The Japanese prime minister has declared a state of emergency following a rise in coronavirus cases. The Constitution, however, prevents authorities from imposing a full lockdown.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has declared a state of emergency in Tokyo and six other prefectures to strengthen the country's defences against the spread of the coronavirus epidemic, responsible for the disease Covid-19. There are now nearly four thousand cases in Japan and over 90 deaths.
The measure is valid until 6 May and affects nearly 60 million people, roughly one in two Japanese citizens. But while in some European countries declaring a state of emergency has allowed governments to impose varying degrees of lockdown on their citizens, the Japanese constitution does not permit the same measures.
"A full lockdown is impossible because Japanese laws place emphasis on the protection of personal rights," said Yuriko Koike, Governor of Tokyo. Indeed, the protection of individual freedoms, so firmly enshrined in the Japanese constitution, does not allow for the imposition of a full lockdown, such as those seen in other European and Asian countries. Listen to "07. Coronavirus, quando una pandemia apre il decennio più importante per il clima" on Spreaker.
"The constitution is based on the idea that human rights must be respected. The Meiji constitution [in force during the years of the Japanese Empire, ed.] conferred certain powers and there were cases of abuse," explained lawyer Koju Nagai to the Reuters news agency.
For this reason, declaring a state of emergency allows the governors of the seven affected prefectures to only request that people comply with the measures, but these are requests rather than obligations and, as a result, there will be no penalties for those who fail to follow the provisions.
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Governors have had to limit themselves to urging people to stay at home, asking schools, public buildings and businesses to cancel all events. Should any of these refuse, they would receive a formal order that would become public knowledge — a form of public shaming for failing to comply with the requests.
In addition, the law grants governors the power to manage the sale of essential goods, such as medicines and food, and to order their seizure in an emergency. They will also be able to requisition land and buildings to convert them into medical facilities.
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Residents of the affected areas have been asked to work from home and leave their homes only for particular reasons, such as shopping or visiting the doctor. Pharmacies, banks and supermarkets remain open and public transport continues to run. For some days now, a number of shopping centres, bars and shops have begun to close voluntarily, after Tokyo saw the number of infections rise to as many as one thousand cases.
"We are in a situation that risks having a major impact on people's lives and on the economy, which is why I have declared a state of emergency," Abe said, asking citizens to remain calm. "We need your cooperation to avoid a surge in infections. The most important thing now is to change our behaviour. According to experts' estimates, if we all made an effort to reduce our interactions by at least 70 to 80 per cent, within two weeks we would see the number of infections reach a peak and then slow down."
The Abe administration has found itself facing mounting pressure from local governors and medical associations, which had long been calling for a lockdown, stressing that waiting for cases to rise was counterproductive and risked causing the healthcare system to collapse. This pressure had convinced the prime minister at the end of March to postpone the Olympic Games that had been due to be held in Tokyo at the end of July this year.
In addition to declaring a state of emergency, the government has approved an economic stimulus package worth nearly one trillion euros and has pledged to increase hospital beds from 28,000 to 50,000, giving priority to those already presenting serious symptoms. Abe also promised to provide 15,000 ventilators to treat patients with breathing difficulties and to push companies involved in the sale of medical equipment to increase production.
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Recalling the spirit of solidarity that had emerged after the 2011 tsunami, the prime minister then said: "That had been a very difficult time, but the bonds that formed between people gave us hope. Once again we are faced with a crisis, but if we work together, we will meet this challenge and defeat the virus."
