To all of you at AMICUS, this is the Head of School, Hisao Onishi. I hope you are all well and in good health.

The duration of the suspension of school has become quite substantial. An unprecedented Golden Week (GW) has been more of a Grin-and-Bear-It Week. Fortunately, Okinawa has seen several days with no new infections. I pray this continues and the situation becomes one in which the spread has been contained.

It has been reported that the prefecture will be declaring an end to the state of emergency on May 20th, and that prefectural schools will be reopening on the 21st. At AMICUS, we will be remaining closed until the 31st. We have a wide variety of families, and our children come to school from all over the prefecture, primarily on school buses. Our children then meet people from all over when they come to school, which is a special characteristic of the school, but does give rise to concerns as to whether we can fully avoid the three ‘C’s.

So for the remainder of this month, we are asking that you all stay at home, look after your health, and get back into the rhythms that will prepare you to fully resume school. If we can all stay safe then the possibility of school reopening will improve. In the meantime, we are working hard here at school to deliver high quality online study for you. We are also engaged with consideration of how best to ensure your safety in June. For now during May, be sure not to get infected, and not to infect others.

I very much like the English aphorism that ‘Every Cloud has a Silver Lining’. The threat from the coronavirus will in time pass, and the clouds that resently hang over us will yield to sunshine. Until then, stay the course just a little longer.

Head of School, Hisao Onishi