Hayato Kume (UTokyo alumnus), First Secretary of the Embassy of Japan in the USA, gives a talk titled “Japan’s Coronavirus Policies as Seen from my Perspective Gained in the United States.” This event was hosted by Satsukikai America of D.C. and New York and co-hosted by Friends of UTokyo.
In 2006, Mr. Kume joined the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare in Japan. During his tenure at the Ministry he worked at a wide range of areas including policies for healthcare, those for the disabled people, and reforms in employment regulations. After serving as Deputy Director of the Ministry’s Headquarters of COVID-19 Response, in September 2020, he was placed in charge of the department overseeing COVID-19 and global health as the First Secretary of the Embassy of Japan in the USA. In this lecture, he shares his own experience serving in the Headquarters for the COVID-19 Response in Japan and his reflections on Japan’s coronavirus policies after observing the US coronavirus policies on a first-hand basis.
The following five main topics are covered: 1) a statistical comparison of Japan with other G7 countries regarding coronavirus infection numbers and rates of vaccinations, 2) the circumstances surrounding the Japanese government’s initial response to the pandemic, 3) the conflict in prioritizing economy and medical resources, 4) the Japanese government’s progression from vaccine procurement to inoculation of the populace, and 5) discoveries made in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.
