People wearing masks in Japan

People Gradually Enjoy Pre-covid Life in Japan (Image via DW)

Japanese can finally breath the air of freedom. They can enjoy the life and normality they used to have prior to being hit by coronavirus. The Japanese government has eased its coronavirus-related restrictions. Bars, karaoke places and restaurants have been allowed to operate normally.

The restrictions that have been lifted include the one that regulates the size of crowds. The fifty percent capacity regulation has been lifted. Everything is back to normal.

The Nippon Professional Baseball and soccer’s J. League matches were held with 10,000 people attending. Previously, the government allowed only 5,000 persons to participate in large events.

Cinema goers may be relieved to know that cinemas and theatres with low infection risk have been allowed to operate normally, without crowd-limiting policy. Good news for movie lovers.

Despite the easement of these restrictions, some cinema operators still apply crowd-limiting policy with only 50% of the venue’s capacity filled up. Toho Cinema and Aeon Cinema are two cinema operators which still locally implement the policy of limiting the number of visitors. T Joy Co. still requires seat-booking for visitors.

Such relaxations were allowed on three conditions, according to Japan’s minister of economic revitalization Yasutoshi Nishimura: avoiding confined spaces, crowded places, and close-contact settings.

Japan signals a return to the normal, pre-coronavirus days. Easing the restrictions was an action taken after observing the downward trend of covid-19 cases in the country. This is a trend that Japan has successfully maintained since mid-August. On September 7^th, Tokyo confirmed 77 daily infection, making the rate lowest in nearly two months.

Source: https://bit.ly/3iNsV7R