China¡¯s recent decision to suspend ferry service between Shanghai, Kobe and Osaka caught my attention ¡ª not only because the service had only been restarted in June since being halted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It brought back memories of another ship, the Diamond Princess, that arrived in Yokohama in January 2020 with passengers infected with COVID-19 after stops in Chinese ports.

While the first COVID-19 case in Japan was officially confirmed in mid-January, the first cases actually occurred around December of the previous year. I know, because my wife and I were among those infected.