ABSTRACT
In mid-February 2020 China and Korea had the world’s highest numbers of Covid-19 infections and deaths. Both countries employed intensive containment polices to fight the epidemic, which were effective and their infections and deaths substantially declined. Japan delayed adopting containment and mitigation policies, mainly with a view to the Olympic Games, and suffered a very serious situation in mid-2020. Factors that affect China, Korea and Japan’s responses to Covid-19 include the political system and government competence, medical systems and health insurance, the preparedness of public services, the attitude of leadership towards Covid-19 and public awareness of Covid-19, given previous experiences of SARS (2003) and MERS (2015). The elderly are particularly vulnerable to virus infection. Because Korea and Japan are ‘aged’ societies where more than 14 percent of the population is 65 and over, population composition is an important variable. People tend to have different behavior patterns in relation to accepting containment and mitigation polices, based on party- oriented Sinocentrism (China), democratic collectivism (Korea), ‘manual culture’ (without a manual, people do not act) and nemawashi (the pre-negotiation system) (Japan). Political considerations are also relevant, such as sensitivity to international opinion in China, the 2020 general election in Korea, and the Olympic Games in Japan.
