Japan entered day one of what will hopefully be the final stretch of the country’s initial brush with the novel coronavirus after the state of emergency was lifted Monday night in all remaining prefectures.
Municipalities throughout the nation have begun to ease social distancing measures and business closure requests first announced in early April. Some regions, however, are moving faster than others.
The remaining five of the country’s 47 prefectures — Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa, Saitama and Hokkaido — were released from the state of emergency following an announcement Monday by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.