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SPANISH FLU 1918 STORY

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GOTO COUSIN'S SPANISH FLU ... GOTO COUSIN'S SPANISH FLU STORY SPANISH FLU 1918 STORY
Bunshiro was Sam's father, Nisaburo's cousin and known best as the owner of the Tazuma 10-Cent store at 12th and Jackson in Seattle's International District. He was around the age of 30 and lived to be 103.

The story is that Bunshiro's wife and infant son had just arrived from Japan and she had brought with her this all-purpose cure-all known among the immigrants from Japan at that time. Some of the ones I saw around as I was growing up were little bead-like and silver in color. Seems like my grandpa used to call it, "Ginro or Gorin" or something like that.

Bunshiro had come to America and worked on the railroad and in the restaurant business from 1908. He had returned to Japan to get married and was back in Seattle working at the Jackson Cafe when his wife arrived with son Elmer and was put up in the hotel across the street. It might have been the NP Hotel run by the Shitamae family because we know that is where Nisaburo lived.

100 years ago, an influenza (flu) pandemic swept the globe, infecting an estimated one-third of the world’s population and killing at least 50 million people. The pandemic’s death toll was greater than the total number of military and civilian deaths from World War I, which was happening simultaneously. At the time, scientists had not yet discovered flu viruses, but we know today that the 1918 pandemic was caused by an influenza A (H1N1) virus. The pandemic is commonly believed to have occurred in three waves. Unusual flu-like activity was first identified in U.S. military personnel during the spring of 1918. Flu spread rapidly in military barracks where men shared close quarters. The second wave occurred during the fall of 1918 and was the most severe. A third wave of illness occurred during the winter and spring of 1919.

Currently, regarding the 2020 Covid-19 empidemic, Japan’s culture of concern for others, keeping a distance, avoiding handshakes, and good personal hygiene appears to have played a significant role in having one of the lowest statistics related to incidence and deaths in the world. This is despite inadequate testing.

WA state, as of June 3rd, lists 1125 deaths. Japan lists 900.

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