The west have a habit of making that mistake. England is more like Germany, than Korea or China are like Japan. Yet seldom do people group E and G together.
But the big thing is, Japan has done virtually nothing intentional to contain the virus. Trust me. Japan is very very slow to the containment party, and we received one of the first invitations from China. Yet virtually no deaths. Blind luck really, small possibility it is due to the type of TB vaccine used in Japan for the last half century+
vis https://www.jsatonotes.com/2020/03/if-i-were-north-americaneuropeanaustral.html