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Tokyo, Jul 15 (AP) Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike says the spread of infections in the Japanese capital has escalated to levels tantamount to "issuing an alarm," and requested residents and business owners to step up preventive measures. Koike specifically urged restaurants, shops and nightclub operators to fulfill safety measures and urged customers to stay away from places that don't comply with guidelines. Koike also asked Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government to revise the law to authorize local governors to penalize business owners who violate requested safety measures. She appealed to residents to avoid non-essential out-of-town trips, and to the government to "think carefully" if it's an appropriate timing to push Abe's unpopular tourism campaign. Experts on the Tokyo task force said infections are no longer limited to younger generations linked to nightlife districts. The number of serious cases is not rising rapidly but hospital beds are quickly filling up and more are needed. Tokyo has had 8,189 confirmed cases and 325 deaths. (AP) AMS AMS

Tokyo governor warns infections rising quickly

Tokyo, Jul 3 (AP) Japan's capital has reported 124 new coronavirus cases, exceeding 100 for the second straight day, as the governor asked residents to stay away from night spots linked to half of all infections. Governor Yuriko Koike said the increase reflected a larger number of people proactively taking tests, but she did raise concern about a significant number of untraceable cases. She says, "We need to raise our caution against the further spread of the infections and to prepare for a second wave." The latest rise began in late June, weeks after Japan lifted a state of emergency that allowed Tokyo to gradually return to business. Koike said the majority of recent cases were younger people in their 20s and 30s linked to nightlife establishments. She urged them to avoid such spots or choose places with adequate safety measures. Koike said closing businesses is a possibility if another emergency is declared, but it would apply to specific establishments or districts instead of the entire prefecture. Japan has had 19,068 cases with 976 deaths. Tokyo accounts for about a third of the total. (AP) IND

Tokyo records 124 new coronavirus cases

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Toru Hanai/ReutersTokyo governor Yuriko Koike walks past the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games emblem.</div></div></div>Preparations for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo are already off to a bumpy start.<a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/09/29/tokyo-olympics-price-tag-could-balloon-30b/91258682/">According to USA Today's Kirk Spitzer</a>, an independent panel of experts found that the cost of the 2020 games could skyrocket from a planned $700 million to $30 billion.The panel reportedly recommended that Tokyo organizers cancel plans to build new or temporary swimming and volleyball stadiums and move the rowing and canoeing competition to facilities 270 miles outside of Tokyo.Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike, who appointed the panel, told Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, "There is a good chance (the new Olympic facilities) could end up becoming a negative legacy. We need to consider things like relying on temporary facilities rather than constructing permanent ones."The findings hurt Japan's bid, which included keeping 28 of 31 competition venues within a five-mile radius of a new Olympic village, according to Spitzer. Any changes to these plans would reportedly have to be approved by International Olympic Committee and individual sports federations.Japan's plans to build an "affordable, compact" games seem to already be coming to an end with the estimated rising costs. As Spitzer details, organizers are running into more problems. Plans for a new Olympic stadium for the opening and closing ceremonies have already been canceled due to rising costs. A cheaper stadium has been approved but, according to Spitzer, won't be finished on time for the 2019 Rugby World Cup, which Tokyo is also hosting.Additionally, though on a smaller scale of problems, the Tokyo 2020 logo had be changed after a Belgian designer said it was copied from a theater design he produced two years earlier.With <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/romes-new-mayor-kills-off-bid-for-olympics-in-2024-2016-9">Rome recently dropping out of the bidding for the 2024 Olympics</a> due to the high costs, Tokyo's current dilemma will not make hosting any more enticing for other nations. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nfl-power-rankings-week-3-top-teams-2016-9">NFL POWER RANKINGS: Week 3 </a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="M4NXcxNjE6gSzOb8wserpy8UD8eB96nt" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

Report: The 2020 Olympics could cost $30 billion, and the preparations already sound like a mess

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Tokyo has canceled live-viewing events for the <keyword id="6360967" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="olympics">Olympics</keyword>, <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/06/19/national/olympic-viewings-canceled/">the Japan Times</a> reported.</li><li>Some of the venues will instead be used as COVID-19 vaccination sites, Tokyo's governor announced.</li><li>The debate over whether to allow spectators to watch the games in person is ongoing.</li></ul>Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike announced Saturday that live in-person viewing events in the city scheduled for next month's Olympic games were canceled, <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/06/19/national/olympic-viewings-canceled/">the Japan Times</a> reported.Koike said he made the decision was made after he met with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, according to the report. Some of the six venues, which included Yoyogi, Inokashira, and Hibiya parks in Tokyo, will instead be used as COVID-19 vaccination sites, Koike said.The Japanese government on Thursday announced it would <a href="https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/31644226/japan-expected-ease-covid-19-state-emergency-ahead-tokyo-olympics">ease some of its COVID-19 restrictions</a> ahead of the <keyword id="1581035" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Tokyo-2020">Tokyo 2020</keyword> games, which were supposed to occur last year but were rescheduled due to the pandemic. There have been <a href="https://www.insider.com/tokyo-olympic-games-petition-why-japan-doesnt-want-athletes-2021-5">numerous calls</a> for the games to be canceled due to the continued threat of the pandemic, including from the Tokyo Medical Practitioners Association, which represents about 6,000 Japanese doctors. Japan reported more than 10,000 new cases of COVID-19 over the past week, according to <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/region/japan">data analyzed by Johns Hopkins University</a>. There were 388 new cases of the disease reported in Tokyo on Friday, according to the <a href="https://stopcovid19.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/">Tokyo Metropolitan Government</a>.Cases in Japan have fallen since their reached their record high in April this year, according to the Hopkins data.According to the Japan Times, Olympics and Paralympics organizers are scheduled to meet Monday to determine the number of spectators allowed at the games. Dr. Shigeru Omi, the top medical adviser to the Japanese government, said Friday in a report that the safest way to hold the games next month would be with no spectators at all, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/tokyo-health-coronavirus-pandemic-olympic-games-2020-tokyo-olympics-b0ef8fc5fd358ba032369dbc8f2789ef">The Associated Press</a> reported."We believe it would be most desirable not to have fans inside venues," Omi said at a press conference Friday, according to the AP. "Regardless of holding the Olympics or not, Japan has continuing risks of a resurgence of the infections that puts pressure on the medical systems."The games are scheduled to begin on July 23 and end on August 8.

