Referring to Sankei Shimbun’s Sankei-sho column, this article criticizes those who ignore requests to refrain from nonessential outings and business operations under the state of emergency. It argues that people must read the silent meaning of “compulsion” within a “request,” and that self-restraint and voluntary refraining are acts of civic virtue that can break the chain of infection.

April 19, 2020
It makes me feel as if I am seeing a different race from the people who, over the past ten years, have felt pain in their hearts at every major disaster, turned their thoughts to the afflicted areas, and won the sympathy of the world through self-restrained conduct.
The following is from today’s Sankei Shimbun, from Sankei-sho.
In the spelling of English words, there are letters that are written but not pronounced.
The “k” at the beginning of “knife” and “knock” is well known as a representative example.
Such a letter is apparently called a “silent letter.”
In Old English, the ancestor of English, what are now “silent letters” were also pronounced clearly.
That is written in books on the subject.
It seems that, as time passed, the sound was omitted and only the spelling remained.
When one thinks about it, this is not limited to English.
Even in present-day Japan, there are silent letters that must be read, even though they are not spoken aloud.
The “request” to refrain from nonessential and non-urgent outings.
The “request” for entertainment districts and other places to suspend business.
The state of emergency has been expanded nationwide because of the spread of the virus calamity, yet in Tokyo, even now, late at night, laughter can still be heard leaking from lowly taverns.
There are many people who cannot read the silent “k” attached to the beginning of “yousei,” request.
It is said that cars with license plates from the Tokyo metropolitan area have increased in the resort area of Karuizawa in Nagano Prefecture and at pachinko parlors in Ibaraki Prefecture.
One also hears the coined phrase “corona evacuation.”
It makes me feel as if I am seeing a different race from the people who, over the past ten years, have felt pain in their hearts at every major disaster, turned their thoughts to the afflicted areas, and won the sympathy of the world through self-restrained conduct.
One restrains oneself without being forced, kyousei, by anyone.
Was this not a “request” by the government and local governments made in trust of the virtues and good sense of the Japanese people?
To read the soundless “k” and accept it as a social promise.
That effort is probably one of the few means to stop the chain of infection.
Speaking of the silent “k,” one also thinks of “knight,” a warrior, with a “k” attached to the beginning of “night.”
Each and every person who takes pains over daily self-restraint and voluntary refraining is a “knight” who can save society from this suffocating night.
We must not allow these hateful viruses to continue disrupting our lives forever.