Does Japan Need to Chill Out About its Response to the Coronavirus?

Japan, the country which I have lived in since summer 2004, is panicking itself into a tailspin.

In the past few days, this usually idyllic country has been rattled by the following:

School closures nationwide for the month of March, cancellations of public events, including that ever-so-sublimely-Japanese cultural tradition, cherry blossom viewing parties in Japan’s two largest cities with more likely to come; crowd-less…