Editorial: Japan s local gov ts should beef up support for needy amid virus crisis
January 26, 2021 (Mainichi Japan) Over 80,000 workers in Japan, including those expected to be laid off or not offered contract extensions, have been fired or not had their contracts renewed due to the spread of the coronavirus. The situation is feared to worsen as a state of emergency over the outbreak has been issued for 11 prefectures including Tokyo and Osaka. Consultation centers set up across the country are seeing a spike in the number of inquiries by those who are struggling due to unemployment over topics such as rent aid. They saw some 400,000 consultation requests in the first six months of fiscal 2020, more than triple the figure seen in the same period the previous fiscal year.