|
 Prime Minister Shinzo Abe lifted the state of emergency in the
capital and four remaining prefectures on Monday, claiming victory
for managing to keep total infections relatively low, at about
16,600 cases.
"I want to go out drinking and attend concerts," office worker
Daisuke Tominaga told Reuters in Shibuya, one of Tokyo's busiest
neighbourhoods.
Unlike strict lockdowns in other countries, Japan did not force
businesses to close and some had reopened even before the emergency
was lifted.
Still, its official end after some seven weeks saw many people
returning to work or heading out, while observing social-distancing
and wearing masks.
Naoto Furuki, 45, said his morning commute had been more crowded
than usual, which was slightly unsettling.
"I'm still a bit worried. There maybe a second wave of the epidemic
so we still need to be on alert," he said.
Many children are set to go back to school next week under
precautionary measures such as staggered classes.
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike has warned against complacency and said
everyone had to get used to a "new normal" of teleworking and
staggered commutes until a vaccine or treatment is developed.
On Monday evening, the Rainbow Bridge, which spans northern Tokyo
Bay, was illuminated in seven colours to mark the end of the state
of emergency.
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"Let's work together so the light of the Rainbow Bridge won't turn red," Koike
said at a coronavirus policy meeting on Tuesday.
Many companies said they would let staff keep working from home, while railway
operator Odakyu Electric Railway said it would release usage data to help
passengers avoid crowded trains.
Electronics giant Sony Corp said it would only let up to 30% of its workforce
back to the office in June, while Hitachi Ltd is aiming for half of its work to
be done at home.
"We won't go back to our previous working style," Hitachi Executive Officer
Hidenobu Nakahata told reporters. "We'll accelerate new working practices,
making working-from-home a new standard."
Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said the coronavirus could change
countries' industrial structure and people's behaviour.
"It may be hard for things to return to the ways before the pandemic hit," he
told parliament.
(Reporting by Akiko Okamoto, Chang-Ran Kim, Makiko Yamazaki and Leika Kihara, Ju-min
Park; Writing by Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Robert Birsel & Shri Navaratnam)
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