Tokyo cancels Olympic live-viewing events and will turn some venues into vaccination sites

Tokyo, Jul 6 (AP) As the president of the Tokyo Olympics, Yoshiro Mori knows that experts will have to come up with defenses against COVID-19 for the the postponed games to open a year from now. These might include quarantines for athletes, few fans at the venues, and many other ideas being floated by the organizing committee, the city of Tokyo, and the International Olympic Committee. The Olympics are scheduled to open on July 23, 2021. So far local organizers and the IOC have talked only vaguely in public about how the games can be held. They've proposed cutting out frills and simplifying, but have said the sports will be unchanged with 11,000 athletes competing from 206 national Olympic committees. Add to this 4,400 Paralympic athletes and thousands of staff members, technical officials, and Olympic officials. "What we are most worried about now is if we are told to limit people," Mori said Monday, speaking with Yuriko Koike a day after she was elected to a second term as Tokyo's governor. "How do you separate tickets of those who already bought them?" Mori asked, throwing out an example of the challenges. "We have these kind of problems." In addition to talks with Mori - a former prime minister - Koike also met with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday. Koike, who is viewed as future prime minister, said Abe explained progress on vaccines being developed for COVID-19. Some scientists believe the Olympics can't be held safely unless a vaccine is available. "Regarding the Olympics and Paralympics, there are various issues regarding what kind of form they will take, what will be done about costs and, above all, what will be done for coronavirus countermeasures," Koike said. In an interview last month, Olympic Games operations director Pierre Ducrey was optimistic the games would be held. But he was light on details. "The future is not clear exactly as to what environment we will have next summer," he said. "Right now we cannot go with one plan and say this is our plan to the end. We need to develop different options." IOC President Thomas Bach has floated the possibility of limited fans, though he said it's not his preference. Ducrey said the same thing in the interview with the International Academy of Sport Science and Technology. "We all work in this environment to create circumstances where you can have spectators," he said. "But when this comes in the way of delivering the event safely, I guess there is not a lot to think about." Neither Japanese nor IOC officials have said what the postponement will cost. Estimates in Japan have ranged from $2 billion to $6 billion, with Japanese taxpayers getting most of the bills. (AP) APA APA

Tokyo Olympics seek COVID-19 defenses, but what exactly?

Tokyo, Apr 7 (AP) Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared a monthlong state of emergency for Tokyo and six other prefectures on Tuesday to ramp up defenses against the spread of the coronavirus as the number of infections surges.But the move came in the form of a stay-at-home request - not an order - and violators will not be penalized.The COVID-19 outbreak is now rampant and rapidly spreading, threatening people's health, their daily lives and the economy, Abe said.The state of emergency, which is until May 6, will only permit Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike and heads of the six other prefectures to do more to reinforce calls for social distancing."The most important thing is for each one of us to change our activity," Abe told a government task force. He urged everyone to cut contacts with others by 70-80% for one month, calling the coronavirus pandemic "the biggest postwar crisis." The announcement follows surges in new cases in Tokyo, including consecutive rises exceeding 100 over the weekend. By Tuesday there were 1,196 confirmed cases in the metropolitan region of 14 million people. Nationwide, Japan has reported 91 deaths from COVID-19 and 3,906 confirmed cases, plus another 712 cases and 11 fatalities from a cruise ship that was quarantined earlier at Yokohama port near Tokyo.Abe has been under pressure to declare a state of emergency to get better compliance with calls for social distancing amid rising alarm over the number of cases without any known contact with other patients.Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike welcomed the emergency measures, saying she expects they "will prevail widely and deeply among the people." She said her immediate request under the state of emergency is "stay home." Japan's limits on official action during a state of emergency stem from its experience with repression and disasters stemming from fascist governments before and during World War II. The public is doubly wary due to the push by Abe's ultra-conservative ruling party and its supporters for a constitutional amendment to include a state of emergency clause for disaster and wartime contingencies.Abe's government is thought to have delayed declaring a state of emergency out of fear of how it might hurt the economy. But as fear of the pandemic has grown, the public and medical experts have increasingly supported taking more drastic action.The state of emergency includes a stay-at-home request; guidance to schools on temporary closures and requests to close nonessential businesses and stores and to cancel or postpone events and exhibits. Violators cannot be penalized unless they fail to comply with orders on providing or storing emergency relief goods, such as surgical masks and medical equipment.Still, the state of emergency could significantly limit movement of people around and out of the city. Takahide Kiuchi, an economist at Nomura Research Institute, said in a recent report that a state of emergency could cause consumer spending to fall nearly 2.5 trillion yen ($23 billion), leading to a 0.4% drop in Japan's annual GDP.Abe's government also announced a 108 trillion yen ($1 trillion) stimulus package to help the country to survive the economic downturn and to protect businesses and jobs.The government overcame controversy over risks to civil rights to gain approval of a special law last month enabling Abe to declare a state of emergency.Earlier, Japan sought to curb infections by closely monitoring clusters of cases and keeping them under control, rather than conducting massive testing as was done in neighboring South Korea. That strategy appears to be failing given the sharp rise in cases not linked to previous known infections.As is true in many places, there are fears over shortages of beds and ICU units for patients with severe symptoms. (AP) PMSPMS

