[Correspondent’s column] Global cooperation over competition and self-congratulation in fight against COVID-19

Posted on : 2020-05-22 17:36 KST Modified on : 2020-05-22 17:36 KST
Shinzo Abe is already boasting about Japan’s COVID-19 response being superior to other G7 countries
The cover design of Number 1 Shimbun parodies the Tokyo Olympics logo by employing a design mimicking the coronavirus. Tokyo Olympic officials have since protested the cover, requesting it be discontinued. (Yonhap News)
The cover design of Number 1 Shimbun parodies the Tokyo Olympics logo by employing a design mimicking the coronavirus. Tokyo Olympic officials have since protested the cover, requesting it be discontinued. (Yonhap News)

Once again, the streets of Tokyo are showing signs of change.

For some time after the Japanese government declared an unprecedented state of emergency in Tokyo, Osaka, and five other parts of the country because of the COVID-19 outbreak, Tokyo was sapped of energy. Numerous restaurants pulled down their shutters and posted notices announcing that they had closed “because of the government’s request for jishuku,” or self-restraint.” Even izakayas — Japanese pubs that do most of their business at night — stayed closed after dark and took up the sale of lunchboxes, something they hadn’t done before.

The mood was further depressed when the Japanese government extended the state of emergency nationwide. People presenting symptoms similar to COVID-19 were frequently turned away by hospitals. Some patients who presumably had the virus died because they weren’t hospitalized in time. A 28-year-old sumo wrestler died of COVID-19 recently; in early April, it had taken him four days to find a hospital that would admit him when he developed suspicious symptoms. During a press conference on Apr. 14, Osaka Mayor Ichiro Matsui even said that the shortage of protective equipment was forcing medical staff to wear trash bags and asked people to get in touch if they had any raincoats to sell.

But nowadays, an increasing number of izakayas are doing business after 9 pm, even in Tokyo. The metropolitan government has asked izakayas to stop selling alcohol at 7 pm and to shut down by 8 pm, but it’s not mandatory. Masks are at last going on sale again: last month, they started popping up at unexpected places such as coffee shops, and more recently pharmacies are selling them as well. Little by little, Japan seems to be returning to normal. While the daily number of new COVID-19 cases reported by Japan’s local governments spiked at 720 on Apr. 11, it had dropped to 39 by May 20. The state of emergency was lifted at 39 of 47 prefectures around the country on May 14 and in the Kansai region (Osaka, Kyoto, and Hyogo Prefecture) on May 21. Today, only the Tokyo area and Hokkaido remain in a state of emergency.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made remarks suggesting that the Japanese government’s response to COVID-19 has been outstanding. “Japan has succeeded at holding the number of cases and deaths per capita at a level that is by far the lowest among the Group of Seven [Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the US]. That’s the clear and objective truth, numerically speaking,” said Abe on May 14, when the state of emergency was lifted in 39 prefectures.

It’s true that the Japanese public have cooperated with the request for “jishuku,” or self-restraint, which has entailed social and economic sacrifices; it’s also true that such cooperation has suppressed the outbreak to some extent. While I understand that the Abe administration would want to underscore its success, it seems out of place for Abe to explicitly contrast his achievements with other countries’ struggles. I’ve also been struck by Japanese newspaper reports suggesting that Japan’s coronavirus response has received global acclaim. Self-satisfaction of this sort can be seen not only in Japan but in various countries around the world. While it may be necessary on some level to instill confidence in citizens who have endured so much, I don’t think it’s feasible to compare all the countries in the world with a single measuring stick.

The COVID-19 pandemic isn’t over yet. I don’t think that the coronavirus response is a game with winners and losers, nor do I think that every country is facing the same circumstances. The Japanese experts whom I’ve interviewed about the pandemic have said that global cooperation and information sharing are needed to minimize its damage. I completely agree.

By Cho Ki-weon, Tokyo correspondent

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]

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