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Japan's annual World War II memorial ceremony will be vastly scaled down this August in a bid to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Japan's health minister said Friday.
Health Minister Kato Katsunobu following a cabinet meeting on Friday told a press briefing on the matter that the ceremony will be held on April 15 at Tokyo's Nippon Budokan hall, but the number of attendees will be cut by 80 percent compared to the previous year.
This year's ceremony, which will mark the 75th anniversary of Japan's surrender in WWII, will see attendees capped at 1,400 people, compared to last year's 6,200 attendees, and will be the first time since 1963 that the memorial event has been downsized, the health ministry said.
Representatives of bereaved families will be cut to 22 people per prefecture from 50 for the state-sponsored service, with no attendees allowed to participate in the event at their own expense.
The ministry said that along with the vast reduction in attendees, people will have their temperatures checked, be asked to sanitize their hands, be seated one meter apart at the hall and be asked to wear face masks.
Additionally, the singing of Japan's national anthem during the service has been scrapped and replaced with a musical performance, the ministry also said.
"We'll be taking all possible means to hold the ceremony," Kato told the press briefing, with the ministry not ruling out the possibility that the ceremony could be scaled down even further if there is a resurgence of COVID-19 cases in Japan.