Japan declares state of emergency, ramping up virus battle

Japanese <keyword id="71" type="POSITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Prime-Minister">Prime Minister</keyword> <keyword id="1524166" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Yoshihide-Suga">Yoshihide Suga</keyword> has extended the state of <keyword id="38387" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="emergency">emergency</keyword> covering the <keyword id="4741" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tokyo">Tokyo</keyword> metropolitan area by two weeks to March 21 for a second time since January, as Covid-19 infection numbers have continued to increase in the region. Suga made the decision to extend the state of emergency for Tokyo and the three surrounding prefectures of Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama at a meeting of the government's Covid-19 task force on Friday, reporters said. The Prime Minister said the measure is "necessary to protect lives and livelihoods". The Japanese government is scrambling to bring the Covid-19 outbreak under control ahead of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, set to kick off in less than five months. Since the state of emergency was declared, people have been more ardently requested to refrain from making unnecessary trips outdoors and to work from home. Bars and restaurants in particular have also been asked to shorten their operating hours and close their doors by 8 p.m. Meanwhile, companies are encouraged to adopt remote working and attendance at large events such as concerts and sports games is capped at 5,000. Earlier in the day, a panel of experts in infectious diseases and other fields held a meeting to approve the move. <keyword id="1708041" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Yasutoshi-Nishimura">Yasutoshi Nishimura</keyword>, the minister in charge of the country's coronavirus response, said at the meeting that he plans to expand testing and contact tracing in an effort to contain the outbreak. Tokyo Governor <keyword id="1241493" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Yuriko-Koike">Yuriko Koike</keyword> called the two-week extension a "crucial period" to prevent a resurgence in infections. Tokyo on Friday reported 301 new cases, increasing the capital's cumulative infection tally to 112,925. The average number of new infections in the capital in the week through Friday surpassed that of the preceding seven days for the first time since January 15. The country's overall Covid-19 caseload has increased to 437,861, while the death toll stands at 8,211. A one-month state of emergency was initially declared for the greater Tokyo area on January 7 before being expanded to cover 11 prefectures in <keyword id="6355311" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="japan">Japan</keyword>. It was later extended by an additional month but cut short for all prefectures except the Tokyo area as improvements were seen in infection rates and the strain on the healthcare system. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/check-out-all-the-hiring-opportunities-in-2021-in-india/slidelist/81343839.cms">A whole host of jobs, from government to private to foreign companies in India, are opening up ⁠— here’s a look at some of those</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/these-are-the-worlds-top-food-delivery-companies-indias-zomato-and-swiggy-have-a-long-way-to-go-as-compared-to-their-global-counterparts-like-doordash-or-meituan/slidelist/81344728.cms">These are the world’s top food delivery companies – India’s Zomato and Swiggy have a long way to go as compared to their global counterparts like DoorDash or Meituan</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/wipro-share-price-has-outperformed-its-peers-in-the-last-one-year-but-analysts-are-still-cautious-about-giving-it-a-buy-rating/articleshow/81345564.cms">Wipro's share price has outperformed its peers in the last year — but analysts are still cautious about giving it a 'buy' rating</a>

Tokyo extends state of emergency in metropolitan area till March 21 in surge of  COVID-19 cases

<ul><li>A typhoon is expected to approach <keyword id="4741" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tokyo">Tokyo</keyword> and its neighboring areas from the Pacific on Sunday .</li><li>The final day would host competition like track and field, volleyball, water polo, and others.</li></ul><ul><li>The ceremony would end at 8:00 pm tomorrow.</li></ul>A typhoon is expected to approach Tokyo and its neighboring areas from the Pacific on Sunday (August 7), the final day of the Tokyo Olympics, reported Kyodo News. Typhoon Mirinae was moving over the sea south of the Japanese archipelago at 30 kilometers per hour as of noon, the Japan Meteorological Agency said on Saturday as it warned of strong winds and high waves. The closing ceremony is scheduled to take place on Sunday at 8:00 p.m. local time in Japan. The final day will also feature competitions including track and field, volleyball, water polo, boxing, handball, and basketball. After 19 days of competition, where emotions of sport have triumphed, the official handover between Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 will be one of the highlights of the Closing Ceremony at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium. The Governor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike, will hand the Olympic flag to the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo. Speaking about this, Hidalgo said: "It is with great emotion that I will bring home the flag from Tokyo in the company of the victorious French athletes and the Olympic values of openness, excellence, effort, and fair play. The prospect of gathering in 2024 for Games that are respectful of invited nations and which carry the ambition of a more sustainable city will motivate all our efforts." (ANI) SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/byjus-last-two-acquisitions-and-a-deal-with-disney-reveal-its-american-dream/articleshow/84783749.cms" style="">Byju's last two acquisitions and a deal with Disney reveal its American dream ⁠— one that is anchored in India</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/personal-finance/news/six-red-flags-for-investors-to-avoid-becoming-a-victim-of-misselling-by-agents-or-financial-advisors/slidelist/84782913.cms" style="">Six red flags for investors to avoid becoming a victim of misselling by agents or financial advisors</a>

