I want to briefly comment on what I think has led to this success: vaccines, masks, various restrictions on social activities, and as-thorough-as-possible precautions. In particular masks: inside buildings you almost never see a human mouth, tho in the last few weeks people are more relaxed in the open air.
Of equal importance tho is the social context: Japanese people were willing to respect and listen to the medical authorities, and then to act for the greater good (my students saying they were going to get vaccinated because it was the right thing to do , even tho they were worried about it, was quite affecting). Contrast this collectivism with the individualism of many Western nations (and their current covid situations…..lockdown looming??). Interestingly it seems to have acted as an effective antidote to conspiracy theories on SNS.
The climate crisis is also going to require us to put aside our individualism and work for the common good – Japan has a lot of flaws (not least it’s political enthusiasm for coal….) but this collectivism is something other countries can learn from I think.
Oh and today Okinawa recorded zero covid for the first time in 16months.. :DWhat’s interesting is that this was accomplished without an actual lockdown – it may be that lockdown will turn out to be slightly overkill (tho perhaps better to err on the side of caution).
To be clear, Japan has been far from perfect, and definitely took some rather questionable decisions (um the Olympics, tho interesting to think that might have scared people into getting the vaccine….), but overall I think this is an example to learn from.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/15/anxious-japan-covid-vaccine-hesitancy-immunised