Joe Tomei here with another update from the JET Advisors Bilal Khan & Lily McDermott. While they are writing to the JET participants, the advice they give is certainly something that can be taken generally.

Hello Kumamoto,

Yesterday, the Prime Minister extended the State of Emergency originally declared for 7 prefectures to include all 47 prefectures of Japan. This means the special emergency powers (e.g., to ask businesses to close, or to appropriate property/supplies for medical use) are now available to the Governor of Kumamoto Prefecture should he choose to exercise them, until at least 6 May. Below we are summarising the main points of the Prime Minister’s address when making the declaration, and the response of the Governor of Kumamoto.

Prime Minister’s Announcement In his address, the Prime Minister implored the public to continue their efforts to reduce interactions with others by at least 70% and preferably 80%. He went on to ask governors to strongly urge their residents against non-urgent and non-essential travel across prefectural boundaries.

We ask JETs to be aware of this, and to act sensibly and cautiously, especially as we approach the Golden Week holiday. This is a tough time, one where we are restricted and cannot do the things we had been looking forward to. It is a time for us to slow down in order to quicken the pace this pandemic will come to an end, if even just a day earlier. Please stay close to home this Golden Week.

NHK World News Article in English here: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200417_01/

Kumamoto’s Response Yesterday afternoon, in anticipation of the announcement concerning the nationwide state of emergency, Governor Kabashima explained that the declaration will have positive and negative effects. He said that the prefecture should strive to maximise the positive effects, increasing people’s sense of urgency of the need to combat the spread of the virus, while mitigating the expected negative impact on the economy as much as possible. https://www3.nhk.or.jp/lnews/kumamoto/20200416/5000008021.html

After the declaration was made, Governor Kabashima requested the following things of the people of Kumamoto prefecture:

Retail stores will operate as usual, so please remain calm and refrain from rushing to buy up daily necessities in bulk.
Do not make trips to and from areas where infection is spreading, especially during Golden Week.
Avoid the 3 Cs (i.e. closed spaces with poor ventilation, crowded places with many people nearby, and close-contact settings such as close-range conversations). Avoid unnecessary and non-urgent outings, going out to the city centre, and especially going out to restaurants with wait staff. Working from home should be implemented wherever possible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QyJcIaFiKg, https://www3.nhk.or.jp/lnews/kumamoto/20200416/5000008021.html

In a further address given this morning, the governor said that he is not yet planning to request business closures. He believes that any business closures should coincide with financial support for those businesses, and will ask for the close cooperation and support of the national government alongside the governors of other prefectures.

Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare to permit drive-through testing The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has released a notice to all local governments in Japan saying that is now permissible to conduct “drive-through testing” as has been implemented in countries such as South Korea if it is deemed necessary. The government plans to increase the daily test capacity from 13,000 tests per day to 20,000. https://www.nishinippon.co.jp/item/n/601276/