Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a press conference on May 14, 2020
Urban regions such as Tokyo and Osaka, however, will remain under the state of emergency and people will be asked to stay at home to ensure newly reported cases continue to fall and the burden on hospitals eases.
As Abe announced his decision to lift the state of emergency, he said the 39 prefectures have reached a point where the further spread of the virus can be averted, adding that they have the capacity to provide sufficient medical care and perform virus tests as needed.
"With the lifting of the state of emergency in many regions, today marks the real beginning of our efforts toward a new normal in the era of the coronavirus," Abe said at a press conference.
Comment: Looks like a greater number of state officials are becoming more proactive in countering the stupidly-conceived lockdown policies that have so thoroughly upended the lives and businesses of tens of millions US citizens.
Remember that Governor Pritzker, and many leaders like him, are completely out of touch not only with the actual "science and data" but with the very lives of most of their constituency: Illinois judge rules against Gov. Pritzker's stay-at-home order in suit brought by GOP lawmaker