Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike's entreaty to residents to keep away from each other in order to halt the spread of COVID-19 has inspired a computer game of her navigating through crowds while uttering her daily "mitsu desu" call for social distancing.

Many major cities, including New York and London, have locked down their residents and forced bars and restaurants to close with threats of fines.

But the Japanese government's state of emergency is more permissive, and the governor of the world's biggest metropolis — home to 36 million people — can only issue a request that residents stay home and ask businesses shutter temporarily.