Ambulance have no priority ?

I witnessed an ambulance with full alarm coming at an intersection and no one stop to let it go through, is it normal here in Japan ?

Also some old man was lying on the ground and when the ambulance arrived it was coming really slowly at the intersection, en en though it has the alarm blasting. After the intersection the ambulance took some time to stop and the paramedics were not in a hurry at all and were so slow.

These situations really hit me. What do you think ?

by brook930