Typhoon expected to approach Tokyo on the last day of Olympics

<ul class="summary-list"><li>According to a Kyodo <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news">News</keyword> report, a senior Japanese official said cancelling the <keyword id="6360967" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="olympics">Olympics</keyword> was still "an option."</li><li>Japan is now less than 100 days away from the opening ceremony of the <keyword id="4741" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Tokyo">Tokyo</keyword> Games on July 23. </li><li>Tokyo saw a spike in infections on Wednesday when it confirmed another 591 COVID cases.</li></ul>Tokyo might be less than 100 days away from the opening ceremony of the Olympics, but calling it off is still an option, said a senior Japanese official on Thursday. Speaking in a televised interview with Kyodo News, Toshihiro Nikai, secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said: "If rising coronavirus cases means 'this is impossible', we would have to give up."He added that cancellation was, "of course," an "option", saying: "If the Olympics were to spread infection, then what are the Olympics for?"Nikai's comments came in the wake of a troubling rise in COVID cases in the Tokyo area on Wednesday. According to <a href="https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2021/04/97bb095df67f-japan-marks-100-days-to-go-until-olympics-amid-covid-uncertainty.html">Kyodo News</a>, Tokyo confirmed 591 COVID cases, the highest number the city saw since the government lifted its second COVID state of emergency on March 21. Separately, Japan reported more than 4,300 cases yesterday, its first massive spike since January 28, as health authorities contend with more contagious variants of the virus that are spreading across the country. The <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/04/15/national/fourth-wave-omi-coronavirus/">Japan Times</a> reported that Japan's top virus expert Toshio Nakagawa, president of the Japan Medical Association, has acknowledged that the country is hitting its fourth wave of COVID infections, particularly as daily cases surge to record highs in Western Japan. The Japan Times wrote that Nakagawa called for an "early emergency declaration" to be made, as a surge of cases is expected during the Golden Week holiday period, which begins on April 29 and ends on May 5.The surge in virus infections has fueled further skepticism on whether the games should be held this summer, following the cancellation of the Olympic torch relay in Osaka. The Olympic flame was initially meant to pass through the prefecture on Tuesday and Wednesday, but <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/1/osakas-olympic-torch-relay-in-peril-as-covid-forces-restrictions">these plans were canned</a> to keep COVID cases low. That might have come a day late and a dollar short, as Osaka's new COVID cases hit a record 1,130 on Wednesday, with the <a href="http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/13986145">medical system in the city hitting breaking point</a> - as close to 98% of hospital beds meant for seriously ill COVID patients are now occupied. Local news network <a href="https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210414/p2g/00m/0sp/052000c">Mainichi</a> reported that Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike vowed to keep COVID under control in the Japanese capital, to ensure that the Olympics can take place safely. Koike added that the quasi-state of emergency that Japan is currently under until May 11 will be a "crucial period" in the "battle against COVID," before the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Games takes place on July 23. Calls for the Olympics to be canceled are not new, as a <a href="https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2021/04/8cc7bf0d69af-breaking-news-60-discontent-with-progress-in-japans-covid-vaccine-rollout-poll.html">Kyodo report</a> this week noted that 39.2% of over 500 people surveyed said that the Japanese government should consider canceling the Olympics and Paralympics - which have already been postponed for a year. Another 32.8% said that the games should be re-scheduled, while 24.5% thought the games should go on as planned. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-olympics-2020-coronavirus/tokyo-olympics-might-yet-be-cancelled-due-to-covid-19-japanese-official-idUSKBN2C208V?il=0">Reuters</a> reported that Nikai issued a written statement on Thursday afternoon, to clarify his position on the matter. "I want the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics to succeed," he said in the statement, adding that there will be no change to the government's policy of providing support to stage a safe and secure Tokyo Olympics."At the same time, to the question of whether we would host the (Games) no matter what, that is not the case. That's what I meant by my comments."

