[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] According to a report by Asahi Shimbun on the 17th, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's sudden expansion of the state of emergency to all regions nationwide appears to have been an attempt to find a 'pretext' for a policy change to uniformly provide 100,000 yen (approximately 1.13 million won) per person to the public.
Asahi cited a Japanese government official, stating that the COVID-19 task force meeting originally scheduled for that day was suddenly held the previous night, during which Prime Minister Abe announced the expansion of the state of emergency declaration to the entire country. The task force meeting was initially planned to take place after the advisory committee meeting on the 17th but was moved up.
It was reported that there was initially strong opposition within the Japanese government to the plan to expand the target areas nationwide. A senior Japanese government official told Asahi, "(The nationwide expansion plan) was considered but viewed unfavorably because it could damage local economies."
In fact, the Japanese government had been reviewing new areas for the state of emergency declaration based on the criteria applied to the seven prefectures including Tokyo, where the emergency had been declared. The criteria included ▲cumulative number of confirmed cases ▲time taken for the number of confirmed cases to double ▲proportion of cases with unknown infection routes. Based on these, Hokkaido, Ibaraki Prefecture, Aichi Prefecture, Gifu Prefecture, and Ishikawa Prefecture were mentioned as candidates. Rather than expanding nationwide, the plan was to add only certain regions according to the criteria.
Yasutoshi Nishimura, Minister for Economic Revitalization, explained the reason for the expansion of the state of emergency, saying that during the Golden Week holidays early next month, "It is urgent to take measures that minimize movement." Japan is approaching a five-day holiday from Saturday, May 2, including Constitution Memorial Day on May 3 (Sunday), Greenery Day on May 4, Children's Day on May 5, and a substitute holiday on May 6.
However, Asahi assessed that the real reason Prime Minister Abe expanded the state of emergency was that the ruling coalition partner Komeito needed an excuse to accept the uniform payment plan of 100,000 yen per person. Initially, the Abe Cabinet had decided to provide 300,000 yen per household only to those with decreased income based on income level. But they felt the need to change this and ultimately required a reason for the policy change.
An official from the Abe Cabinet explained, "The declaration was expanded nationwide, and the uniform payment of 100,000 yen was decided," but Asahi added that few ruling party lawmakers accepted this explanation as is. A senior Liberal Democratic Party official said, "Isn't it impossible to say that the policy was changed by accepting Komeito's opinion?" Another LDP lawmaker also said, "They are politically using the state of emergency declaration to provide the 100,000 yen payment."
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