Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who was recently in Japan, observed that the Japanese are “very, very conscientious,” particularly in wearing masks outdoors if feeling unwell.
He noted this was a “good habit” that should also be practised in Singapore, although netizens pointed out that the success of such instinctive behaviour lies with discipline.
Mr Lee was on a working visit to Japan from May 24 to May 27, his first trip to the country since 2019.
In a Straits Times report, he said that wearing masks had long been a practice in Japan, even before the Covid-19 pandemic.
“If you are sick, you go out with a mask and protect other people from yourself,” he said.
Throughout the pandemic, Japan did not impose punitive measures such as fines for not wearing masks when outdoors.
“There is no compulsion, but there is a lot of social expectation. And I think that these are some of the instincts which we should pick up,” said Mr Lee, hoping for the public to continue wearing masks in Singapore.
“Now that we have all done it and we have gotten used to it, it does not feel so strange anymore,” he noted.
Meanwhile, netizens commented on his statements, indicating that such habits are instilled into the Japanese population from a young age.
“The Japanese culture is trained from a young age and disciplined to care for the community. We can adopt some of the healthy lifestyles,” said Facebook user Victor Lee.
As such, Facebook user Spencer Tan wrote, “Bring back Civics Education. For baby boomers generation, we had civics education subject (sic) like 好公民 (Good Citizens) in Primary School. We were taught good values and morals to be a good person, good neighbour and a good citizen.”
Others said it was all a matter of discipline.
Social media updates on PM Lee’s trip
“Glad to meet Japanese PM Fumio Kishida this evening. This is our first in-person meeting since he took office last year,” said Mr Lee in a Facebook post, providing a brief overview of his trip.
“We had a substantive discussion on strengthening bilateral cooperation in key areas such as digitalisation, smart cities and the green economy.”
“We also discussed regional and international developments, and reaffirmed the need to preserve the open and rules-based regional architecture,” he added.
In another post on Friday (May 27), Mr Lee said, “It has been a fruitful trip. Look forward to deeper Singapore-Japan cooperation, including the launch of Japan-Singapore Economic Dialogue.” /TISG