Japan's COVID strategy:
1/ "Though many countries around the world have imposed substantial behavioral restrictions — so-called “lockdown” measures — while conducting massive testing and isolation, Japan has managed to control the situation without taking such measures."

2/ "Countermeasures have been taken based on an analysis, which is characterized by a large proportion of asymptomatic cases. Most of these asymptomatic cases do not spread the infection but a small proportion of them (SSEs) infect multiple people, resulting in clusters."

3/ "From the beginning, Japanese testing operations were pragmatic and unique compared to those in other countries....testing capacity be focused on people who had had close contact with COVID-19 patients as well as older persons with underlying conditions."

4/ "Given that there are evidently a significant proportion of asymptomatic cases, it does not necessarily make sense to attempt to ascertain the prevalence of infection by PCR. PCR testing alone [will not] be sufficient to determine the extent of the epidemic."

5/ "People seem to criticize them simply because they are unique. This phenomenon is happening nationally and globally, and it is echoed in the case of Sweden, which adopted a mitigation strategy as opposed to a containment strategy."

6/"After all, the simple number of tests performed is not necessarily linked directly to one of the most important outcomes, namely mortality — that is to say, saving lives." https://thediplomat.com/2020/06/japans-pragmatic-approach-to-covid-19-testing/