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Everything has now also stopped in Japan because of the Coronavirus. The Japan Times announced it today.
This means almost all factories will close and, consequently, the "four sisters" - Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, and Kawasaki - will also stop, like their European cousins Ducati, Aprilia, and KTM, which had already been forced to stop all activities for some time now.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has decided to declare a national emergency in an attempt to prevent the novel Coronavirus from spreading.
The government was considering extending the state of emergency, which currently covers Tokyo, Osaka, and five prefectures, including Kyoto, Aichi, and Hokkaido. And it will likely be extended nationwide due to the increase in infections in other parts of Japan.
The statement, based on a revision of the law promulgated last month, gave the governors of the seven prefectures the power to request the closure of schools and some businesses until the end of the Golden Week holidays on May 6th.
In addition, on Thursday, Abe approved a reworking of the state budget to finance measures to help citizens and businesses overcome the economic fallout of the Coronavirus crisis, bringing the government closer to giving a 100,000 Yen (about 850 Euros) stimulus check to every citizen, regardless of their income level, government sources said.
With 108 trillion Yen, the Abe government has compiled the nation's largest economic package to mitigate the negative impact of the pandemic.
Japan now has more than 9,000 confirmed Coronavirus infections, including about 700 from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which was quarantined in Yokohama early into the epidemic in Japan.
