Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Wednesday that remaining COVID-19 quasi-emergency measures in Tokyo and 17 prefectures will be lifted March 21, following a decrease in the number of new infections in the country. The government declared a quasi-state of emergency in 36 of Japan’s 47 prefectures in January due to the spread of Omicron, with Tokyo and 17 of the prefectures seeing the measures extended twice beyond the deadlines. Under a quasi-state of emergency, governors are allowed to shorten business hours and limit the serving of alcohol in the prefectures. Kishida said that the end of the sixth wave of infections “has clearly come into sight,” as the country’s infection rate continues to decline. Tokyo recorded 10,221 new cases on Wednesday, down 13.6 percent from a week earlier. “From now on, for the time being, it will be a period in which we bring back ordinary lives as much …