Webinar on COVID-19 Lessons from Japan and Mexico: Culture and the Response to the Pandemic co-hosted by the Consulates General of Japan and Mexico in Los Angeles and JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles
2020/8/19
On Monday, August 3, 2020, the Consulate General of Japan in Los Angeles, the Consulate General of Mexico in Los Angeles and JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles co-presented a special webinar entitled “COVID-19 Lessons from Japan and Mexico: Culture and the Response to the Pandemic.” The speakers included Consul General of Japan MUTO Akira, Consul General of Mexico Marcela Celorio, and award-winning news anchor and journalist Palmira Perez. President of JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles KAIFU Yuko moderated the conversation.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Mexican consular network has been engaged in several key initiatives to help their community. These include distributing food donations, organizing a short film contest and hosting discussions with COVID-19 experts on their platform. Consul General Celorio and her staff noted that through these activities, they have learned the importance of staying connected virtually and using their platform to share ideas among their community.
Following their presentation, Ms. Perez shared a video of her trip to Japan last November. She noted the commonalities between Japan and Mexico and praised Japan’s cultural values including its high regard for cleanliness, the respect that people have for others, and the efficiency of its transportation systems.
Consul General Muto continued the conversation and spoke on Japan’s response to the pandemic. He explained that Japan has been working diligently to contain the spread of the virus with a minimum impact on the economy and society through its own unique cluster-based approach, which uses retrospective contact tracing to identify common sources of infection. Outside of its borders, Japan has been providing assistance to developing countries to strengthen their public health and medical care systems. Japan also plans to propose the establishment of a patent pool at the upcoming G7 summit that would allow developing nations to access the vaccine and therapeutic medication for COVID-19 once available. All nations are highly interconnected, and Japan understands that they must support each other in order to combat the disease together.
The webinar was open to the public and attended by 93 people.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Mexican consular network has been engaged in several key initiatives to help their community. These include distributing food donations, organizing a short film contest and hosting discussions with COVID-19 experts on their platform. Consul General Celorio and her staff noted that through these activities, they have learned the importance of staying connected virtually and using their platform to share ideas among their community.
Following their presentation, Ms. Perez shared a video of her trip to Japan last November. She noted the commonalities between Japan and Mexico and praised Japan’s cultural values including its high regard for cleanliness, the respect that people have for others, and the efficiency of its transportation systems.
Consul General Muto continued the conversation and spoke on Japan’s response to the pandemic. He explained that Japan has been working diligently to contain the spread of the virus with a minimum impact on the economy and society through its own unique cluster-based approach, which uses retrospective contact tracing to identify common sources of infection. Outside of its borders, Japan has been providing assistance to developing countries to strengthen their public health and medical care systems. Japan also plans to propose the establishment of a patent pool at the upcoming G7 summit that would allow developing nations to access the vaccine and therapeutic medication for COVID-19 once available. All nations are highly interconnected, and Japan understands that they must support each other in order to combat the disease together.
The webinar was open to the public and attended by 93 people.
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| Consul General of Japan MUTO Akira |
Consul General of Mexico Marcela Celorio |
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| Palmira Perez, Award-winning News Anchor and Journalist |
KAIFU Yuko, JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles President |