The government plans to urge businesses and other entities to make sure that people can take New Year's holidays until Jan. 11, aiming to reduce the amount of crowding typical of year-end activities. It decided the policy at Friday's subcommittee meeting on measures to contain the novel coronavirus.
During the nation's New Year's holidays, throngs of people return to their hometowns, travel internationally or domestically and visit shrines and temples. To thin the crowding, the government intends to take the initiative through central ministries and agencies, and encourage businesses, industry associations and local governments to do the same.
Experts from the subcommittee recommended extending and decentralizing the holidays because Jan. 1-3 next year will coincide with a three-day weekend. As many entities are expected to head back to work on Monday, Jan. 4, it is conceivable that a lot of people will have to concentrate their holiday activities into a short period.
"The government will take firm action and call for the cooperation of economic organizations and various other groups," Yasutoshi Nishimura, the minister in charge of economic revitalization and measures against the novel coronavirus, said at a press conference following the subcommittee meeting.
"We hope that this will be realized in the sense of creating a new way of working," said Shigeru Omi, head of the subcommittee, who was present at the conference.
The government will also recommend trips in smaller groups to stagger the crowding. By early November, the government plans to compile measures and precautions for preventing infections at shrines and temples and at outdoor event venues on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.
Regarding Halloween events at the end of October, the subcommittee urges people to refrain from drinking on the streets and encourages people to participate in online events.
Meanwhile, the subcommittee agreed to conduct a trial of a new technology to evaluate the flow of people and congestion at pro baseball games to be held at Tokyo Dome. The trial will be carried out at regular Yomiuri Giants games to be held on Nov. 7 and 8, with spectators up to about 80% of capacity.
The subcommittee assessed the recent infection situation as "changing from flat to slightly increasing" and warned that an expansion of the outbreak could occur at any time because infections are more likely to spread during the winter months when the air is drier.
-- Shrines taking measures
The Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) will call on its member companies to create an environment that makes it easier for their employees to take paid leave, a Keidanren official said about the government's call for an extension of the New Year's holidays. However, it is unclear how many companies will actually get on board, as the official said that specific measures will be up to each company.
Meanwhile, in order to mitigate a concentration of visitors and prevent infections, 30 prefectural shrine offices (jinjacho) across the nation have drawn up guidelines that include calling for a dispersal of visits, without sticking to the first three days of the New Year.
The guidelines give examples of measures to be taken, such as removing ladles from places for cleansing of hands and mouth with water and stopping the use of bells with straps hung in front of donation boxes, because a lot of people touch them. They also strongly urge visitors to sanitize their hands when they buy omikuji fortune slips at shrines.
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