What is the reasoning for implying that Japan are handling the problem more effectively than others?

A friend of mine living in Japan thinks there's a "burying their head in the sand" type mentality going on.

They've only performed 32,000 tests (which is 16,484 people); which makes it hard to know exactly how the disease is spreading there.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-japan-...