11-The Day the Tours Disappeared

In December 2019, I was guiding a group of college students from New York through Tokyo.

As we strolled near the Imperial Palace, one of their phones rang—it was a call from his mother back in the U.S.

“Put on a mask. Right now.There’s a virus spreading in China.It’ll reach Tokyo soon.”

The boys looked shaken. Within minutes, they were walking through Tokyo fully masked.They even bought designer masks at Bathing Ape in Shibuya, smiling beneath the fabric.

I watched them with curiosity, thinking:“Isn’t that a bit much?”

After all, it was just something happening in China… wasn’t it?

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

One by one, my bookings vanished.First a trickle, then a flood of cancellations.

By January 2020, I had nothing left on the calendar.

The virus had landed in Japan.

People were panicking.

Borders were closing.

Tourism had collapsed—completely.

I had just quit my job.Just stepped into what I thought would be a new chapter, full of promise.

But the hope I held was slipping through my fingers like sand.

I was like a kid who lost their most beloved toy.

Rent was due.

My motorbike loan wasn’t going to pay itself.

I had no income.

No backup.

And no one coming.

So now what?