Chairman's Messages

Chairman's Speeches

Chairman Kobayashi’s Comments on Lifting of Japan’s State of Emergency

September 29, 2021

The lifting of Japan’s state of emergency is the result of concerted efforts of the central government, local authorities, business community and citizens to prevent the spread of COVID-19. I welcome this as a major step towards the normalization of socioeconomic activities.

The government must maintain and even strengthen its COVID-19 countermeasures, but at the same time it must steadily implement measures to revitalize socioeconomic activities, such as the phased easing of restrictions on behavior based on the progress of vaccinations. Thanks to the introduction of a vaccine-passport system and other steps being taken to relax the country’s border controls, we can now look forward to the full-scale resumption of business traffic. These changes will be particularly beneficial to Japan’s Shosha, which are highly reliant on international transactions.

On the other hand, in preparation for the arrival of winter, when infectious diseases spread more readily, and the possible outbreak of a sixth wave of COVID-19, I call upon the government to quickly establish an adequate testing and medical care provision system based on the issues that have arisen under the state of emergency declarations.

The JFTC will do everything in its power to cooperate with the government in promoting policies aimed at balancing the revitalization of socioeconomic activities with COVID-19 countermeasures.