It appears that realism—a view based on the assumption that states aim to maximize their own national interests in an international community where there is no world government—has never been as useful as it is when looking at the COVID-19 responses of each country.
At the WBC game against South Korea, seeing Samurai Japan’s Lars Nootbaar go for a mighty diving catch and sprint tenaciously to second base by outdoing the defense, he must have been nodding, “Yes! This is it!”
In March 2023, a Hong Kong student at a Japanese university was arrested for allegedly inciting secession, based on Article 20 and 21 of the Hong Kong national security law, sending shockwaves across Japan and the international community.