Loading ...WHO Can Explain Japan ?
Everyone talks about Sweden and its decision not to have a complete lockdown of its society.
And there are arguments made on both sides whether it was a success or failure
How Come we hear NOTHING about Japan’s response or lack thereof
Did YOU know this ? I certainly did not !
“No restrictions were placed on residents’ movements, and businesses from restaurants to hairdressers stayed open. No high-tech apps that tracked people’s movements were deployed. The country doesn’t have a center for disease control. And even as nations were exhorted to “test, test, test,” Japan has tested just 0.2% of its population — one of the lowest rates among developed countries.”
Ha !
One of the World’s most developed nations and they do not have a Center for Disease Control and they had NO problem with the virus…..hmmmmm
Interesting article. If you read the article, it really points to the Japanese advanced health care system that is geared towards infectious disease control (I guess thanks to SARs).
“One widely shared list assembled 43 possible reasons cited in media reports, ranging from a culture of mask-wearing and a famously low obesity rate to the relatively early decision to close schools. ”
“An early grassroots response to rising infections was crucial. …, experts praise the role of Japan’s contact tracers, which swung into action after the first infections were found in January. …- its public health centers, which in 2018 employed more than half of 50,000 public health nurses who are experienced in infection tracing. In normal times, these nurses would be tracking down more common infections such as influenza and tuberculosis.”
“Experts are also credited with creating an easy-to-understand message of avoiding what are called the “Three C’s” — closed spaces, crowded spaces and close-contact settings — rather than keeping away from others entirely.”
Here’s a timeline of Japan’s actions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_Japan
The first thing is to admit to ignorance. I admit to it. Then speculate.
Some suggest that Japan at least as much as other countries has a government that tends to like to put a good face on things — as in cover up — as in don’t test, don’t report. One possibility right there. I don’t know.
Another possibility I saw suggested during the original SARS epidemic of early in the century. Why, people wondered, did SARS1 not spread badly in Japan? It was said that it is standard Japanese cultural practice once one gets home to take off shoes, wash one’s hands, and wash one’s face.
There is the standard practice in East Asia of wearing masks when one is sick, when others are sick, when there’s lots of pollution, when there are lots of allergens. To the extent that masks might help, this practice might have helped. True, this practice occurs in China.
Whereas in some cultures there is a kissy-kissy huggy-huggy handshaky-no-matter-what sort of tendency — my guess — purely a guess — I have had little contact with Japan — is that especially after SARS1 many people in Japan may have a tendency to stay away from each other a bit without being ordered to. Whether it is a cultural tendency to be a little distant if you are sick, it may have been become a specific cultural tendency to maintain distance after SARS1. Or there may have been a lot of discussion, public and private, about being a little distant during influenza season. In other words, it might be valuable for people to be just a bit less intimate, and people might have done so on their own, without heavy handed dictates from above. Just a hypothesis that may be right or wrong. Hypotheses are to be raised for possible discussion.
— There could be some unknown genetic or nutritional or other tendencies of the Japanese population.
— Other
Generalizations about nations and cultures can be bad in many respects. I am scared to go further, but I will.
I have heard and read the generalization that Japanese culture tends more than many others to emphasize hygiene (and not just washing hand/face on entering the house and taking off shoes). I do not know and make no claims other than that in one brief visit I saw nothing to contradict this generalization. If true, an emphasis on hygiene might tend to hinder infections. To the extent that dose of virus means worse disease in an individual, increased hygiene might tend to mean a tendency towards milder symptoms in those who are affected.
Japanese Constitution, has no provision for Government to enforce any lock-down of its citizens and/or shutdown private businesses. Government institutions like schools, they can shut down. But the private sector and private citizens is off limits…as per its Constitution.
Similar Constitution in the USA, where private interests and sovereign individuals are off limits … but USA Constitution has been discarded effectively. And the majority seem to like it that way.