Swine Flu

There has been no school for an entire week in either Kobe or Osaka, Japan because of a swine flu scare. Apparently there were about 123 cases of the flu in the area, which has a population of many many million, (I haven't looked it up--ok). Immediately, the city government decided to shut down all the schools, and for the first couple of days, the down town area of Kobe looked like a ghost town. Apparently the flu they have here is very mild, lasting only about 3 days, and they have regretted their decision for economic reasons. One industry which IS making out like a bandit, so to speak, is the mask industry. I was in a mall in Kobe last Tuesday, and I saw a long line stretching out into the hall of the mall at a drug store. I was wondering if there was a flu vaccine or something, but someone told me that they were lined up to buy masks, as many businesses had run out. In fact, the train is a little weird with about 80 to 90 per cent of the folks in masks. On a particularly long train ride the other day, I was contemplating the fashion aspects of masks. The woman sitting next to me was wearing a shell pink blouse with a matching pink mask. There were a few blue ones. Most are white, but you have your pleated ones, your square ones, your pointed ones etc. etc. This would be yet another accessorizing decision for me to make in the morning. I just can't deal with it, ok? Besides, I see no need to try to conform with all these conformists, as I don't blend in very well anyway.
Someone asked me what is going on over here. The problem is, I can neither read nor understand the news, so I go on a little hearsay from English speakers, and am more or less blissfully ignorant. I assume I resume teaching on Monday, but I'll wait to hear from my school, which occasionally remembers to let us foreigners in on what's happening.