Senior Japanese official says canceling Olympics is an 'option'

<keyword id="4741" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tokyo">Tokyo</keyword>, Japanese Prime Minister <keyword id="1524166" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Yoshihide-Suga">Yoshihide Suga</keyword> said on Monday that his <keyword id="26362" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Government">government</keyword> was mulling the <keyword id="105405" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="declaration">declaration</keyword> of another <keyword id="6355728" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="state">state</keyword> of <keyword id="38387" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="emergency">emergency</keyword> in Tokyo and three surrounding prefectures due to an unabated Covid-19 resurgence in those areas. Speaking at the first press conference of 2021, Suga said that the government could make the decision as early as this week, Xinhua news agency reported. "Even during the three days of the New Year's holiday, cases didn't go down in the greater Tokyo area," he said. Japan reported a record high of 4,519 single-day confirmed coronavirus cases on December 31, 2020, marking the first time that the nationwide daily tally has topped the 4,000-mark since the onset of the pandemic earlier last year. The Japanese government had previously declared a state of emergency last April. As infections have continued to increase, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike and her counterparts in the neighbouring Chiba, Kanagawa and Saitama prefectures on January 1 urged the central government to issue a new declaration. Suga had been reluctant to declare another state of emergency as the economy would face a severe blow. Meanwhile during Monday's press briefing, Suga confirmed that the country aims to start Covid-19 vaccination program by late February, which is earlier than the previous schedule for frontline healthcare workers to begin receiving the jabs in mid-March. As of Monday, Japan's overall Covid-19 caseload and death toll stood at 240,954 and 3,548, respectively. Tokyo has reported a total of 62,658 infections and 587 fatalities. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/top-stocks-to-watch-beml-hcl-tech-infosys-tech-mahindra-tcs-ril-tata-motors-hero-moto-tvs-and-others/articleshow/80089765.cms">Top stocks to watch — BEML, HCL Tech, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, TCS, RIL, Tata Motors Hero Moto, TVS, and others</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/checkout-upcoming-new-cars-in-year-2021/slidelist/80025993.cms">Upcoming new cars in India in 2021 of Maruti, Tata, MG, Audi</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/international/news/questions-arise-about-jack-ma-whereabouts-as-alibaba-faces-scrutiny-from-the-chinese-government/articleshow/80090457.cms">Where is Jack Ma? Questions arise about the billionaire’s whereabouts as Alibaba faces scrutiny from the Chinese government</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/big-money-chasing-bitcoin-takes-the-cryptocurrency-to-a-new-record-high-of-34000/articleshow/80090730.cms">Big money chasing Bitcoin takes the cryptocurrency to a new record high of $34,000</a>

Japan mulls declaring another state of emergency in Tokyo, says PM Yoshihide Suga

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Around 10,000 out of 80,000 Tokyo <keyword id="6360967" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="olympics">Olympics</keyword> volunteers have quit, <keyword id="6355311" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="japan">Japan</keyword>'s national broadcaster reported.</li><li>The Japanese public had been vocally opposing the summer games for weeks.</li><li>Organizers say the event will be safe, but many want it canceled due to COVID-19 fears.</li></ul>Thousands of volunteers for the Tokyo Olympics have quit, Japan's national broadcaster said, citing the event's organizers.NHK reported on Wednesday that around 10,000 of the 80,000 volunteers who signed up to help at the event had left their posts, according to <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/06/02/national/olympics-volunteers-quit/">Reuters</a>.The games are due to start on July 23, after being postponed from 2020 due to the <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> pandemic.Japan and Olympic organizers have <a href="https://www.insider.com/olympics-head-insists-tokyo-games-go-ahead-summer-2021-5">pledged that the event will be safe</a> and have barred international spectators.But a large number of Japanese people and doctors in the country have called for the games to be postponed or canceled due to the pandemic.Public opinion has consistently moved against hosting the Games, with a poll in May showing that 83% of those surveyed <a href="https://www.insider.com/japanese-call-for-tokyo-games-canned-covid-lockdowns-vaccine-woes-2021-5">didn't want the Games to be held in Japan this summer</a>. A poll just nine days before had shown 60% of people opposed to hosting the event.As of Wednesday, some 415,000 people have <a href="https://www.change.org/p/%E8%8F%85%E7%BE%A9%E5%81%89%E9%A6%96%E7%9B%B8-%E4%BA%BA%E3%80%85%E3%81%AE%E5%91%BD%E3%81%A8%E6%9A%AE%E3%82%89%E3%81%97%E3%82%92%E5%AE%88%E3%82%8B%E3%81%9F%E3%82%81%E3%81%AB-%E6%9D%B1%E4%BA%AC%E4%BA%94%E8%BC%AA%E3%81%AE%E9%96%8B%E5%82%AC%E4%B8%AD%E6%AD%A2%E3%82%92%E6%B1%82%E3%82%81%E3%81%BE%E3%81%99-04a29b1b-b19d-4582-9b7b-7b29f030ccc3?utm_content=cl_sharecopy_28685503_ja-JP:0&amp;recruiter=1199662576&amp;utm_source=share_petition&amp;utm_medium=copylink&amp;utm_campaign=share_petitionn=share_petition">signed a Change.org petition</a> asking the Japanese government to cancel the Games.Rising opposition to the Olympics among Japan's public comes as coronavirus infection rates fall but remain at high levels, and much of Japan remains in a state of emergency.On Tuesday, <a href="https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/backstories/1660/">it was confirmed that nine prefectures in the country have had their states of emergency extended</a> until at least June 20, less than a month before the Games are due to begin.Tokyo reported 260 cases of COVID-19 Monday, the 18th straight day of declines, but the city's Governor Koike Yuriko warned that cases could rise again if restrictions are loosened."I'm very concerned that the movement of people could return to normal levels," he said, <a href="https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/backstories/1660/">according to NHK.</a>

10,000 volunteers for the Tokyo Olympics quit as the Japanese public's opposition to the games grows

