Apr 21, 2021 Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura faced a backlash from experts, local businesses and even his own advisers on Tuesday after he said that, once the central government fulfills his request to declare a state of emergency in the prefecture, business closure requests need to be issued to a wider breadth of private and public establishments than in previous emergencies. Critics say that calling for the closure of department stores and theme parks — where few cluster infections of the coronavirus have been reported, if any — is unscientific and merely symbolic, and would exact an unnecessary burden upon an already struggling economy.