"They're counting wrong"... until we look at the total number of deaths compared to what we would expect to see without a novel virus going around, and realize that regardless, something is going on.

Why is Japan having fewer cases? Like mentioned, Asians tend to have the opposite stigma that we do, in that if they don't wear a mask in public while sick they get stared at. Masks are mostly good for containing our own spit spray, than keep others away from us. It stands to reason that if they all wear masks, they'll cut the transmission down dramatically.