＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
While COVID-19 infections are exploding in Western countries like Italy, Spain, and the United States, Japan has managed to hold on, albeit on the brink. Some Westerners have questioned this, calling it a “Japanese mystery,” and suspecting that Japan is underreporting its case numbers. Others, however, have praised and appreciated Japan’s response.
I would like to explore this issue in this article.
1. Differences in Behavior Between Westerners and Japanese
(1) Wearing Shoes Inside or Not
While Westerners wear shoes inside, Japanese people take off their shoes at the entrance before entering a room. In this way, Japanese people avoid bringing outdoor dirt indoors.
(2) Frequency of Kissing, Hugging, and Handshaking
Westerners frequently kiss and hug as a greeting, not only with close friends, but also with newcomers. Handshaking is a must, even when meeting someone for the first time. Japanese people do bow, but they don’t often shake hands with other Japanese people, and they rarely kiss or hug.
In that sense, the only time close contact outside of household members is when attending events, gatherings, or banquets.
Even before the global spread of novel coronavirus pneumonia, Japanese people had been maintaining appropriate social and physical distance.
This is largely due to differences in ethnicity between Japanese people and Westerners, but I think the traditional Japanese approach of maintaining a moderate distance has helped prevent the spread of infection this time.
2. Japanese people’s high level of hygiene awareness, sanitation standards, and public health ethics
(1) Wearing a Mask
When Japanese people have a cold, they wear a mask to prevent spreading it to others through coughing and sneezing.
When influenza and other diseases are prevalent, it is customary to wear a mask as a preventative measure against catching a cold.
People with hay fever and rhinitis also wear masks for self-protection.
However, it seems that most Westerners do not wear masks.
(2) Washing Your Hands
Japanese people generally have a tendency to be “clean” and wash their hands frequently. However, they wash their hands even more thoroughly during seasonal influenza epidemics and pandemics like the current one.
(3) Gargling
As for gargling, Japanese parents teach children from an early age to “gargle when they come home from outside.” In elementary school, children are often forced to gargle with mouthwash at school during influenza epidemics.
I believe that the high level of hygiene awareness and sanitation standards among Japanese people, as mentioned above, contribute to preventing the spread of infection.
3. Why there has been no outbreak of “new coronavirus pneumonia” in Japan
(1) The aforementioned “differences in behavior between Westerners and Japanese people” and “Japanese people’s high level of hygiene awareness” are contributing factors.
(2) The mass media, especially television news programs, are reporting information about “COVID-19” every day, with experts also participating, so knowledge of preventive measures and other measures is widespread among many Japanese people.
(3) Japanese people have a strong sense of norms and adherence to rules and instructions, so when requests such as “refraining from going out” and “refraining from attending events” are made, many people comply.
(4) Rather than blindly seeking “PCR tests,” people should only take them if their fever remains above 7.5°C for four days. Because people are staying at home and resting carefully without visiting hospitals until the four-day fever rule is met, there has not been a rush for PCR testing like in Europe and the United States.
(5) Japan has adopted a policy of not testing those with mild symptoms or no symptoms, and limiting testing to those strongly suspected of infection, such as those with a fever that lasts for four days, close contacts of infected individuals, and participants in live events or gatherings in the event of a cluster infection.
This policy is in line with the WHO’s recommendation to only test those who have come into contact with infected individuals if they show symptoms. I believe this type of “sorting” is effective in preventing a “medical collapse.”
4. The assessment that “there are many hidden infections in Japan” is unfounded
In the April 3, 2020, issue of President, Tokyo Metropolitan Public Health Physician Isao Kakimoto commented on Japan’s response to the coronavirus and the current infection situation, saying, “While there are certainly deficiencies in the testing system, there is no basis for sensational statements such as the huge number of infected people, far exceeding the number of confirmed patients, are already scattered across the country.”
However, we must not let our guard down and must continue our efforts to avoid the “three Cs” (closed spaces, crowded places, and close-contact settings). Furthermore, if the route of infection is identified or if a cluster infection occurs, thorough efforts must be made to contain it and prevent it from spreading further.
As an aside, the term “three Cs” originally originated as a Buddhist (primarily esoteric) term. It is a collective term for “secret of body, secret of mouth, and secret of mind,” and was so named because the three actions performed by the body, speech, and mind of a Buddha are considered mysterious. The three actions performed by the body, speech, and mind of sentient beings are also considered to be equal in their hidden nature.
While this deviates from the original meaning of the “three Cs,” we must now keep in mind the importance of “avoiding the three Cs” in order to defeat COVID-19 pneumonia.