Eggs are routinely eaten raw in the US as well, and pose a negligible risk of salmonella.

Japan breeds special chickens for raw consumption; no matter how you raise them, ordinary chickens --- including those eaten cooked in Japan --- are nasty animals that will make you sick if not handled properly.

Even in ordinary chickens, intact whole muscles should be internally sterile (it's the skin that's the problem on a trimmed chicken), so I wonder if part of the deal with getting a license to serve chicken tartare or sashimi in Japan is that there's a scald step or something to clear the surface bacteria.

I don't, like, know, or anything. I just like talking about chicken.

>Japan breeds special chickens for raw consumption

Are you sure about this? I've always heard from izakaya owners here that it has to do with the processing of the meat and the amount of time that has passed since slaughter. It's also rarely seared when I get it.

I'm not saying it's seared. Before you do a long cook sous vide, if you're concerned about lactobacillus (which won't hurt you but will make your entire product taste and smell like dirty socks), you can very quickly dunk whatever you're cooking in boiling water to kill surface bacteria. Doing that has no discernible impact on the texture or appearance of the meat (except it might turn a thin layer of chicken flesh opaque).

I'm wondering if the raw chicken people might do something similar, since all the pathogens they're concerned about will be on the surface.

My source is going to Japan and eating the food.

The difference between saying that the meat isn't high quality and saying whether or not you liked it are the difference between fact and opinion.