＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49) on X
Watching the flood of COVID-19 coverage on television every day recently, I feel like there’s a danger of being brainwashed by information or becoming confused by the resulting confusion.
So, this time, I’d like to consider ways to deal with this.
1. Suspend Judgment
I believe we’re now at a point where we should “suspend judgment.”
What I’m trying to say here is that there’s still much we don’t know about COVID-19, and it’s difficult to determine whether countermeasures are correct, mysterious, excessive, or useless, and it’s also difficult to determine the safety and effectiveness of vaccines. We should carefully assess the situation before making a decision.
As was the case with the “Isodine mouthwash controversy” caused by Osaka Governor Yoshimura’s remarks, it’s important not to be unnecessarily swayed by information.
All we can do now is “take thorough infection prevention measures within the scope of what we know” to “avoid contracting COVID-19 and avoid spreading it to others.”
Note that “suspension of judgment” originally refers to a philosophical attitude of refraining from making any judgment at all, and is also known as “suspension of judgment.”
Skeptics such as Pyrrho of ancient Greece (c. 360 BC – c. 270 BC) advocated the idea of epokhē in opposition to dogmatic philosophical assertions.
It refers to an attitude of refraining from making judgments based on the skeptical stance that “in philosophical disputes, one avoids the futile determination of truth and falsehood, and that no definitive judgments can be made.”
Pyrrho attempted to determine the truth of various philosophical theories, but his efforts were futile and only increased his anguish, so he decided to suspend judgment in order to find peace of mind.
He studied under Anaxarchus of the Democritus school and participated in Alexander the Great’s Indian campaign, where he encountered yogis and is said to have had a profound impact that completely changed his way of life and thinking.
I came to believe that “everything is impermanent, and that it is impossible to say with certainty that anything in the world is positively ‘something’. The anguish of the soul begins when we mistake ever-changing phenomena for eternal reality.”
The French philosopher Descartes (1596-1650) also used this phrase as a rule of mental guidance for arriving at true knowledge. “Suspension of judgment” in this sense means “doubting various objects and re-examining things from their fundamentals,” so I believe it is not about avoiding judgment, but rather an extremely important way of thinking.
Furthermore, the German philosopher Husserl (1859-1938) used this term as the opposite concept to “phenomenological reduction,” meaning “to discard preconceptions.”
2. Beware of Suspending Thought
However, it’s important to be careful not to “stop thinking.”
What I’m trying to say here is, “Avoid blindly accepting television reports and the opinions of authorities and experts without thinking for yourself and being swayed by them.”
Although I’m a complete novice, I find Professor Yasushi Takahashi of International University of Health and Welfare’s “New Coronavirus Hypothesis” and Associate Professor Miyazawa of Kyoto University’s “Fried Egg Model” persuasive.
I also question whether the suspension of the Go To Travel campaign and requests for shortened business hours are effective and necessary measures to prevent the spread of infection.
Since cluster outbreaks are caused by “lax infection prevention measures” such as people eating and drinking in large groups for long periods of time and shouting without masks, I think it’s more important to focus on this and urge the public to be vigilant.
The validity and appropriateness of these measures should be examined once the current third wave of COVID-19 has subsided, in preparation for the fourth wave. By that time, “correct measures” will likely have been established.
Originally, “stopping thinking” meant “ceasing to think and make decisions on your own.”
One reason for this is blindly following authority or norms due to some factor.
In reality, for office workers, there are times when they have to “stop thinking” in order to get their work done smoothly. For example, even if they have doubts about their company’s policies, they cannot function as office workers unless they turn a blind eye to them.
However, once you leave the shackles of an organization like an office worker, it is important to stop “stopping thinking” and actively think for yourself.
