TOKYO, Japan (CNN) – It took the Japanese parliament just three days to pass sweeping legislation that gives the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe the authority to enact emergency law in the event of what the government would consider a worst-case scenario.
There’s been a huge spike in the number of infections, making for a dangerous situation on the ground in Japan.
In a press conference on Saturday night, Prime Minister Abe said, right now, the situation just doesn’t rise to that level and he says he’s not going to enact that emergency law. He does have the authority to do so for the next two years.
Lawmakers say would have grave implications on everyday people’s lives.
The government could force the closure of schools, it could force event cancellations. It could even force people to stay inside or take over private property turned into a hospital or force people to sell food and medicine to local governments.
Abe says right now the situation in Japan is relatively stable when compared to other countries here in the region and around the world. He points to a relatively low number of confirmed cases, a relatively low number in the uptick of infections reported every day and yet, that does raise a kind of a question because Japan is also is testing a tiny fraction of what other countries are testing.
Just over 12,000 people have been tested in Japan since the onset of the novel coronavirus crisis. That is a drop in the bucket compared to what they’ve done in South Korea and Italy, two countries that Prime Minister Abe mentioned when he was comparing the situation in Japan to what’s happening there and it does raise questions about how much politics is at play here.
Of course, Japan is still insisting that it is moving forward with plans to host the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics just over four months from now. That is assuming, of course, that athletes and spectators actually want to come, whether they feel safe to come.
And, of course, there’s so much we don’t know about where the coronavirus crisis and whether or not it will be possible to host an international sporting event with people from 200 plus countries coming here and spending several weeks in close proximity.
But the Japanese are saying, as far as they’re concerned, it is business as usual. They’re moving forward with a late July start date for the games and they say there is no state of emergency here. At least not yet.
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