Japan’s Low-Key Covid Campaign Has Lessons for China
The strident efforts in the People’s Republic are in stark contrast to the restrained but more sustainable efforts by its old rival to the east.
Tokyo on a late March evening.
Photographer: Bloomberg/BloombergShanghai is locked down and some of its residents are running out of food. As China battles its largest-ever Covid outbreak, the discourse swings between two extremes: The country must accept Covid Zero and sporadic, disruptive lockdowns; or it must live with the virus western-style — and endure all deaths that ensue. For Chinese authorities, the former may no longer work but the latter is unacceptable. But there’s an alternative: China should look to what can be learned from its neighbor Japan.
Japan conducted a largely low-tech, unshowy campaign against the virus and rarely makes the list of top-performing countries. Yet among the 38 OECD members, only one has seen fewer deaths per capita than Japan — and that’s New Zealand, a nation that endured some of the world’s strictest lockdowns.