3. Don’t be swayed by TV coverage of the coronavirus, and don’t be fooled by the government
In coronavirus news reports, there are many terms such as “Wuhan virus,” “pandemic,” “infodemic,” “denial of entry,” “overshoot,” “superspreader,” “cytokine storm,” “coronavirus crisis,” “two-week quarantine,” “stay-at-home order,” “travel restrictions,” “contact infection/droplet infection,” “PCR test,” “ECMO,” “mask resale,” “antibody test/antigen test,” “false positive/false negative,” “negative certificate,” “effective reproduction number,” “on the brink,” “state of emergency declaration,” “lockdown,” “social distancing,” “online classes,” “telework,” “remote work,” “new normal,” and “Avigan.” “,” “safe and effective vaccines and treatments,” “avoiding unnecessary outings,” “cluster,” “hospital-acquired infections,” “community-acquired infections,” “the three Cs,” “close contacts,” “nightlife-related,” “restaurants that provide entertainment,” “cough etiquette,” “self-restraint police,” “requests for closures,” “requests for shortened restaurant hours,” “online drinking parties,” “Abenomask,” “face shields,” “stay at home,” “dining with masks,” “the crucial three weeks,” “stay home with your family over the New Year holidays,” “wear a mask even at home,” “herd immunity,” “end of the coronavirus pandemic,” “mutant strain,” “medical care overwhelm,” and “medical care collapse” were some of the unfamiliar words and slogans that have appeared.
Some of the words, such as “dining with masks,” would be difficult to put into practice, while others, such as “the crucial three weeks,” are meaningless.
It seems that there is a lot of conflicting information and a lot of news coverage that is fueling public anxiety.
Initially, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) recommended the following guidelines for coronavirus consultation: “A fever of 37.5°C or higher that lasts for more than four days, and severe fatigue or shortness of breath.” However, then-MHLW Minister Kato later refuted this, saying, “There was a misunderstanding,” and “If you experience any of the following symptoms: shortness of breath, severe fatigue, or a high fever, please seek medical advice immediately.”
Furthermore, Minister Nishimura urged the public to “avoid dining out with more than five people due to the high risk of infection.” However, when it was later revealed that Prime Minister Suga had dined with eight people, including Secretary-General Nikai, he gave an awkward response, saying, “We are not blanket banning dining out with more than five people. As long as proper infection control measures are taken, there is no problem.”
As such, the government’s views have changed frequently, and the Go To Travel Campaign has been subject to frequent changes and suspensions, causing great confusion and panic among travel agents and others planning to travel.
Ideally, the government should properly communicate the correct measures and response methods for coronavirus and reassure the public, but this is not something we can expect from the current government.
Rather than frantically following TV reports and online news or being swayed by government appeals, I think it would be better for your mental health to “block out information,” take a step back, calmly look at the current situation, and think for yourself.
4. It’s important to get into the habit of thinking for yourself on a daily basis
I feel that Japan’s school education system up until now (and I believe this is still the case today) has not fostered the habit of thinking for oneself.
I previously wrote an article titled “Critical Mind and Pisa (PISA)-Style Academic Ability,” in which I introduced the importance of active, critical learning, rather than a passive approach.
In my article “The World is Full of Lies,” I explain the importance of thinking for oneself.
“I think, therefore I am” is the famous proposition proposed by Descartes in his “Discourse on Method.” In Latin, this is “Cogito ergo sum.”
This means, “I have doubted everything, but no matter how much I doubt, there is no room for doubt that I, the doubter, exist.”
I also agree with the ideas of Shigehiko Toyama, introduced in his article “Shigehiko Toyama’s Art of Organizing Thought.”
He points out that “school education up to now has been likened to a training center for glider humans.” It is an education in which knowledge is passively acquired, guided by teachers and textbooks. However, no matter how excellent a person’s gliding skills, they have not received training in flying a plane that can take off on its own, so when it comes time to think for themselves, they immediately become confused. Now that computers have appeared, with gliding abilities superior to humans, he predicts that people who cannot fly for themselves will eventually lose their jobs to computers.
The “meta-knowledge” concept mentioned in Professor Emeritus Chizuko Ueno’s congratulatory speech at the University of Tokyo’s entrance ceremony is also very thought-provoking. While studying to accumulate knowledge is of course important, it is also important to develop the habit of thinking for yourself, especially once you enter the workforce.