<ul><li>The leaders agreed that the Olympic Games in Tokyo could stand as a beacon of hope to the world during these troubled times and that the Olympic flame could become the light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present. </li><li>The Olympic flame will continue to stay in Japan and will keep the name Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020.</li></ul>The president of the <keyword id="64822" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="International-Olympic-Committee">International Olympic Committee</keyword> (IOC), <keyword id="111002" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Thomas-Bach">Thomas Bach</keyword>, and the Prime Minister of Japan, <keyword id="2633211" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Abe-Shinzo">Abe Shinzo</keyword>, held a conference call this morning to discuss the constantly changing environment with regards to COVID-19 and the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. In the present circumstances and based on the information provided by the WHO today, the IOC President and the Prime Minister of Japan have concluded that the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021, to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community. They were joined by Mori Yoshiro, the President of the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee; the Olympic Minister, Hashimoto Seiko; the Governor of Tokyo, Koike Yuriko; the Chair of the IOC Coordination Commission, John Coates; IOC Director General Christophe De Kepper; and the IOC Olympic Games Executive Director, Christophe Dubi. President Bach and Prime Minister Abe expressed their shared concern about the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, and what it is doing to people’s lives and the significant impact it is having on global athletes’ preparations for the Games. In a very friendly and constructive meeting, the two leaders praised the work of the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee and noted the great progress being made in Japan to fight against COVID-19. The unprecedented and unpredictable spread of the outbreak has seen the situation in the rest of the world deteriorating. Yesterday, the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that the COVID-19 pandemic is "accelerating". There are more than 375,000 cases now recorded worldwide and in nearly every country, and their number is growing by the hour. The leaders agreed that the Olympic Games in Tokyo could stand as a beacon of hope to the world during these troubled times and that the Olympic flame could become the light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present. Therefore, it was agreed that the Olympic flame will stay in Japan. It was also agreed that the Games will keep the name Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020.

