What exactly are we supposed to see in those links?
I see two photos of people standing close together. Neither group is practicing social distancing.
The Japanese are wearing masks (not N95 masks) whose effectiveness is still being debated, but that's about custom, not government response.
The photo from America shows a bigger room, but I suspect that's just a choice of photo and Japanese airports had big rooms full of people in January too. Perhaps not, but certainly a photo of a small room doesn't disprove the existence of big rooms.
The important point of the Japanese mask-wearing custom is the reason why they are worn: To protect others from infection. That purpose doesn't need N95 protection.
The current US Airport situation was in the news here in Germany, but perhaps not in the US. It breaks with most distancing guidelines. People are much too close to each other (compared to the advised 1-2m distance), and shared the same room (and air) for many hours. What good is that whole measure if you practically guarantee that more infected people will enter the country afterwards?
My overall point was related to the dates of both posts. Yes, on paper both Japan and the US implemented similar-sounding measures at about the same time. But one has to look at the actual implementation.
I wonder if wearing masks is actually an effective custom that might become more popular in the West.
But it's not an option right now, there are no face masks available. That's a custom that has to exist before the pandemic starts so people will already have masks.
I see two photos of people standing close together. Neither group is practicing social distancing.
The Japanese are wearing masks (not N95 masks) whose effectiveness is still being debated, but that's about custom, not government response.
The photo from America shows a bigger room, but I suspect that's just a choice of photo and Japanese airports had big rooms full of people in January too. Perhaps not, but certainly a photo of a small room doesn't disprove the existence of big rooms.