Retailers, manufacturers cautious on outlook under extended emergency

Major retailers and manufacturers in Japan remain wary of the outlook for his or her business, as Japan on Monday extended its nationwide state of emergency before end of the month in a bid to curb infections of the brand new coronavirus.

Under the extended state of emergency, the federal government will continue to ask people to avoid going out and nonessential businesses to shut.

Among sectors hit hard by the emergency declaration, department store and restaurant operators will stay closed or continue running their outlets for shortened business hours.

Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd could keep its six shops in the Tokyo metropolitan area closed beneath the extended emergency declaration, since it has made a decision to shut them before government lifts the declaration which was initially issued on April 7 for the administrative centre, Osaka and five other prefectures and expanded nationwide on April 16.

The department store operator said it plans to keep to use food halls at stores beyond your metropolitan area and each store will decide future functions according to requests from prefectural governments.

Another major department store operator, J. Front Retailing Co, said it'll reopen food halls at eight stores that are closed including its Daimaru department store near Tokyo Station from Thursday, your day after the initial expiration date and the end of the country's Golden Week spring holidays.

Restaurant chain operator Skylark Holdings Co said it has extended shortened operating hours until May 19 and can choose business hours after May 20 later.

Manufacturers are expected to keep teleworking for their workers in offices, while wanting to resume production as early as possible even while some are facing dropping demand because of their products.

Toshiba Corp said it'll resume its production and other businesses from Thursday as planned, after closing most of its offices in the united states until Wednesday.

But the Japanese conglomerate will ensure employees will work from home or avoiding commuting during rush hours, while it plans to carry talks using its labor union about halting domestic production for three days weekly from June because of weakening demand.

Toyota Motor Corp said it'll continue the existing production cut in response to falling demand in the global auto market, while maintaining its remote work policy at domestic offices.

Canon Inc in addition has decided to halt output of camera lenses at its plant in Tochigi Prefecture, north of Tokyo, until May 29, consistent with weaker demand.

Sony Corp has made a decision to extend its teleworking plan until May 15.

Hideo Kumano, chief economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute, said the extended state of emergency is likely to cut Japan's gross national product by 23 trillion yen ($215 billion) along with cutting its GDP by 21.9 trillion yen beneath the initial emergency declaration.

Hiroaki Nakanishi, chairman of the Japan Business Federation, the country's most powerful business lobby referred to as Keidanren, called on the government to implement economic measures swiftly to mitigate the economical impact of the pandemic.

"We want (the federal government) to closely watch people's lives and the business enterprise environment surrounding companies, and give careful consideration for them," he said in a statement.