Teleworking, staggered work hours and even four-day workweeks: The coronavirus pandemic has opened eyes in Japan to the possibility of new working styles that could become the norm long after COVID-19 subsides.

While it took the spread of the pneumonia-causing virus to push firms toward teleworking, not all employees are keen to return to the way things were now that the nationwide state of emergency has been lifted.

"From now on, I would like to work from home 80 percent of the time," said Chihiro Oyama, 37, who is in charge of human resources development at NTT Data Corp. in Tokyo.