Tokyo Olympics postponed to 2021, date yet to be decided

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image">Koji Sasahara/APA woman walks past an electronic stock indicator in Tokyo. </div></div></div>Karen Kawabata represents the best of Japan's intellectual capital. She has just graduated from the University of Tokyo, the most prestigious in the country. 
Wry and poised, with an American mother and Japanese father, she has the languages and cosmopolitan attitude that Japanese companies particularly value nowadays. 
In April she will join McKinsey, a consultancy that should give her immediate membership of a globe-trotting elite.
Yet Ms Kawabata sees obstacles in her path. She is acutely aware of the difficulties she would face at traditional Japanese companies, should she find herself joining one. Ferociously long working hours, often stretching past midnight, are followed by sessions of "nominication", a play on the Japanese word for drinking, nomu, and the English word "communication"; these are where young hopefuls forge connections and build reputations. Nowadays women trying to impress the boss are allowed to drink plum wine mixed with plenty of soda instead of beer, says Ms Kawabata.
But that is hardly a great improvement.
Above all, she worries that having a family will be nigh on impossible to combine with a demanding career. When she met her boyfriend's father for the first time this year, she reassured him about her intentions at McKinsey. "I told him that I would rethink my career in a few years' time," she says.
That one of the brightest of Japan's graduates needs to say such things should worry Shinzo Abe, the prime minister. Japan educates its women to a higher level than nearly anywhere else in the world: its girls come near the top in education league-tables compiled by the OECD. But when they leave university their potential is often squandered, as far as the economy is concerned.
Female participation in the labour force is 63%, far lower than in other rich countries. When women have their first child, 70% of them stop working for a decade or more, compared with just 30% in America. Quite a lot of those 70% are gone for good.
<h2>Beyond the Festival of the Dolls</h2>
Mr Abe says he wants to change that. In April 2013 he announced that allowing women to "shine" in the economy was the most important part of his "Abenomics" growth strategy. Raising female labour participation to the level of men's could add 8m people to Japan's shrinking workforce, potentially increasing GDP by as much as 15%, according to Goldman Sachs, an investment bank.
More women working for more pay would also increase demand. Hence speeches from Mr Abe attaching new-found importance to matters such as the opening hours of kindergartens and the challenges of breast-feeding outside the home.
For the prime minister, who belongs to the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), this is quite a turnaround. In 2005, when a previous government was taking steps towards greater equality, Mr Abe and his fellow conservatives warned of the damage to family values and to Japanese culture that could result if men and women were treated equally.
They worried that rituals such as the hina matsuri, or Festival of Dolls, an annual celebration of young girls and the state of matrimony, could be endangered. Their concern was not just based on tradition; keeping women out of the workforce, conservatives thought, made economic sense too. If the country's "baby-making machines", as a former LDP health minister put it, stayed at home then they would produce more babies, and thus more workers.
This insight proved to be flawed. As the LDP encouraged women to stay at home, the fertility rate, already low, plunged further, bottoming out at 1.26 children per woman in 2005 before edging up to 1.41 in 2012. The consequent dearth of young people means that Japan's working-age population is expected to fall by 40% by 2050, exerting a powerful drag on the economy.
As a solution to this, the direct measure of getting more women out into the workforce would have great advantages over the indirect tactic of encouraging them to stay at home in the unfounded hope that they will breed instead.
Indeed, it may even turn out that working and having children go hand in hand. In other rich countries, higher birth rates nearly always accompany higher female employment, and in Japan itself the birth rate is higher in the countryside, where more women work, than in the big cities, where fewer do. The changes that might encourage more urban women into work--such as better child-care provision, and a less demanding corporate culture, which would mean shorter working hours for men and women alike--might encourage them and their husbands to have more children, too.
<h2>The missing salarywoman</h2>
Mr Abe's interest in all this is new; the problem is not. Yoko Kamikawa, an LDP politician, recently served on the party's new committee seeking to improve the lot of women. In the 2000s, during Mr Abe's first term as prime minister, she was his minister of gender equality. She is startled, she says, by the lack of progress since then.
In most countries women's participation in the labour force dips around the years when they marry and bear children; after that it recovers. But this M-shaped curve is much more pronounced in Japan than in most other rich countries (see chart 1). Japan's curve has levelled out somewhat in recent years: in 2004 the rate of full- and part-time employment for 30- to 34-year-old women was 61%, a figure which by 2012 had risen to 69%.
Yet young, married mothers are still largely absent from the workforce, and many women returning to work go into part-time or temporary jobs with low pay and little security.
<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image">The Economist</div></div>Those who stay in work often do so in jobs that waste their abilities. Few women hold professional, technical or managerial roles. In 2012 they made up 77% of Japan's part-time and temporary workforce.
Many of these workers are well-off married women seeking a little extra income. But others are poor and marginalised.
The precarious existence of such workers was described in "Out", a bestselling 1997 crime novel by Natsuo Kirino which had a resonance, and earned acclaim, beyond the borders of the genre.
The heroine, who spends her nights toiling in a soulless packed-lunch factory, helps conceal the murder of a colleague's no-good husband. Ms Kirino's subsequent bestsellers have also focused on the division of gender roles, describing men slaving away in the corporate world, disconnected from women in the home.
At the very top of corporate Japan, the "bamboo ceiling"--so-called by women for being thick, hard and not even transparent--is starting to let in some chinks of light, but they are few and far between. In 2011, 4.5% of company division heads were female, up from 1.2% in 1989. But relative to other countries the numbers are still dismal. Of the most senior, executive-committee-level managers in Japan, 1% were women in 2011, according to a regional study by McKinsey. The equivalent figure for China was 9%, for Singapore 15%.
Corporate culture is by far the biggest obstacle for Japanese women. The practice of hiring graduates fresh out of university and employing them for their entire working lives makes it difficult for employees to take career breaks and seek new positions elsewhere afterwards.
Promotion tends to be based on tenure and overtime, rather than on productivity and performance. And straightforward discrimination remains rampant. In a study that compared the reasons why Japanese and American college graduates leave their jobs, American women cited child care and looking after elderly relations as the main factors. Japanese women blamed dissatisfaction with their jobs and a feeling of being put into "dead-end" roles.
The fact that their husbands, who spend more time at work than their counterparts in other developed countries, spend less time on child care or household chores, adds to the perceived need to stay at home (see chart 2).
<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image">The Economist</div></div>When Japanese firms take their pick of university graduates they choose men and women, but they still prefer men for management, sticking most of the women on the "clerical" track.
Foreign companies have been able to take advantage of this prejudice by hiring and promoting able female graduates, says Georges Desvaux, the head of McKinsey's Tokyo office, who also leads the firm's global research on the role of women in companies.
Overseas executives inside large Japanese companies tell tales of über-secretaries with the talent to run the whole business.
Keidanren, Japan's most powerful business lobby, has been markedly uninterested in doing much about this.
Though government pressure recently got the lobby to start internal discussions on promoting women, corporate leaders regard Mr Abe's new enthusiasm for improving the lot of women in the same way as they look on reforms to corporate governance: as costly distractions from the task of lifting Japan Inc's profits.
