Japan was the vaccine latecomer among the major industrialized countries in the pandemic and began vaccinating on a larger scale far later than the others.

With a swift vaccination service, however, the country has now reached the top position in the group of seven (G 7).

According to Ourworldindata.org, 76 percent of the 126 million Japanese are now fully vaccinated against the corona virus.

Japan has overtaken Canada (75.5 percent).

Germany (67 percent) is in the lower ranks.

Only the United States is worse off in the G7.

Patrick Welter

Correspondent for business and politics in Japan, based in Tokyo.

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This success is all the more remarkable as it was discussed before the vaccination campaign that the Japanese had an aversion to syringes because of vaccination scandals.

Surveys show the fear of vaccinations.

But nothing of this was noticeable in the past few months.

A few weeks ago when a station opened for passers-by in the middle of Tokyo for a few days, young people stood in line for hours.

The Japanese do not need to be vaccinated

It wasn't until April that the country began mass vaccinating the population, after prior priority was given to medical professionals and nurses.

But then things made rapid progress without the population having to be motivated by compulsory vaccinations or indirect incentives such as vaccination controls in restaurants.

Some municipalities offered rewards such as shopping vouchers.

The civil liberties of the Japanese are strongly secured in the constitution written after the Second World War, so that Japan now neither issued curfews nor masked requirements.

The country is just as liberal in pursuing vaccinations.

The Ministry of Health advises that you do not need to be vaccinated, even if your employer asks you to.

The social pressure to follow the recommendations of the government or the requested consideration is high in the society.

Breathing masks are also nothing new for the Japanese, especially in winter.

The government plans to start booster vaccinations in December.

So far, the country has come through the pandemic better than many others.

As of Wednesday, 18,327 Covid deaths were registered, 14.5 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.

Germany counts 118 deaths per 100,000 people.