Quarantine! Pt.2

My first two weeks in Japan were spent in quarantine. Three days of government quarantine (at the time Poland was on the list of high-risk countries), followed by 11 days of quarantine in a hotel or house. The former kind of quarantine was not so bad - I was provided with three meals a day and internet access, and the room was air-conditioned. It almost seemed like a holiday if it wasn't for the absolute ban on leaving the room.

What is there to do when you are locked in a room? Mainly read and browse the internet. True, my room was equipped with a TV, but TV was never my thing. Out of curiosity, I switched it on and started skimming through the programmes. One channel showed a farmer vividly talking about a something. Another channel streamed horse racing. Another - talking heads. The last of the programmes was really confusing. A broadly smiling presenter was talking to a couple of young lads, perhaps members of a boy band. At one point, one of them was led into a separate room in which.... he was shown kittens. The man melted in delight and the audience laughed. What was that all about? I don't know, but it was high time to turn off the TV :)

On the second day of quarantine, I realised that I was getting more food than I needed. Each set consisted of a bento, miso soup - instant, a carton of apple juice and a carton of green tea. After eating the bento alone, I felt full, which, in the absence of exercise, should come as no surprise.... Nothing but to rejoice in the precautionary nature of the Japanese. However, as I found out later, not everyone felt as full as I did. It turns out that it was possible to ask the hotel staff for extra food, which some reportedly took advantage of and ordered pizza...

Bento always looked (and tasted!) delicious

This part of the quarantine was not entirely without surprises. On the morning of the third day, I felt that something was missing in my day routine. It was the morning tea/coffee. Fortunately, I have found some tea bags in the room. How lucky! I recognised the green tea immediately by the symbol お茶. However. there was also a second type of tea. 昆布茶, which means konbucha: tea made from seaweed. "How can you make tea from seaweed?" I thought. It didn't sound like a good idea, but curiosity won out. I wasn't expecting to be surprised, however... that thing... tasted like a very salty bouillon. I almost choked. At least the wake-up call was effective.

After three days, and another negative result on Covid-19, I was released from government hotel. The remaining time I had to spent in the hotel organised on my own. For me, this meant moving just 2 kilometres further away. You can imagine, that after being trapped in tiny room for three days, even this little excursion made me happy. During second leg of quarantine I still didn't had too much freedom - I was told not to leave my room unless absolutely necessary. I could only do my grocery shopping at the Lawson chain shop inside the hotel, so the occasional lift ride was all I could temporarily count on. Fortunately, the hotel also had three restaurants, so I wasn't doomed to eat the same thing for the next 11 days.

The first surprise in the new hotel was the way the air conditioning worked. The only control available in the room was a rotary button signed "air conditioning unit". Not thinking much, I decided that after all air conditioning unit = cooling, and turned it halfway. However, the room did not get any cooler. In fact, I got the impression that it was only getting warmer. My first instinct was to turn the AC up to max.... Guess what? The air conditioning was actually the heating! Lesson learned.

At the end of today's entry, an interesting finding. The hotel had an unexpected (but very nice) amenity which was.... beer vending machines :) Such a machine does not have any form of verification of the age of the purchaser - the minimum age to consume alcohol in Japan is 20 - but apparently the Japanese count on the honesty and responsibility of buyers...

Asahi and Kirin - the two largest breweries in Japan, with a combined market share of more than 70%.

What other interesting things can be found in Japanese hotels? How the reporting of one's health during quarantine looked like? I'll tell you about that in the next post, and the last part about quarantine :)