TOKYO, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Despite an extended COVID-19 state of emergency coming into effect for Tokyo and eight other prefectures, department stores, cinemas and amusement parks in Tokyo and the western prefecture of Osaka were allowed to reopen Tuesday.

In a bid to find a balance between curbing the virus spread and easing the economic chokehold on stores and entertainment spots, the Japanese government decided on new guidelines when the virus emergency was extended last week.

On weekdays, department stores are allowed to operate under shortened business hours with more restrictions applied on weekends, whereas amusement parks like Universal Studios Japan in Osaka was permitted to reopen for weekday business on Tuesday, but will remain closed at weekends.

Antiviral measures such as a 5,000-visitor-per-day cap has been employed by the theme park operator and plastic partitions have been put in place between guests at the park's eateries.

The Japanese government last week extended COVID-19 emergency measures in place for Tokyo and eight other prefectures for another three weeks until June 20.

The state of emergency currently in place for the nine prefectures has seen restrictions imposed on restaurants and bars, requiring them to close at 8:00 p.m. and refrain from serving alcohol. People are urged to work from home and not to cross prefectural lines.

Large spectator events, meanwhile, have had the number of spectators capped at 5,000 people or 50 percent of the venue's capacity.

The extended restrictions will stay in place for Tokyo, Hokkaido, Aichi, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo, Okayama, Hiroshima and Fukuoka prefectures.

Japan's southernmost prefecture of Okinawa, the last region to be put under a state of emergency, will see the deadline expire on June 20 as per the initial measure.

The state of emergency in place in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo since April 25 was initially set to be lifted on May 11, but was extended and expanded to include Aichi and Fukuoka, then Hokkaido, Okayama and Hiroshima, and finally Okinawa Prefecture.

Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, Gifu and Mie prefectures have also had quasi emergency virus measures extended to June 20.

Gunma, Ishikawa and Kumamoto prefectures' quasi emergency measures will be lifted on schedule on June 13.

Along with extending the virus state of emergency, two Self-Defense Forces-run mass vaccination centers have been operational for just over a week, with one in Tokyo capable of vaccinating 10,000 people per day, while the facility in Osaka can inoculate up to 5,000 people per day.

Meanwhile, a soccer stadium in western Japan's Hyogo Prefecture on Monday began functioning as a large-scale COVID-19 vaccination center for seniors aged 65 or older.

As a part of the central government's push to expedite its sluggish vaccination rollout, the Noevir Stadium Kobe, home of the J.League soccer club Vissel Kobe, vaccinated around 1,000 people on Monday, according to officials.

The number of inoculations given at the stadium will be ramped up to 5,000 a day.

On Tuesday, the Japanese government announced that beginning June 21, COVID-19 vaccines will start to be administered at workplaces and universities in a bid to speed up the vaccination drive.

The Japanese government has come under criticism for being one of the slowest among a number of advanced economies to rollout its vaccination campaign. So far around 7 percent of the country's 126 million population have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

Japan began inoculating its elderly population of about 36 million in mid-April and plans to complete vaccinating those 65 and older by the end of July.

Its nationwide vaccination campaign for health care workers started in February. Enditem

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