There is an important aspect of culture that you're missing here. If the government simply recommends to follow certain protocols for the health of the communi

There is an important aspect of culture that you're missing here. If the government simply recommends to follow certain protocols for the health of the community, a Japanese person is culturally inclined to do their duty. In contrast, a lot of red-blooded Americans are going to yell "socialism" and emphatically refuse to do anything that would benefit their neighbour, in some cases even if it would also benefit themselves, as we have seen.