Metropolitan Tokyo yesterday asked some businesses to close and the ancient capital of Kyoto warned tourists to stay away as Japan battles a fast-spreading outbreak of the novel coronavirus, amid fears that the government’s measures are too little and too late.
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said that she was targeting a range of businesses for shutdowns from today during a month-long emergency through May 6, after resolving a feud with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s team over the extent of the closures.
Koike had wanted to move sooner, but Abe has resisted measures likely to put greater pressure on an economy that is already tipped to fall into a recession, fueling concerns that the central government is putting business ahead of people’s lives.
Photo: AFP / Jiji Press
“This will be tough on residents, but if we act swiftly, the pain will be short and the outbreak contained quickly,” Koike told a task force meeting yesterday.
Businesses including pachinko parlors and Internet cafes were being asked to close and restaurants to shorten their hours. Department stores, home furnishing centers and barber shops would be exempted, in a concession to the central government.
Abe on Tuesday declared an emergency for Tokyo and six prefectures, but the details and timing of how life would change in the capital were thrashed out in tense intergovernmental talks.
“I thought governors would get authority akin to a CEO but ... I feel more like a middle manager,” Koike told reporters, in a sign of frustration over central government pressure.
Abe’s move came after a jump in COVID-19 cases in Tokyo sparked concern that Japan was headed for the sort of explosive outbreak seen in many other countries.
The number of cases in Japan on Thursday rose to 5,548, with 108 deaths, Japan Broadcasting Corp said.
Tokyo accounted for 1,519 cases, heightening concerns about sluggish action.
Aichi Prefecture in Japan’s industrial heartland, home to automaker Toyota, yesterday declared its own state of emergency and has asked to be added to the government’s targeted regions.
Local media reported that Gifu Prefecture in central Japan was also poised to issue an emergency declaration and at least one other prefecture was set to do the same.
The governor of Kyoto Prefecture and the mayor of the ancient capital also asked to be included in the national emergency, and urged tourists to stay away from the city’s famous palaces, temples and gardens.
“I call on all people who love Kyoto and tourists from all over the world — until this situation is ended, to protect yourself and your families, please refrain from visiting Kyoto,” Kyoto Mayor Daisaku Kadokawa told a news conference.
Critics have said that the Abe government’s cautious approach to business closures would undermine his goal to cut person-to-person contact by 80 percent to slow the spread of the pathogen.
Softbank Group CEO Masayoshi Son took to Twitter to question the government’s handling of the outbreak.
“Why has Japan put its economy minister in charge?” Son asked, comparing the Japanese government’s response to the leadership of US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci.
Koike last month warned that Tokyo could face a full “lockdown” if infections surged, although Japanese law does not mandate penalties for residents who refuse to stay home or businesses that stay open.
Koike also said that businesses that met her requests to close would receive between ￥500,000 and ￥1 million (US$4,614 and US$9,227) from a fund set up by the metropolitan government.
Abe has rejected calls to compensate such businesses from the central government’s purse.
The coronavirus has pushed 51 Japanese companies into bankruptcy, with a spike in new cases seen this month, Tokyo Shoko Research said yesterday.
Yemen’s separatist leader has vowed to keep working for an independent state in the country’s south, in his first social media post since he disappeared earlier this month after his group briefly seized swathes of territory. Aidarous al-Zubaidi’s United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces last month captured two Yemeni provinces in an offensive that was rolled back by Saudi strikes and Riyadh’s allied forces on the ground. Al-Zubaidi then disappeared after he failed to board a flight to Riyadh for talks earlier this month, with Saudi Arabia accusing him of fleeing to Abu Dhabi, while supporters insisted he was
The Chinese Embassy in Manila yesterday said it has filed a diplomatic protest against a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman over a social media post that included cartoonish images of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela and an embassy official had been trading barbs since last week over issues concerning the disputed South China Sea. The crucial waterway, which Beijing claims historic rights to despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis, has been the site of repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels. Tarriela’s Facebook post on Wednesday included a photo of him giving a
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday announced a deal with the chief of Kurdish-led forces that includes a ceasefire, after government troops advanced across Kurdish-held areas of the country’s north and east. Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said he had agreed to the deal to avoid a broader war. He made the decision after deadly clashes in the Syrian city of Raqa on Sunday between Kurdish-led forces and local fighters loyal to Damascus, and fighting this month between the Kurds and government forces. The agreement would also see the Kurdish administration and forces integrate into the state after months of stalled negotiations on
‘MOBILIZED’: While protesters countered ICE agents, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz activated the state’s National Guard to ‘support the rights of Minnesotans’ to assemble Hundreds of counterprotesters drowned out a far-right activist’s attempt to hold a small rally in support of US President Donald Trump’s latest immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Saturday, as the governor’s office announced that National Guard troops were mobilized and ready to assist law enforcement, although not yet deployed to city streets. There have been protests every day since the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ramped up immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul by bringing in more than 2,000 federal officers. Conservative influencer Jake Lang organized an anti-Islam, anti-Somali and pro-US Immigration and Customs Enforcement
RSS