The report was conducted by Hafijur Ruman (Ph.D. fellow at 岩手大学大学院連合農学研究科 UGAS Iwate University)
Japan is running its country as nothing happened in the world. But Japan was the first country to be impacted by Corona from China because of the luxury ship Diamond Princess from China in January by now it would have gone to stage 4 like European countries. But in Japan, everything is normal until today.
In Japan, People were going to offices daily; all the essential services are still inactive. Restaurants, Bars, Supermarket, Inter-city communication are running normally. Even all airports in Japan are now in full operation. People are coming and going abroad nowadays very comfortably.
But at the same time Japan has the highest number of elderly people and Tokyo is crowded with foreigners. Most tourist attractive spots are still open. Only education sectors mainly schools and colleges are currently closed and big public events are in a proponed stage.
So how can Japan still be maintaining this kind of normal situation?
It is because of the culture of Japanese people where the rules suggested to prevent Coronavirus were practiced by them from childhood.
Japanese people wear masks when they travel or come out. Usually, around 60% wearing masks daily on normal days. Even they catch a very little cold. This was their culture which helped in stopping the spread and cuts the chain.
Normally any public-facing person like receptionist, govt officers, doctors, nurses, station masters, train staff, police, janitors, etc wears masks daily at work.
During the wintertime, children have to wear a mask daily so that they don’t bother others when they catch a cold. At home, Japanese people have kodomo(children) mask box and normal mask box. Kodomo mask is for children which fits them properly.
Japanese people lead a life where they don’t bother others. They don’t litter anything. They use dustbins only to litter or spit. Cleanliness is part of their culture. They were taught how to be clean and public behavior before learning alphabets in schools.
They don’t do handshakes but bow to greet and show respect.
Here washing hands is a part of the culture. Japan’s every corner has soaps and sanitizers in public toilets, office entrances and usually in every public space. Using sanitizers is pretty common which prevented the spread of the virus.
In restrooms, people wash their hands and also clean and wipe the sink area too to make it comfortable for the next person to use it. This is a usual practice in public metro stations too.
They carry wet tissue packets to clean their hands occasionally when they go out.
Ph.D. fellow Hafijur Ruman is standing in front of the UGAS Iwate University campus gate
They usually maintain social distance with other people.
After the Coronavirus pandemic spread out in China, Japan’s every bus, train, and station are being washed by sanitizer within every hour.
But for the last few weeks, Coronavirus is spreading most of Japan’s prefecture at an alarming rate. All the efforts taken by the government and individual is just not enough to stop the flu. So finally, Shinzo Abe’s government will declare a state of emergency to Tokyo and six other prefectures from 7th April in response to the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID 19).
The announcement came during a board meeting of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on April 6. The emergency declaration, which will last for roughly one month, will cover Tokyo and Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama prefectures in the metropolitan area, as well as Osaka and Hyogo prefectures in western Japan and Fukuoka Prefecture in southwestern Japan.
