I've been yearning and praying for months that something like this would happen and tonight, as i was taking my daily walk through the park close to my workplace, it finally happened!
Some older gentleman saw me walking without a mask and instead of staring, checking to see his mask is on tightly or even crossing to the other side of the road...he pulled down his own mask and for the first time in months, breathed God's air!
Very very small in the grand scheme, but after more than a year of disappointments, this was amazing!
Wow I wasn’t aware the government had said you must wear a mask outside. I don’t think that’s a thing here in Japan. I’ve certainly not been hassled for not wearing a mask outside!
Well it says public areas, which is very open to interpretation and which the koreans took to mean everywhere.
Japan has had some guidelines from the start: you're to avoid the "Three Cs" as they call them in English.
So as far as I can tell outside is a free-for-all, which I'm gladly taking advantage of. The normies still wear their masks everywhere though. It's kind of sad because more and more people are saying they hate it but don't want to be the odd one out. I've seen people go jogging with so much headgear they look like they're auditioning for a role as a Daft Punk stunt double. They're breathing so hard the mask does a vacuum seal on their face giving them a kind of facial camel toe. I just want to slap them and say take it off you fool!!
Yeah, got the joggers here too or those taking their dogs for walks masked up. Even have them taking walks with toddlers in strollers and the toddlers masked up. However you can sit shoulder to shoulder in a packed restaurant without a mask and somehow you're protected. No one questions it. The moment you step outside the masks pop on again.
Lol doesn't surprise me Japan is a bit more organised. From what I can gather from friends who have lived in both, Koreans are on the money when they feel a bit inferior to Japan.