their first cases of covid-19. march 2020 on 1 march, hyogo prefecture confirmed its first case of covid-19. ehime prefecture reported its first case on 2 march, followed by oita prefecture on 3 march, yamaguchi prefecture and miyazaki prefecture on 4 march, shiga prefecture on 5 march, akita prefecture and yamanashi prefecture on 6 march, and hiroshima prefecture, and gunma prefecture on 7 march. on 2 march, schools were closed in almost all prefectures. expanded rules for governmental paid leave for workers was announced. on 5 march, japan announced quarantine restrictions for all visitors arriving from china and south korea. on 6 march, the south korean government protested the restrictions by suspending visas for all japanese citizens travelling to south korea. on 10 march, japan officially classed the coronavirus outbreak as a national emergency. the government announced a 1 trillion yen ($9.6 billion) emergency package for businesses, including zero-interest loans for small and midsize companies and subsidies for freelance workers. prime minister shinzo abe asked that large events be cancelled or postponed so that measures for containing the virus could be evaluated. on 12 march, japan reported 4 deaths from covid-19. on 13 march, saga prefecture confirmed its first case of covid-19. nagasaki prefecture reported its first case on 14 march, followed by ibaraki prefecture and kagawa prefecture on 17 march, and fukui prefecture on 18 march. on 16 march, the japanese government announced it would expand entry restrictions to all foreign citizens arriving from four additional countries. the restrictions applied to three areas in spain (including madrid), four areas in italy (including the northern region of liguria), switzerland's ticino region, and all of iceland. on 19 march, the governors of osaka and hyogo prefectures asked residents to avoid nonessential travel between the two neighbouring prefectures over the three-day weekend starting on 20 march to contain the spread of the coronavirus. the three-week state of emergency in hokkaido was lifted on that same day. on 22 march, okayama prefecture confirmed its first case of covid-19 and requested its residents to refrain from visiting the neighboring prefectures of hyogo and osaka. aomori prefecture reported its first case on 23 march, followed by gifu prefecture on 26 march. on 23 march, tokyo governor yuriko koike warned residents that a lockdown might be the only way against the disease if infections were to surge in tokyo as she urged people to cooperate with government countermeasures. on 24 march, the international olympic committee (ioc) and tokyo organising committee of the olympic and paralympic games announced a one-year postponement of the 2020 summer olympics. on 25 march, mhlw officials announced 71 people tested positive, including 41 cases in tokyo. governor yuriko koike held an emergency press conference in the late afternoon to reaffirm the seriousness of the situation and request people remain inside as much as possible for the next two weeks. panic buying began following the announcement. on 26 march, several governors of the greater tokyo area, including chiba, kanagawa, saitama, and yamanashi, strongly urged residents to follow stay-at-home requests to prevent a surge in infections that could cause a "critical phase". in tokyo, residents were asked to work from home and refrain from going out at night and on the weekend. on 27 march, mhlw officials announced 112 people had tested positive in a single day, including three hanshin tigers professional baseball players. on 28 march, abe held an hour-long press briefing about the economic measures being prepared by the japanese government amid considerable concerns of an "explosive spread of overflowing infections", which was creating regional self-isolation requests around japan, including in tokyo, osaka, hyogo, and aichi. abe's wife was accused of attending a hanami party in defiance of covid restrictions. abe said she merely took pictures in front of some cherry trees after going to a restaurant. on 28 march, 63 people tested positive in tokyo. on 29 march, mhlw officials announced 194 people had tested positive for the virus, including 58 people at a facility for the disabled in tōnoshō, chiba prefecture. that day, 68 people tested positive in tokyo, for a total of 430 confirmed cases of covid-19, the largest among japan's 47 prefectures. on 30 march, tarento and comedian ken shimura died at the age of 70 from complications of a covid-19 infection. it was the first major covid death in japan's entertainment industry. on 30 march, fukuoka city announced confirmed cases in a woman in her 20s and her infant daughter. on 30 march, toyama prefecture announced its first case, and a kyoto government official announced that the kyoto sangyo university had undergone "a cluster of infections"—including two students who had recently returned from travel to europe. on 31 march, tokyo reported 7 deaths and 78 new infections, for a total of 521 cases. 10 of the new cases were suspected to be tied to eiju general hospital in taito ward. calls were made for the prime minister to declare a state of emergency, but both prime minister abe and chief cabinet secretary suga denied that it was necessary. april 2020–june 2020 april 2020 few pedestrians in shibuya crossing during the state of emergency on 1 april, the government established a team to determine japan's response to the coronavirus outbreak as well as other national challenges. on 3 april, japan expanded its entry ban to cover 73 countries and regions, barring entrance to the country for visitors from 73 countries and regions. the same day, immigration services agency of japan said it would extend the deadline for foreigners to renew their visas, so that their service centers would not be overwhelmed by demand. on 4 april, 118 new cases were announced in tokyo. public pressure increased for prime minister shinzo abe to declare a state of emergency, which he had been reluctant to do. on 6 april, 83 new coronavirus cases were reported in tokyo. the city's government planned to transfer patients with mild symptoms out of hospitals and into quarantine facilities in order to increase beds for patients with serious