The Japanese government’s advisory mask regulation has been relaxed, although it is not a legal requirement.
Thus, the face mask wearing regulation in effect since 2020 has been left to the individual’s choice throughout the country.
Accordingly, people will not be required to wear masks in public transportation vehicles, including airlines, railways and buses.
Educational institutions will, in principle, terminate mask requests as of April 1, when the academic year begins.
Customers may be asked to wear masks at service points where close contact is maintained, such as barbers and beauty salons.
At social events such as concerts, participants will be asked to abide by the rules of the organizers of these events.
In Yahoo Japan’s online survey of more than 80,000 people, 46.5 percent of respondents declared that they would continue to wear masks.
27 percent of the respondents stated that they will stop wearing masks, and 26 percent of the respondents stated that they will decide according to their location.
The status of COVID-19 in Japan is in the second most severe tier of the 5-tier scale by which epidemics are assessed.
Prime Minister Kishida Fumio’s government aims at the beginning of May to reduce COVID-19 to the lowest level, level 5, where diseases such as tuberculosis are evaluated.