Japan's local government chiefs call for extended state of emergency

Many of Japan's prefectural governors have urged the central government to extend the nationwide state of emergency due to end on May 6 to contain the coronavirus outbreak.In an online meeting of the National Governors' Association on Wednesday, however, some prefectural chiefs were against a uniform extension of emergency steps aimed at slowing the spread the virus, expressing concern over the impact of keeping many businesses closed for so long.After declaring the state of emergency for Tokyo and six other densely populated prefectures on April 7, Prime Ministers Shinzo Abe expanded it to…READ FULL ARTICLE