The swine flu scare seems to be over, at least in Japan and at least for now.
On Wednesday, 13 new cases of people infected with the new H1N1 virus were confirmed in eight prefectures, including Tokyo and Osaka, bringing Japan's total to 406. But the update was treated as minor news by media outlets Thursday, a far cry from the first few weeks of May when the same news would have been splashed across the front page.
In Osaka and Hyogo prefectures, where most of the swine flu infections have occurred, more than 4,000 schools were shut down in mid-May, but most were back to normal by the end the month. Fewer people are wearing masks and the sense of crisis has faded, helped no doubt by the fact that the flu's symptoms have been relatively mild.