All of those countries have societal norms that are vastly different with respect to illness.
Japanese people voluntarily, proactively wear masks when sick in public, for example.
Notwithstanding some of the later research about the efficacy of masks, there was a lot less those governments HAD to CHANGE to minimize disruption, because their populations were already not generally selfish about their needs versus those around them.
No, they're not, but when you have a population that already is (let's be real) significantly more selfless and conscious of the wider impact of infectious disease (or even the perception thereof), you're going to be able to enact other public policies that are consistent with that goal with a lot less disruption or opposition.
