The government is eager to prioritize the planned revision to the special measures law for tackling the pandemic in order to enhance the effectiveness of infection prevention measures, according to informed sources. The law revision, which the government hopes to enact by the end of the month, is likely to be aimed at introducing penalties on businesses that fail to follow authorities’ requests to shorten operating hours.
“The government’s decision to declare a state of emergency, if any, will come after the effectiveness of related measures is ensured under the revised law,” an official close to Suga said.
Following a meeting with the four governors Saturday, economic revitalization minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who is leading the government’s coronavirus response, said the government “will consider the request” for an emergency declaration. But at the same time, the minister indicated the government’s position that it would carefully judge whether to make the declaration after hearing the opinions of experts at a meeting of a government subcommittee on the coronavirus response that will be held shortly.
The governors made the request for an emergency declaration as the COVID-19 outbreak in the Tokyo metropolitan area is showing no sign of abating. The declaration, based on the special measures law, would give prefectural authorities the power to take stronger measures, including issuing business suspension requests.
Since the beginning of a third wave of infections in the country, the government has been cautious about declaring a state of emergency, as the step would stop social and economic activities and have an impact on economic recovery.
In an example of the government’s cautious stance, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga stressed during a Dec. 25 news conference that people can change their behavior without an emergency declaration.
A Sapporo court on Friday ruled as unconstitutional the now-defunct eugenics protection law that mandated the government stop people with disabilities from having children, but it rejected a claim for damages sought by a man in Sapporo. (Japan Times)
Tokyo prosecutors on Friday indicted former agriculture minister Yoshikawa Takamori on a charge of receiving bribes from a major egg producer while in office.
(NHK)
The government's new program to provide one-off cash benefits of up to Y400,000 to pandemic-affected small companies will cover not only suppliers for eating and drinking facilities but also ryokan Japanese-style inns and taxi operators, the industry ministry has said. (Japan Times)
Japan's Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide has declared a state of emergency for seven more prefectures, to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
(NHK)
The Japanese government is considering giving greater legal authority to prefectural governors in an effort to respond to the spread of the coronavirus more effectively.
(NHK)
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said Tuesday the government will expand a state of emergency declared over the coronavirus pandemic to Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures.
(Japan Times)
A South Korean court ordered Japan on Friday to compensate 12 women who were forced to work as sex slaves in wartime Japanese brothels, in a ruling that could rekindle diplomatic and history feuds between the two countries. (aljazeera.com)
U.S. Army Medical Department Activity-Japan medical personnel administered the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine at Camp Zama, Japan Ja. 6, 2021. (Defense Flash News)
The governors of the greater Osaka area will urge Japan's national government to expand its coronavirus state of emergency to include their prefectures, as the localities set daily records for the spread of infections. (Nikkei)
Japan’s prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, has declared a state of emergency in the greater Tokyo area after a record number of coronavirus cases were reported in the capital and across the country.
(theguardian.com)
The Japanese Ministry of Defense (MoD) has announced plans to begin mass production of an extended-range version of the domestically developed ASM-3 supersonic, air-launched, anti-ship missile (ASM). (janes.com)
Japan's government is planning to issue a state of emergency for a second time to contain rising coronavirus cases in Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures.
(NHK)
Japan plans to declare a state of emergency in Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures this week, possibly on Thursday at the earliest, and lasting for about one month to curb its largest-yet surge of coronavirus cases, government officials said Monday.
(Japan Today)
Although Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike and her counterparts of three neighboring prefectures have requested an emergency declaration by the state over the coronavirus epidemic, the central government remains skeptical about whether a declaration would effectively curb the spread of the contagion.
(Japan Times)
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Friday said the government will do everything in its power to bring the novel coronavirus under control and pledged to push forward with preparations for this summer's Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. (Japan Times)
A post-Brexit trade deal between Japan and the United Kingdom came into force Friday, ensuring business continuity and strengthening the bilateral relationship as London seeks to join the larger Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement.
(Kyodo)
Tokyo's coronavirus outbreak is severe and could explode in the coming days just as Japan begins its New Year's holiday period, in which millions of people usually move around the country, the city's governor said on Wednesday.
(Japan Today)
A fresh ban on foreign visitors announced less than a week before New Year's Day was a telling sign of the high pressure Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga faces as he grapples with a deeply unhappy public that has sent his approval ratings tanking. (Nikkei)
Japan's former transport minister Hata Yuichiro, who died on Sunday at the age of 53, has become the first incumbent lawmaker in the country to die of the coronavirus.
(NHK)
A Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker attended a drinking party Friday with about 30 people in Toyama, his office said Saturday, despite authorities’ warnings to refrain from dining in large groups to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus. (Japan Times)