Hong Kong should learn from Japan's Covid-19 quarantine. The state pays and treats you like an adult

Being locked up in government-mandated quarantine as part of international travel remains to me as hard to swallow as the pre-departure nasopharyngeal swab.

But both have been with us in one form or another for over two years, and chances are that mandatory quarantine will remain with us for a while yet - especially if Hong Kong's rate of re-opening is anything to go by (though at least it appears to be going in the right direction, having cut the confinement period from three weeks to 14 days).

It is possible that some countries now are in the last throes of the current Covid-19 wave and accompanying travel restrictions. Britain, for example, is removing all travel-related coronavirus requirements in two weeks' time as infection rates in the Omicron wave fall faster than with previous variants and hospital admissions appear to be peaking. A similar phenomenon is being seen in South Africa where Omicron was first identified, as well as some parts of the United States where it quickly tore through, leaving most with generally mild or no symptoms.

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Conservative Japan is also opening up again and is expected to start issuing business and study visas soon, after they were put on hold in November as Omicron hit the news. But I needed to pay a visit for work right away and, faced with newly reinstated government-mandated quarantine, had to bite the bullet and get on a plane.

Fortunately, having lived and worked in Japan for more than half of my career, I could enter with my resident's card without additional paperwork. Unfortunately, though, Omicron had made the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare twitchy in December, prompting it to tighten its requirement. Previously, it had required travellers to undergo 10 days of self-isolation and take a single PCR test. Now it requires six days of government-supervised quarantine in a hotel and two PCR tests followed by four days of self-isolation at home. Still just 10 days overall, though, and less than half of the hotel time required even under Hong Kong's newly relaxed rules.

Like in Hong Kong, some hotels have been designated by the government as "quarantine hotels" in which incoming visitors must stay. However, unlike Hong Kong, the Japanese government foots the bill for the inconvenience and pays the hotel directly, thereby giving it support but not a chance to rip off visitors. And under the deal, local catering firms or the hotels themselves provide three very decent square meals a day.

I was assured by friends who had already been in mandatory quarantine that there were no government properties hurriedly cobbled together as quarantine camps, only the tourist hotels with their comfy beds - largely empty and grateful for the revenue.

As enjoyable as Japanese food is to me these days, unfortunately, you can't take Britain out of a Brit and after a while green tea still makes me gag. I don't do raw fish well in quantity and the combined smell of soy, sesame oil and mirin in bentos tends to make me crave meat and two veg rather than 12 morsels in nine healthy colours covering the entire flavour spectrum. Forewarned is forearmed, so I decided I would be ready with alternatives when I reached my limit of teriyaki hamburg steak, miso-marinated mackerel and rice balls. On the way to Heathrow, I had raided Sainsbury's in the knowledge that I could take food with me as long as it conformed to the normal import regulations.

On arrival, Haneda airport put on a colourful show with hundreds of Japan Airport Terminal staff ticking, stamping and filing forms.

The choreographed arrival worked perfectly as the forms given to me at the start of the trek through the maze of arrival stations were carefully completed and collected until I had just one left to keep with my negative PCR test result. After the customs officer had finished laughing at the contents of my suitcase - canned curry, instant soups, tea bags, Jaffa cakes, cheese and a small loaf of bread - I was escorted by a chatty young lady in a yellow vest marked #1. I thanked #1 for her help and settled on the bus.

The bus driver apologised for the inconvenience of a truly inconsequential five-minute delay and we drove south before eventually pulling into a hotel in Yokohama. Reception explained to me that I should stay in my room for the six days, that I would have two Covid-19 tests, get three bento meals a day, and that I was on the 31st floor in a nice room with a good view. I was asked if I would prefer Halal or vegan food options.

Online shopping and delivery from friends was allowed, and the staff would bring packages up. But I could order nothing that needed to be kept hot or cold, and no booze. There was a support number to call for things and they would do their best to accommodate. "Enjoy your stay Newman-san!" Well, what can I say? If I have to suffer quarantine, then it might as well be pleasant.

I got to the room, turned on BBC World and my quarantine was turning into a mini-break as I later fired up Netflix with a cup of tea made from my favourite Yorkshire teabags. The evening bento was pretty in the way only the Japanese can make bentos - and very good. As expected, breakfast looked and tasted great, and lunch the same. Day two was no different, and by day three no meals had been repeated. Nevertheless, I really wasn't interested in another bento.

The downside of Japanese bentos is that they are served cold, and in a hotel room designed for a holiday there are limited ways of warming up food. But it is not impossible, you just have to get creative, like a ninja! Since I wasn't about to socialise, I didn't need the hair dryer. Instead I positioned it beneath a stainless steel shelf in the bathroom that had been home to a large selection of toiletries, and it made a good hotplate. The water kettle could heat up a can of food standing in the boiling water, and the can could also be used to warm up rice and tasty bits of a bento that I kept for later.

I have always found traditional Japanese breakfasts a challenge, and by day three I was craving a piece of toast. My mate Phil in Singapore pointed out that I must be able to iron a slice of bread. Brilliant! The result was cheese toasties made by my makeshift toaster press with a squirt of ketchup saved from yesterday's breakfast! With the food problems ingeniously sorted, I had some time to reflect on the quarantine. I didn't particularly like the lack of fresh air in a modern high-rise hotel for a long stay, but I slept like a baby on the Sealy mattress.

If Covid-19 is on its way out, we may not have to deal with this ridiculous process much longer. But if it is not, then quarantine could be periodically with us for years, perhaps even as long as the ban of liquids on aircraft. So, if we are going to have to do this, shouldn't we learn to do it well? I'm a big fan of the Japanese approach to managing potential coronavirus exposure. It was logical, pleasant and far from hysterical. And I wasn't actually locked in for the duration either, just morally obliged to stay put under my pledge to the Japanese government, for which they made me as comfortable as possible, picked up the bill and treated me like an adult.

I cleaned up after my unconventional use of the iron and the kettle, thanked the staff and went off to more familiar surroundings in the centre of town with a very positive frame of mind.

Quarantine doesn't have to be the punishing, almost criminalised experience it seems to have turned into during the pandemic. When the authorities realise it is unpleasant and make efforts with a hospitable solution, it almost becomes palatable. Perhaps we can learn something from the Japanese here.

Neil Newman is a thematic portfolio strategist focused on pan-Asian equity markets

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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