Back to Tokyo from a short trip to Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, where I could see the celebrated “Three monkeys” at the Toshogu Shrine, I cannot refrain from drawing the analogy with the COVID-19 crisis, feeling that Japan has been so far, like the “Mizaru,” avoiding seeing this evil (it should stay on foreign ships), or testing for it (less than 50,000 tests done, despite a daily capacity of 6,000 to 8,000) and preparing to fight it (is there a Plan B, and what is Plan A?).

Recent data show that the virus that has spread around the world is now severely affecting Japan as well, albeit in lesser but rapidly growing proportion.

While Japan was one of the first countries exposed to the new coronavirus, it did not use this “time advantage” to prepare actively for containment measures. The questionable handling of the Diamond Princess quarantine was widely and globally exposed, and the few measures taken were controversial and not well explained at best (the closure of schools nationwide, for example).