Joe Tomei here with an important update from Prefectural JET advisors, Lily McDermott & Chase Sutherland.
===== Hi Kumamoto,
Yesterday, Prime Minister Suga extended the State of Emergency to Osaka, Hyogo, Kyoto, Aichi, Gifu and Fukuoka Prefectures.
Although Kumamoto Prefecture was not included in the national government’s official State of Emergency which is based on the Act on Special Measures against Novel Influenza, the Prefectural Government has decided to declare an independent state of emergency, with equivalent measures to the areas subject to the national government’s State of Emergency.
Please read on for more information about the measures and additional news.
Independent State of Emergency in Kumamoto - New Measures The following measures apply to the entire prefecture, not just to central Kumamoto City: ① Avoid all unnecessary and non-urgent outings, especially after 8pm (effective 14 January 2021 - 7 February 2021) ② All food and drink establishments in Kumamoto Prefecture will be asked to close after 8pm, and not serve alcoholic beverages after 7pm (effective 18 January - 7 February) (Currently a small portion of central Kumamoto City is subject to closure requests from 10pm, but the whole prefecture will be subject to the request starting Monday next week, from 8pm onwards.) ③ Events, regardless of whether held indoors or outdoors, should be limited to under 5000 people, and the number of participants should be 50% or under the capacity of the venue.
https://kumanichi.com/news/id63523 https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20210114/k10012813671000.html https://www.pref.kumamoto.jp/soshiki/0/81481.html
A bit more background of what led to the declaration to declare an independent state of emergency In comments at a press conference held yesterday (13 January), Governor Kabashima revealed that the prefectural government was coordinating with the national government in an attempt to have the national government call a state of emergency for Kumamoto on the same basis as was being planned for Fukuoka. The Governor then received a phone call from Economic Revitalization Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who is in charge of the government’s COVID-19 response, saying that regardless of requests from prefectural governors, the national government would decide where to call a state of emergency, and believed that the situation in Kumamoto did not merit one being called, pointing out that although the number of new cases and most other criteria aligned with “Stage 4”, the number of severe cases in hospital did not yet reach Stage 4 levels (currently only 30%, rather than 50% for Stage 4).
However, given the fact that many of the recent clusters have occurred at long-term care facilities with many high-risk individuals, the Prefectural Government is of the opinion that the number of severe cases could increase beyond 50% at any time. Furthermore, Kumamoto and Fukuoka have strong ties and there is much movement between the two prefectures. Both were contributing factors in Kumamoto Prefecture’s decision in declaring an independent state of emergency. https://kumanichi.com/news/id64239 https://www.pref.kumamoto.jp/soshiki/0/81481.html https://www.jiji.com/jc/article?k=2021011301199&g=pol
What will happen after 7 February? The national government says that it will lift the state of emergency if the situation in the affected areas can be reduced from “Stage 4” to “Stage 3”, specifically, a reduction to 25 cases per 100,000 population (rolling one-week average) – in Tokyo this means about 500 cases/day. https://news.tv-asahi.co.jp/news_politics/articles/000203397.html
Shigeru Omi, the head of the government’s subcommittee on COVID-19, said that if no improvement, or only very slight improvement, is seen with the current measures by 7 February, stronger measures may need to be implemented. https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20210114/k10012813661000.html
Other prefectures which have declared their own independent states of emergency include Miyazaki and Mie prefectures. https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20210113/k10012812471000.html https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/653ce4e34ee3f570d77a47f390bbae50ec9750f5
Will schools close? The current consensus seems to be that the uninterrupted provision of education for Japanese students is essential. MEXT (The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) said that it does not intend to request a nationwide school closure as it did in March this year. Furthermore, MEXT also currently no longer recommends regional school closures/individual school closures. School entrance exams will be held as planned, even in prefectures which are covered by the State of Emergency. https://www.jiji.com/jc/article?k=2021010500560&g=soc
Tokyo and the surrounding area, which has been in an official State of Emergency for a week, has not moved to close schools but has introduced measures such as staggered classes/cancellation of certain higher risk activities such as chorus clubs or school trips. Fukuoka is currently considering similar measures as a state of emergency was declared there yesterday: https://mainichi.jp/articles/20210114/ddl/k40/040/222000c
Returning Japanese nationals and foriegn residents of Japan asked to sign “pledge” to respect 14-day isolation on return All travellers returning to Japan from overseas, including both Japanese and foreign nationals with an existing status of residence, will be asked to sign a document pledging to respect the 14-day self-isolation period, which includes not using public transport for the first 14 days upon return to Japan. From today (14 January) resident foreign nationals returning to Japan who are found not to comply with the isolation requirements may have their name and nationality published and their status of residence revoked. https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASP1F6QX3P1FUTFK00F.html