Nobel laureate Yamanaka frets over Japan's lax coronavirus fight

Kyoto University stem cell researcher battles misconceptions about COVID-19

20200414 Yamanaka

Shinya Yamanaka, winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize for medicine, is not a virologist but decided to start a blog to correct public misperceptions about the coronavirus. (Nikkei Montage/Source photo by Reuters) 

MITSURU OBE, Nikkei staff writer and KIYOSHI ANDO, Nikkei senior staff writer

TOKYO -- Shinya Yamanaka couldn't sit still as he considered the possibility of a major coronavirus outbreak in Japan.

To the 57-year-old cellular biologist, it looked as if Tokyo was a month or so behind New York, which was being ravaged by the deadly respiratory disease. People in the Japanese capital appeared to treat the coronavirus epidemic as something with little bearing on their lives.

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