As the whole world struggles in its endeavor to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, two things are becoming clear about Japan.
First is the nation's hygienic environment, which is generally believed to be excellent. What's ultimately important at this time is to prevent people from becoming seriously ill and to prevent deaths from the new coronavirus as much as possible.
The media tend to focus on the number of infections, in particular the emergence of newly infected cases, while not paying much attention to how many of the infected have recovered from the illness. But a close look at the number of COVID-19 deaths and its proportion to the population reveals big differences among countries. The number of deaths per 100 million people (as of March 16) is 230 in China, where the virus is deemed to have originated, and 150 in South Korea, but the figure is much smaller at 19 in Japan. That is one of the lowest rates among major countries, along with Germany, and is below many European nations.