A Golden Week to Remember

It's shaping up to be a Golden Week to remember here in Japan, as hundreds of thousands of Japanese make use of the extended holiday period to travel to exotic destinations like Guam, Hawaii, Australia or California. Fears of the "new-type influenza virus" (as it's being officially referred in the news) will certainly make things more interesting when they all come home, and Narita Airport is on its highest state of alert, scanning returning passengers with special cameras that show body temperature in case anyone gets infected abroad. There were two reported cases of the new virus here in Japan, but happily both turned out to be the more conventional Hong Kong strain -- whew. The Japanese are already quite at home wearing surgical-style health masks whenever they feel under the weather or during hayfever season, and these masks are even more common nowadays. Anyway, we hope you all have a safe and enjoyable Golden Week, wherever you are in the world!

Mask-sporting Japanese tourists head overseas. Glad I'm not among them.