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 The governors of Osaka, Kyoto and other hard-hit prefectures asked
the government to announce the emergency, which gives local
authorities the legal basis to curb movement and business.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has been wary about taking measures
that would hamper economic activity, while he has put on a brave
face against the mounting challenges of hosting the Olympics,
delayed from 2020, in Tokyo.
"A declaration of a state of emergency is a powerful means, based on
the law, for tackling the spread of infections, but it also places
big restrictions on people's lives," Suga told a news conference.
"A very careful decision is therefore required of the government,"
he said.
The prefectures to be added from Thursday are Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo,
Fukuoka, Aichi, Gifu and Tochigi.
As infections hover at record levels, opinion polls have shown a
public increasingly opposed to holding the Summer Games. Japan's
coronavirus cases topped 300,000 on Wednesday while the death toll
reached 4,187, NHK said.
In a weekend survey by NHK, just 16% of respondents said the Games
should go ahead - down 11 percentage points from the previous poll
last month - while a combined 77% thought they should be cancelled
or postponed.
The Games are set for July 23 to Aug. 8.
Takeshi Niinami, CEO of beverage giant Suntory Holdings and an
economic adviser to Suga, told Reuters he was unsure whether the
Olympics could be held as planned.
The emergency declaration, covering 55% of Japan's population of 126
million, is set to last through Feb. 7 and is much narrower in scope
than the first one last spring. It focuses on combating transmission
in bars and restaurants, while urging people to stay home.
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 Suga has been criticised for
what many observers have said was a slow and
confusing response to the pandemic. That is a
sharp reversal from the strong support he
enjoyed at the start of his tenure, when he was
seen as a "man of the people" who could push
through reforms.
Political analyst Atsuo Ito said he saw two
major problems with Suga's response to the
pandemic: that it was incremental and slow, and
that he was a poor communicator.
"He has almost no skill at messaging. Even at
press conferences he's looking down and reading
notes. That doesn't invite trust from citizens
... The result is that his support ratings are
falling," Ito said.
An NHK poll showed that 88% of respondents think
Feb. 7 is too early to lift the state of
emergency - a view shared by many experts.
"It's very unlikely we'll see cases go down
after just a month," said Yoshihito Niki, an
infectious disease specialist and professor at
Showa University Hospital.
"Japan has been called a success story and
there's been discussion about the so-called
Factor X - something that makes the Japanese
more resistant to the virus - but that's
complete fantasy."
 (Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim, Elaine Lies,
Kiyoshi Takenaka, Mari Saito, Takashi Umekawa,
Tetsushi Kajimoto, Ritsuko Ando; Writing by
Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Giles Elgood, Simon
Cameron-Moore and Nick Macfie)
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