The early days of the pandemic are now more than five years in the past and the fear and confusion of the time feel remote, though the physical and psychological aftereffects are still with us.
Kosai Sekine’s enlightening Japan-centric docudrama “Frontline — Yokohama Bay” examines the nation’s first wake-up call to the pandemic’s severity: The rapid spread of COVID-19 infections among the passengers and crew on the Diamond Princess cruise ship.
The ship arrived at the port of Yokohama on Feb. 3, 2020, after an elderly passenger was found to have COVID-19 symptoms, and did not leave until May 16. By that time, 712 of the 3,711 people on board had contracted the virus, of which as many as 14 died from it. (Since causes of death were not always clear-cut, the estimated number of fatalities varies.)
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