OSAKA -- The death toll from the new coronavirus has exceeded 760 in Japan. Detailed information on the dead is rarely disclosed, but each person who has died had an irreplaceable life.
In an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun, one family member revealed the real name of a loved one who has passed on and shared her heartrending situation.
The deceased is Sueharu Oji, 87, of Hirano Ward, Osaka. About 60 years ago, he started a diner called Oji Shokudo and had been working with his wife Sachiko, 81, ever since. Sachiko mainly took on the role of cook, while Sueharu assumed the role of the server and deliveryman -- making food deliveries by car or motorbike.
The diner is located in an area surrounded by small factories, such as ironwork mills. At lunchtime, the restaurant would get crowded with workers, and Sueharu's amiable personality was loved by the regulars.
About 20 years ago, Sueharu handed over control of the diner to his eldest daughter Harumi, 61, and began operating a nearby tobacco shop. Then, four years ago, he moved into what is now called Namihaya Rehabilitation Hospital in the city. He was unable to walk because of a spinal cord injury after undergoing surgery at another hospital.
On March 16, Sachiko received a call from the hospital, "Visitors are not allowed from today in order to prevent [coronavirus] infections," she was told.
This new rule was not because there were infected people in the hospital -- it was simply one of the detailed measures for virus prevention. But on April 19, Sachiko received some news from the hospital that nearly crushed her. A mass infection had actually broken out in his hospital.
The catastrophic situation they were trying to prevent had occurred anyway. And the next day, Sueharu tested positive. He died of pneumonia on the evening of April 27.
Sachiko could not see his body due to a mandate to prevent infections. She also could not attend his cremation. His remains were eventually delivered to her home from a funeral company.
Over the past four years, Sachiko had visited her husband every day, bringing homemade dishes and sweets. When she would leave his room, Sueharu would see her off saying: "See you tomorrow. Take care." That turned out to be the last conversation she had with her husband.
"For more than a month, my husband must have been scared, not being able to see anyone in his family," Sachiko said, wiping away her tears. "It's too much thinking of dying alone. Without the coronavirus, we wouldn't have been apart like this."
Why did Sueharu get infected at the hospital? Did the hospital really take thorough measures? The more these thoughts fill her mind, the more her distress increases.
Sueharu's diner remains open to this day.
"Our old regular customers grieve over my father's death, and some people cheer us up," Harumi said. "We don't have many customers now as people are refraining from going out, but we will preserve our diner that my father left behind and which is also loved by the local people."
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