symptoms. children in a kindergarten wearing cloth masks on 7 april, abe proclaimed a state of emergency from 8 april to 6 may for tokyo and the prefectures of kanagawa, saitama, chiba, osaka, hyogo and fukuoka, but said there would be no lockdown measures. it was the first time a state of emergency had been declared in japan. according to the prime minister, the pandemic had created the worst economic crisis in japan since world war ii. on 8 april, tokyo confirmed 144 new coronavirus cases. infection routes could not be determined for over 60% of them. on 10 april, nippon professional baseball and the j-league cancelled all games in april. on 11 april, 197 new coronavirus cases were confirmed in tokyo, for a total of over 1,900 cases in the city. narita international airport closed one of its two runways on 12 april due to an 85 percent reduction in traffic caused by the virus. on april 13, a second wave of infections hit hokkaido, prompting the prefectural government to declare a second state of emergency that closed schools and that asked residents to avoid non-essential trips. on 16 april, the japanese government expanded the state of emergency to include all 47 prefectures in japan. the government also announced a plan to give 100,000 yen to every registered resident of japan. on 19 april, first coronavirus death in chūgoku region was reported due to disease outbreak of covid-19 in hiroshima prefecture. on 20 april, according to the ministry of internal affairs and communications, 25 people died in a single day, the highest number of daily nationwide confirmed fatalities. on 21 april, former chairman of omron yoshio tateishi (立石義雄) died due to covid-19 in kyoto, according to the omron website. on 23 april 29 persons nationwide were confirmed to have died, including actress kumiko okae (岡江久美子) and actor shu wada (和田周), according to a jmiac confirmed report. according to a national police agency of japan confirmed report, 73 police officers had tested positive since february, and there were an additional 15 confirmed deaths from covid-19 from march found in people who had died outside hospitals, mainly most of people who were homeless and had been tested after death due to limited testing. on 27 april, minister yasutoshi nishimura was tested for covid-19 following contact with an infected person, although nishimura did not have any symptoms. he was criticized for taking priority over citizens with symptoms at a time when tests were difficult to come by. on 30 april, prime minister abe announced that japanese authorities were having difficulty increasing the availability of covid tests. may 2020 on 1 may, distribution of stimulus payments began for residents of small towns and villages. on 3 may, prime minister abe announced that it was unlikely that the government would be able to enact his 2018 plan to revise article 9 of the japanese constitution, known as the "peace constitution", as a result of disruption caused by the pandemic. democratic party for the people leader yuichiro tamaki recommended resuming the project after the pandemic had ended. on 4 may, the japanese government extended the nationwide state of emergency until the end of may, as new infections had not slowed enough. the prime minister stated that restrictions would be reassessed after 14 may. as of 6 may, before governor hirofumi yoshimura announced his own standards for osaka prefecture, which is named as "osaka model", he expressed his desire for the japanese government to clearly describe the requirements to lift the state of emergency. later, minister nishimura said that the comments were somewhat confusing and that he would set standards later. later, yoshimura changed the critical tone of the remarks and apologize to the minister nishimura, on twitter. however, he expressed his anxiety and disappointment with the government, strongly stating that he would reveal his beliefs as a politician. on 7 may, schools in the lightly affected prefectures of aomori and tottori were reopened. on 8 may, strict guidelines for testing were relaxed in order to allow more people to be tested. on may 9, tōhoku region had its first reported covid-19 death. on 10 may, health, labor and welfare minister kato katsunobu announced plans to provide government subsidies to assist businesses with paying workers, following covid-related impacts to sales. on 11 may, japan's ministry of health, labour and welfare announced plans to approve a covid-19 antigen test kit to provide faster results than the pcr test. yuriko koike announced that paperwork issues had resulted in a miscount of cases in tokyo. 111 were omitted and 35 were duplicated, for a net increase of 76. these were set to be added to the total case count for tokyo on 12 may. in the midst of this, criticism and concern are growing as there is not enough discussion about increasing the supply of the coronavirus test, and the issue of the extension of the retirement age of the prosecutor kurokawa is being led by the abe cabinet. yukio edano insisted that it was not right for the japanese government to push the bill through turmoil during a disaster like a thief in a fire scene. a few days later, japanese government and abe cabinet declared that they would rescind the legal change of prosecutor's retirement. on 14 may, japanese government officials and pm shinzo abe declared that they had decided to suspend the emergency of 39 prefectures, except for 4 prefectures in kanto, 3 prefectures in kinki, and hokkaido, which are feared of collapse of medical system. at the press conference, prime minister abe urged to be vigilant even if the emergency was lifted, citing examples from south korea, germany, and singapore as comparison targets. it was the day after the news was reported widely that a sumo wrestler in his 20s died after suffering from a viral infection for a month. on 18 may, it was officially reported around the global market that japan's economy officially enters recession with 'much worse' expected from coronavirus for first time since 2015. on 21 may, the state of emergency is lifted in 3 prefectures in the kinki region after they had cleared the threshold of having new infections below 0.5 per 100,000 people in the past week, resulting a total of 42 out of