How Residents in Japan Are Using Umbrellas to Help Maintain Social Distancing

Umbrellas do more than shield from the rain.

In Japan, they've become a tool for social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic.

Now, visitors at the indoor Tokyo art exhibition are handed umbrellas when they arrive. 

It's the brainchild of 62-year-old artist Kazu-Hisa Kusaba.

After learning his grandchildren's elementary teachers told them to hold umbrellas as a social distancing measure while commuting to school, Kusaba realized the practice could be useful for everyone. 

One artist says the move helps as people get complacent with social distancing measures.

Japan has taken some of the strictest steps globally by closing its borders to new foreign entrants for about a month in light of the emergence of the new Omicron coronavirus variant.

Related Stories