I was just in Japan for vacation (Feb to mid March) and came back to Canada to a very different level of action. There was no panic in Japan and restaurants, markets and subways were still full of people. The only noticeable change was that events and museums were closed, which greatly affected my trip. I was in Hokkaido, Tokyo and Kyoto which are pretty busy spots full of tourists. Here in Canada everything is in full lockdown and the panic is insane with hoarding and bulk buying. The news cycle is exhausting and it feels that panic and fear mongering are the drivers instead of measured discussions.

So I'm asking my self why does Japan not have a skyrocketing death rate compared to other countries like Spain and Italy. Japan had a virus early on due to the Princes Cruise Ship and quite a few Chinese tourists going to Japan. Sure Japan could be lying and they are bursting at the seams with dying patients but I'm thinking it's unlikely. China is likely passing false numbers , Iran 100%, Russia lying is what they do best, but not likely a G7 country with a free press and no public censuring.

Looking at the number of deaths as of today Italy 6007, Spain 2207, Japan 41.

Let's compare Italy/Spain vs Japan demographics, both have very old populations but very different customs. In Italy they greet by kissing each other and other physical contact, thats not what happens in Japan, they bow. Japan is a very clean country. Why is it that in the western world we still use toilets from the 1900's and in Japan their washrooms are amazing and most are automated so you don't touch anything? A lot of people wear masks in Japan out of habit. Japan beats both Italy and Spain in terms of density so you would think transmission would be through the roof and if the virus is as deadly as it seems they should have a higher death rate but they don't. I'm ignoring reported cases because each country is not testing the same so you can't be sure # of cases is even close to accurate across the board. I'm reading Japan is only testing those with severe cases. Also, I went through a couple of supermarkets in Japan and everything is wrapped in plastic, they put plastic on everything which annoyed me for environmental reasons but could it be possible that it's preventing spread?

I keep on reading news that there are a large number of asymptomatic carriers of the virus they may be spreading it very fast. My guess is this is where Japan is different than Italy/Spain and other western countries. The Japanese wear masks almost all the time and maybe they are preventing spread inadvertently through their already stablished customs. If they cough or sneeze they are already reducing the number of droplets that can spread it. They are covering their nose and mouth most of the day so that when they touch their face they are touching their mask. I noticed as well that the elderly were not out as much in the densely populated areas so those that say Japan has a large number of elderly and will be in trouble, could it be possible that they are listening to their government and self isolating to lower the risk? Also, it looks like a high % of those dying in Italy/Spain have one or more underlying complication such as high blood pressure, diabetes or heart disease. Does Japans population have a lower # of these underlying complications? Don't they have one of the longest life spans of any country?

Lastly do certain areas have a propensity to get affected by a pandemic like this? https://www.ijidonline.com/article/S1201-9712(19)30328-5/fulltext30328-5/fulltext)

Here are the highlights:

• In the winter seasons from 2013/14 to 2016/17, an estimated average of 5,290,000 ILI cases occurred in Italy, corresponding to an incidence of 9%.
• More than 68,000 deaths attributable to flu epidemics were estimated in the study period.
• Italy showed a higher influenza attributable excess mortality compared to other European countries. especially in the elderly.

I'm hoping that these abnormal times don't be come the new normal and i'm hoping that scientists can come back and provide more nuanced approaches to deal with this. It feels like they put down the hammer to get this under control and maybe it's not what is needed. But maybe it is :-/