Anyway, I live in Tokyo. Tokyo Metro area has basically all of California (SF, SD, etc..) squeezed into an area the size of Los Angeles. 34 million people.
Tokyo has been mostly unlocked since June. Theaters and other venues are open (every other seat), clubs are open (WTFBBQ!), restaurants are open and many are full, everyone has masks off while eating and drinking though outside it's 99% masked.
Number shot up in the last 2 days, we'll see where it goes, but though September and October they stayed flat. About 100 to 200 a day (vs California, same population, 10k day or 100x)
Here are some videos from 3 different weekends in October Tokyo Metro Area
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0UP9v5zOh8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQQl6z45QxY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13WRmg1NX8g
No idea why the number are 100x less than California similar population. Especially given Tokyo is far more densely populated than California and trains are still packed during rush hour. Schools are open though they swap half the students each day. Lots of people have ideas, none of them proven.
* Japanese don't wear shoes indoors so don't track it into their houses :P
* Japanese are better at wearing masks? (ok, but walking by restaurants full of unmasked people doesn't seem to fit)
* Japan isn't testing as much. I think that's not true enough to get a 100x difference but even if it was hospitalizations and deaths would be up? They are not AFAIK
* Japan has a different version of the virus? Ok, so when the real one arrives were screwed.
* Japanese are healthier? (like obesity is 3.6% here vs 30% in USA)
* Japanese are not vitamin D deficient?
They have put lots of measures in though I assume that similar elsewhere. Every cashier is surrounded by various forms of transparent partitions. Fast food joints sometimes have partitions between every 2 seats. That said a cafe I used to hang out at as one large 20 person table and 8 or so bar seats near a window. I've walked by since it's near the grocery store I go to and it's full, people eating with masks off, no partitions.
I have plenty of pictures of full restaurants as I walk by.
Anyway, would certainly love to know why the numbers are so low relative to the USA and Europe. Maybe it's just luck? Seems unlikely