JAPAN TODAY



 

Businesses in the Tokyo metropolitan area said Friday's extension of the coronavirus state of emergency declared over the Japanese capital and nearby prefectures was inevitable given the virus situation but fretted over insufficient government aid.

"While I thought re-extension (of the state of emergency) was inevitable, we cannot cover (our losses) with just 600,000 yen ($5,500) in aid," said 50-year-old Junichi Sasaki, who runs a wet towel leasing business in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said the same day that the virus emergency in the area has been extended by two weeks to March 21. The extension comes amid concerns over the availability of hospital beds in some areas and emerging new coronavirus variants.

The extension is affecting Sasaki's business since most of his clients are privately owned restaurants and bars which have been hit hard by a government request to shorten their business hours. Orders from them plunged by 70 percent from when before the emergency was declared and the company's sales have been more than halved.

People are refraining from eating out in groups as well to prevent the coronavirus from spreading further. It is dealing a further blow to eateries and other businesses at a time when people would traditionally be gathering for cherry blossom viewing parties.

The government early last month extended the state of emergency for Tokyo and other regions by one month to March 7, while it was lifted a week earlier in six prefectures outside the Tokyo metropolitan area at the end of February in consideration of improvement in the infection situations there.

"The situation is hopeless," said a 42-year-old manager of a franchised Japanese-style "izakaya" pub in Tokyo's bustling Shibuya district.
In accordance with the declaration of the one-month emergency issued in January, he suspended his business until the end of last month and sales this year dropped 90 percent from a year earlier.

The manager just reopened his pub on Monday with shortened business hours as he had expected a lifting of the emergency at the planned end on Sunday.

However, he expressed understanding of the government's decision to an extent and urged authorities not to be half-hearted in their measures to tackle the COVID-19 situation.

"If they extend it, they should thoroughly implement (measures) until the coronavirus infections are under control," he said.

Tokyo and neighboring Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama have seen some improvement in their situations but it was deemed not enough to lift the virus emergency covering them.

"There is nothing I can do," said Yukiko Usei, a 22-year-old Tokyo resident who was waiting for someone in front of Shibuya Station.

She also said the government needs to proactively give out information about financial support for establishments that comply with restrictions because she feels only the restriction part is being publicized.

Meanwhile, Shoko Tashiro in Chiba Prefecture, who was en route home with her 5-year-old son from his kindergarten, questioned the duration of the extension.

Tashiro, who is refraining from going out, said the extension should be lifted after spring break ends, given that the kindergarten's graduation ceremony could be canceled if someone gets infected.

Under the state of emergency, the government also urges people to refrain from unnecessary outings.

"I understand everyone is trying hard. I just have to wait for infections to decrease and people to come out on the streets again," said Fusami Nagaoka, a 65-year-old taxi driver in Saitama.


© KYODO