The term, 自粛(Jishuku), meaning people voluntary hesitate to have fun, became so popular since the Tohoku Mega Earthquake. And also it's getting problematic or questionable.
The one or two weeks since the event, it seemed legitimate. People, not only living in the affected areas but also living outside of it, canceled their plans, traveling, eating out, parties, wedding ceremonies, going to theme parks, enjoying Onsen (hot springs) and so on. It seemed natural because all of the atmosphere was dominated by mourning for the victims, sympathy for the survivors who lived in temporary shelters with extremely inconvenience.
Then as time went by, we now don't know how we should behave, what we should do in this historic catastrophe. We want to help them, we want to be with them but if we don't do anything, our economy is getting worse and worse, national tax revenue would be decreased then less money would go to the reconstruction effort. We are getting to realized this fact.
Still some people insist we should mourn even more, we should hesitate to have fun. This "some people" often is someone not living in the affected area, I guess. The people like to judge others, interfere others' behavior. We often get influenced by those people's perspectives, then get reluctant to go out or to spend money for enjoyment.
Is it a right thing to do? Now questions for this atmosphere has been appeared in public and I would say yes to it.
A few weeks after the quake, I received a message from my friend who lives in Tohoku and lost some of her family. She said, "Now all of Japanese people seemed to be mourned so deeply. However I feel sad if people not living in affected areas, such as Osaka, would be so down. Please do what you would do usually. Please have a normal life because you can have it! Please write anything enjoyable you are seeing, having in your life on your blog so that I and my daughter enjoy seeing it! Then we would think, OK I'll do the same when everything is over!"
Her message encouraged me a lot and let me learn the important thing.
We are now having a cherry blossom appreciation time but due to short of the electricity, especially in Kanto area, public parks decided not to light-up the blooming trees at night. Hanami, having a party under the cherry trees after work with your colleagues or with your friends at daytime on weekend or so, has been our big spring event, but now it seems disappeared.
Then an message was uploaded on Youtube by an sake brewing maker in Iwate.
In this video, they encourage Japanese people to drink their tasteful sake. They say they feel so grateful all the help, donation, rescue efforts, aid supplies from all over the world. Then they tell you that the most needed help would be drinking their sake, buying the product that produced in the affected areas. I totally agree with them. What an excellent massage they send to us!
I remember, right after the 911, the mayor of NY encouraged New Yorkers to have a normal life despite the ongoing great amount of damage.
If we can, we should be active, we should go out., we should have have a normal life.
And also we must remember our people who are having a difficult time all the time, thinking of them all the time.
I think both things are important to make our country become a wonderful place again.
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