Coronavirus infections continue to rise in Japan as other countries start to ease pandemic restrictions, so how did the country get to this point?
As cases began to spike in late March, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike held an emergency press conference to urge residents refrain from non-essential outings, such as visits to parks to view cherry blossoms.
When the state of emergency was finally declared in mid-April, many feared it still wasn’t enough. Under the law, governors can requisition property and medical supplies to use to treat COVID-19 patients, but crucially, police have no enforcement powers to close businesses or restrict the movements of individuals. People and companies can only be asked to voluntarily comply.
However, Mr Abe has thus far avoided doing so. He seems to be bowing to pressure from the Keidanren, a major corporate lobby group and donor to his party, out of fear the economy could descend into an even deeper recession than the -5.2 per cent reduction in economic growth projected by the IMF. The LDP’s junior coalition partner, the Komeito party, also threatened to break from the ruling coalition. The move forced Mr Abe to extend a planned income support scheme for low-income households into a universal payment of 100,000 yen to all citizens as part of the Government’s record 117 trillion yen emergency stimulus spending.
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