Keidanren refuses to ask its members even to state the number of women on their boards, in fear of being asked to increase it, or having quotas imposed. Bureaucrats seeking to find the number scan documents for the suffix "ko", usually found on female names.
Male dominance extends beyond the corporate world: in politics, too, women are grossly under-represented. In the lower house of the Diet, women hold only 8% of seats, with 19% in the upper house. In a global survey of women in parliaments, Japan ranked 123rd out of 189 countries. The older generation of men is particularly traditionalist, and still wields the most clout.
<h2>Pampered wife, wise choice</h2>
Yet women are not simply being held back by the patriarchy. When the choice is between leisurely dependency in the home--known as sanshoku hirune tsuki ("three meals and a nap")--and the sorry life of a salaryman there is something to be said for putting your feet up. In wealthy places like Tokyo many women simply do not wish to work, says Takeshi Niinami, chief executive of Lawson, a chain of convenience stores.
Mariko Bando, author of "The Dignity of a Woman", a bestselling guide for women on how to succeed in the workplace, points out that many Japanese women do not feel they need a high-status job to enjoy high status. A well-educated woman working part-time in a supermarket will not see that job as defining her identity if she is the wife of, say, a high-ranking Mitsubishi Corporation executive.
Remarkably, women seem to have become more conservative about work in the past few years. In 1979, 70% of women agreed with the statement that "The husband should be the breadwinner and the wife should take care of the home". By 2004 that had fallen to 41%. But in 2012, perhaps because of the recession in 2007-09, just over half said they preferred to stay at home. A survey last year showed that a third of very young women want to become full-time housewives. Potential husbands, meanwhile, were less traditionalist: only one in five young men said he wanted his future wife to stay in the home.
Feminism has remained a timid force in Japan. The long economic boom that began in the 1950s was a national priority which left little room for questioning traditional roles in the home or workplace, says Chizuko Ueno, Japan's best-known feminist. And women are not without power behind the scenes. Housewives control the family finances, and in the workplace so-called "office ladies" wield a lot of influence over the lives of salarymen, quietly hindering the careers of those they dislike.
There are, however, some indications that the role of women could change. For one thing, the boom that overrode all other interests is long gone. Stagnating wages mean the three-meals-and-a-nap way of life is less widely available, with households increasingly in need of two incomes. And the divorce rate is rising. More Japanese women are opting out of marriages to overworked and largely absent salarymen, and so thus increasingly need to fend for themselves. Although a portion of young women want old-fashioned gender roles, the rest, including the "parasite singles" who prefer living with their parents to marriage, want change.
<h2>Herbivore men, carnivore women</h2>
Some of the most motivated graduates nowadays are female, and a growing number of companies are waking up to the possibility of putting them to better use than in the past. According to Sakie Fukushima, a director of another business lobby, Keizai Doyukai, human-resources executives say in private that they would hire young women ahead of men most of the time. Yet they are afraid that they will lose them when they have children. Japan's female 20-somethings now tend to be far more internationally minded than their male equivalents, says Lawson's Mr Niinami. They outperform soshoku danshi, or "herbivore" men, so-called for taking low-responsibility jobs and preferring shopping to sex. These same young men have little desire to follow the breadwinner/housewife model adopted by their parents. Indeed, Japanese media have recently, with some surprise, begun to note a trend towards young fathers taking on more child care.
In some corners of corporate Japan, firms are changing the old working practices. At DeNA, an internet-services company, employees have noticed that their colleagues in California never stay late at the office, instead continuing their work at home. They are now starting to follow the American example, says the company's founder, Tomoko Namba. A few firms are trying to increase productivity while shortening hours. Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, a leading blue-chip, is discouraging workers from staying in the office after seven o'clock.
By 2020 Mr Abe wants women to occupy 30% of all "leadership" positions--which would include members of parliament, heads of local government and corporate executives. His most practical step has been to try to shorten waiting lists for child care by allowing more private companies into a previously state-dominated sector. Here he has seized upon the work of Fumiko Hayashi, the mayor of Yokohama, who after being elected in 2009 managed to reduce the city's child-care waiting list, then the longest in the country, to zero in just over three years. A former senior saleswoman at Honda, BMW and Nissan, she brought private firms into the sector. Mr Abe wants to expand her "Yokohama method" across the country.
Yet many Japanese women, who are particularly protective of their children, distrust day care (one reason women in the countryside have more children is that they are more likely to have parents nearby to lend a hand). What is required, more people now argue, is an army of foreign nannies. In January, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mr Abe suggested Japan's immigration rules could be eased so that foreign workers could help care for children and elderly relatives, another duty that falls most heavily on women. There have been unconfirmed media reports that the government is considering allowing in as many as 200,000 foreigners a year to work in areas such as construction, child care and nursing.
As with much of the country's ambitious programme of structural reform, however, such a loosening will face high political hurdles. Immigration is unpopular with the Japanese public; insiders note that Mr Abe may say such things in Switzerland, but has not given public voice to them in Japan.
Until overseas talk is followed by domestic action, many will think Mr Abe lacks the will to push for changes that would greatly improve the life of working women. His actions so far have not impressed. A request that firms allow mothers to take three years of maternity leave--compared with the 18 months they can take now--met with derision from all sides. Companies said it would cripple them; feminist critics said that it was part of the old agenda to keep women in the home. The target of 30% women in leadership roles by 2020 was first proposed in 2003 by then-prime minister Junichiro Koizumi. "The target is an old one, and it was not implemented," says Yuriko Koike, head of public relations for the LDP and a former defence minister. The deadline arrives in only six years; there is little chance it will be met. The idea of reducing waiting lists for child care, too, dates back to Mr Koizumi's time in office.
Some of Mr Abe's allies frequently remind voters of the prime minister's former traditional views on the family. In January Michiko Hasegawa, whom Mr Abe had approved as a board member at NHK, Japan's national broadcaster, published a column saying that women's most important task was to bring up their children, and that this should take priority over working outside the home. "The message on women is somewhat mixed," concludes Ms Koike.
If the government really wants to increase female employment, argues Kathy Matsui of Goldman Sachs, it could do so by axing tax rules that keep women's earnings low. The "head of household", normally a man, is allowed to claim a tax deduction of ¥380,000 ($3,700) as long as his spouse's income does not exceed ¥1.03m. The pension system, too, encourages limited earnings. As long as a wife's annual wages remain under ¥1.3m she can claim the national pension without paying any premiums. Tackling such privileges, however, could cost the LDP the votes of millions of housewives and their husbands.
At a private dinner in Davos Mr Abe listened to a small group of senior women, including a former head of state, discuss what Japan should do differently. An awkward moment came when one of the guests, Miki Tsusaka, a partner at the Boston Consulting Group, told him she had dreaded returning to Japan after a successful career spent mostly in New York. Yet increasingly, behind their soft tones and feminine demeanour, many Japanese women are getting ready to break out of their dolls' house. If the country's policymakers can find the right ways to help them, those women could boost the economy and reform corporate culture. Both they and their sararimen stand greatly to benefit.
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