direct translation. It sounds ridiculous in an English-language newspaper article. Is it too hard to type H1N1 or something? And if you insist on a direct translation of shingata at least use new strain or something similar that sounds semi-professional.

Oh yeah, and stop fucking describing fucking suspects as mother fucking company employees. It means absolutely nothing.

[Cyka UchuuJin]

I hate this kind of direct translation. It sounds ridiculous in an English-language newspaper article. Is it too hard to type H1N1 or something? And if you insist on a direct translation of shingata at least use new strain or something similar that sounds semi-professional.

Oh yeah, and stop fucking describing fucking suspects as mother fucking company employees. It means absolutely nothing.

personally, i wonder if 'the level of care and concern of the japanese' is a direct quote or a japanese interpretation of what he said. given the amount of hysteria the japanese are showing over this, i think it's probably more along the lines of 'paranoia and concern'. if they really cared, be offering up delivery food and unlimited access to the porn channels.