#Imaintaindistance.

LEARNING FROM JAPAN

Although we still do not know when we will leave this life between four walls, we sense that we have to prepare to take on the following challenge: #Imaintaindistance.

Fernando Simón, Coordinator of the Health Alerts Center of the Spanish Ministry of Health, already said it: "You have to learn to relate to the Japanese."

A GREETING WITH THE HEAD: It is a world symbol and is learned in schools from the age of 3. It is done a little more than a meter away, hands are extended on each side of the hips and the torso leans forward with its gaze fixed on the ground. The "aisatsu" can be practiced with a slight bow of the head and accompanied by a cordial "Konichiwa" (how is the day going?).

USE OF GLOVES .: And not only in winter. Protection of the body against external agents begins with the hands.

DO NOT SWEAT, DO NOT COUGH, DO NOT SNEEZE: At 38º C and with 95% humidity, we will not see a Japanese sweat the shirt. It's not that they're used to it: it's a matter of technique. Japan has developed a whole industry of interior accessories to prevent sweat from floating. Soaking pads for the chest, armpits or waist are the best kept secret for a society in which bodily effluvia is frowned upon. Face blotting paper, for example, is the most common cosmetic accessory. Sneezing or coughing, publicly, goes beyond bad manners. Hence, it has been decades since the use of face masks among the Japanese. Just by feeling a little sick they use it on their own initiative. Protecting yourself is a priority.

SHOES ON THE DOOR .: To avoid contaminating the privacy of the home with germs from outside.

THE DELIMITED STREETS .: They are used to having limits set. It happens with the sidewalks. There are many symbols that define its use. You can smoke a cigarette at one point, but only there so as not to disturb others.

CRADLE OF THE HIKIKOMORIS .: the famous "hikikomoris", young people who have chosen not to leave their homes for life in brutal self-isolation, is a sociological phenomenon born in Japan and still prevalent in this individualistic society, tending towards shyness and difficulty even for couple relationships.