Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appears on an electronic billboard in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward on May 25 announcing the lifting of the state of emergency. (Ryo Kato)

Authorities are set to ease requests on limiting business activity and curbing operating hours for commercial facilities in the Tokyo metropolitan area and Hokkaido after the government lifted its state of emergency over the new coronavirus pandemic.

The government announced the lifting of the emergency for Tokyo and three surrounding prefectures, as well as the northernmost main island of Hokkaido, on May 25.

Each prefectural authority has its own strategy for reviving its economy after weeks of very restricted commercial activity to prevent the spread of infections.

Tokyo moved to “Step 1” of a three-stage “road map” to ease business closure requests from midnight May 25. It also lifted closure requests for museums and libraries.

“We do not know if or when a second wave will hit," Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike reiterated at a task force meeting on the evening of May 25. “In a sense, we have to think about living together with the coronavirus.”

In neighboring Kanagawa Prefecture, Governor Yuji Kuroiwa said late May 25: “I wonder about the wisdom of deciding which kinds of businesses can resume normal operating hours. I think it is more important to create an atmosphere that allows consumers to choose shops and restaurants where countermeasures against the virus are being taken fully.”

The Kanagawa prefectural government will lift its closure requests for all businesses from midnight May 26. It did not exclude venues where cluster infections had occurred, such as restaurants and bars where hostesses entertain customers, and live music houses.

Prior to deciding to lift the requests, the prefectural government prepared an “action list to combat the virus infection” for shops and facilities.

It requests business operators to check whether they have taken appropriate measures against COVID-19 infection, such as erecting partitions to prevent the spread of droplets caused by sneezing and coughing, limiting customer numbers during peak times and ventilating rooms twice an hour.

They are urged to post the list in their premises.

The prefectural government also set up a system that alerts customers if an infection is confirmed in a store or restaurant where they scanned QR codes on the LINE network with smartphones before.

The Saitama prefectural government lifted closure requests for all businesses, except for some kinds, such as sports gyms and night clubs, on the evening of May 25. Cram schools, movie theaters and pachinko parlors are also permitted to restart their businesses.

Chiba prefectural authorities are planning to lift requests on a step by step basis like Tokyo. It divided all businesses into four groups from A to D. Curbs for the A group, including libraries, were lifted May 22.

Facilities in the B group, such as movie theaters, colleges and cram schools, were freed of restrictions on May 26.

Hokkaido lifted closure requests for some businesses across a wide area.

“But the lifting of the state of emergency does not mean that the number of infected people will drop or that the virus will disappear completely,” Hokkaido Governor Naomichi Suzuki warned.

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