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From Our Own Correspondent

Did Japan get lucky?

From Our Own Correspondent

BBC

News, News Commentary

4.41.3K Ratings

🗓️ 2 July 2020

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Japan has some very densely populated cities and the world’s highest proportion of elderly citizens. A disaster waiting to happen in the coronavirus pandemic? But the country has had a low death rate, despite only imposing a mild lockdown. What's the secret, or was it just luck, asks Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Tokyo. The George Floyd anti-racism protests have been supported in Asia too, but the conversation around race and colour is very loaded for South Asians themselves – where the criticism has been that the deep divides within South Asian society itself aren't scrutinised enough. There can even be discrimination in the same family, if siblings have different skin tones, as Karishma Vaswani has found. In Italy, lockdown was imposed in February, and Italian children haven’t been to school since, nor are there plans for them to return before September. And the lockdown was so strict, that most children couldn't see their friends even in a socially-distanced way. But then a mayor had an idea, as Dany Mitzman reports. Fancy a walk in the fresh mountain air? How about Northern Iraq? Iraqi Kurdistan may be better known for armed conflict, but has now become a location for outdoor pursuits with a long-distance hiking trail. There's still the risk of mines or drone strikes, but the reward of beautiful scenery and greater social freedoms than in the cities, as Leon McCarran found. A plant that grows across much of Africa - Artemisia Afra, a species of wormwood – was recently touted as a cure for Covid-19 by the President of Madagascar. But in the family of Nomsa Maseko in South Africa, the herb has always been used as a remedy for colds and chest complaints. Until the shrubs were stolen from the front garden... Presenter: Kate Adie Producer: Arlene Gregorius

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.

0:05.0

Good morning.

0:06.4

In summer, many of us try to darken our colour

0:09.2

by getting a tan.

0:10.8

In some cultures, potions to lighten your skin are advertised widely.

0:15.0

We hear from India where skin colour can cause division within a family.

0:20.0

Across the globe, the argument about the importance of education

0:25.0

versus keeping people from harm from coronavirus is playing havoc with schools

0:31.0

as in Italy where one town managed an end-of-year ceremony havoc with

0:34.1

schools.

0:36.1

one town managed an end-of-year ceremony with a difference.

0:36.6

The mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan are not the most obvious place to go walking,

0:41.7

drone strikes and incursions from neighbouring countries

0:45.2

tend to be a hazard. However, hiking has now become very popular there.

0:51.4

And yet another cure for the virus being touted, a medicinal herb in South Africa

0:57.1

so prized whole bushes are stolen from front gardens. First to Japan, with the world's highest proportion of elderly citizens,

1:07.0

and some of the world's most densely populated cities,

1:11.0

all initially giving rise to fears that the pandemic would strike hard.

1:16.0

However, the Japanese government decided not to embark on an intensive testing programme

1:22.2

and only ordered a mild lockdown.

1:25.0

A disaster was predicted.

1:27.1

However, for a country of 126 million,

...

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