State of emergency: Japan sets challenge to reduce contact by 80 percent

State of emergency: Japan sets challenge to reduce contact by 80 percent photo

Residents of Tokyo, Osaka and five other prefectures of Japan today woke up to their first morning in a state of emergency, after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made the declaration on Tuesday in an attempt to curb the surge in infections of the new coronavirus.

The state of emergency, effective in Tokyo, Osaka, Chiba, Kanagawa, Saitama, Hyogo and Fukuoka is set to be in place through May 6, and looks like it will effectively rule out vacation travel for many during Japan’s popular Golden Week spring holiday period.

One of the talking points, and maybe the most actionable for most of us, to come out of Abe’s state of emergency declaration is a targeted reduction of person-to-person contact.

"According to experts, if all of us help to reduce person-to-person contact by at least 70 percent, and preferably 80 percent, the infections will peak and start to decline in two weeks," said Abe at a news conference on Tuesday evening.

Such a reduction in person-to-person contact would open up the prospect of being able to contain the spread of the new coronavirus after around one month, according to the prime minister.

Where governments of other nations attempting to curb the spread of the new coronavirus by a reduction of person-to-person contact have imposed lockdowns, the limitations of Japanese law prevent such a situation from occurring on these shores. Private companies cannot be forced to close and it appears that there can be no penalties imposed on those individuals who do not follow the government's requests issued under the state of emergency.

Under the state of emergency services that form the basic infrastructure of daily life in Japan remain open or in operation -- utilities providers, public transport, supermarkets, post offices, drugstores, banks, some restaurants, and of course, medical facilities, among others.

So then, the reduction of person-to-person contact by 70 - 80 percent is something that people outside of these fields should be aiming for.

“We want to do whatever we can to support and protect them,” said Abe at Tuesday’s news conference as he praised the efforts of Japan’s medical workers on the front line of the battle to curb the spread of the Covid-19-causing virus.

At the core of this 70 - 80 percent reduction in person-to-person contact is the call for residents of affected areas to refrain from non-essential outings -- food shopping, visits to hospitals, and commuting are not included in this.

Particular emphasis has been placed on nighttime entertainment with calls for people to stay away from bars, karaoke boxes, live venues, nightclubs and pachinko parlours among others.

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, who called on residents of the Japanese capital to refrain from going out over the two weekends prior of Abe’s declaration, has been making appeals on people to avoid what her and her team call the “three Cs” -- closed spaces with poor ventilation, places where groups of people gather closely together, and close conversation.

“The actions of each and every one of you will save lives,” said Koike in a video address in English via the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s YouTube channel.

On Wednesday during Nippon Television Network’s morning “Sukkiri” program a panel of experts discussing the 70 - 80 percent reduction in person-to-person contact stripped it down to a very basic kind of “do the math” element. Starting with the workplace, panelists suggested that if one had 10 face-to-face meetings scheduled in a given week then this should be reduced to just two. Likewise with group numbers.

“In order to be able to meet people (one day), I’m not meeting them (now),” said comedian Haruna Kondo, one of the show’s MCs.

In a more ominous presentation of the math Prime Minister Abe warned during Tuesday’s news conference that if the spread of infections of the coronavirus continues at its current pace, Tokyo will see around 80,000 cases over the next month.

The state of emergency and its target to reduce person-to-person contact by 70 - 80 percent then is a call in perhaps the most serious terms that this government can deliver for a change in our behavior. In particular, one of the challenges facing authorities in tackling the spread of infections in Japan has been convincing younger people of the dangers presented and the role they can play in helping to curb the spread, something which Abe addressed in the news conference.

"We all must behave as if we have already contracted the virus. We want everyone, especially younger people, to act based on that assumption,” said the prime minister.

A call delivered in the most serious terms then, but will it be taken seriously enough? As expats living in Japan we’ve long looked in jaw-dropped disbelief at the Japanese propensity to make it into work whatever the demands and physical circumstances, and regardless of the appeals from authorities.

And what of expats living in the state of emergency areas in Japan? In order for this math to add up, we need to be considered, and to consider ourselves, in the sums, too.

What can you do to reduce person-to-person contact by 70 - 80 percent during your daily life in Japan? Let us know in the comments.