Japan has eased regulations on the use of masks against the coronavirus outbreak.
The Japanese government’s advisory mask regulation, although not a legal obligation, has been relaxed.
Thus, the regulation on wearing face masks, which has been in force since 2020, has been left to the individual’s own preference throughout the country.
Accordingly, people will not be required to wear masks in public transportation vehicles including air, rail and buses.
As a matter of principle, educational institutions will end their mask requests as of April 1, when the academic year begins.
Customers may be asked to wear masks at service points where close contact continues, such as barbershops and beauty salons.
At social events such as concerts, participants will be asked to follow the rules of the organizers of these activities.
In Yahoo Japan’s online survey of more than 80 thousand people, 46.5 percent of the participants declared that they would continue to wear masks.
Twenty-seven percent of respondents said they would stop wearing masks and 26 percent of respondents said they would decide depending on their location.
In Japan, the status of COVID-19 is ranked as the second most severe on a 5-point scale of epidemics
In early May, Prime Minister Kishida Fumio’s government aims to downgrade COVID-19 to tier 5, the lowest level at which diseases such as tuberculosis are assessed.
