TOKYO/OSAKA/FUKUOKA -- With the start of the new fiscal year on April 1, large companies on Wednesday welcomed a new class employees in a time honored right of passage in Japan. But the coronavirus has caused many to suspend or significantly scale back their entrance ceremonies.
Top executives throughout the country welcomed new recruits with shouts of encouragement as an increasingly unclear economic and business outlook weighs on the immediate future. Some employees, however, heard them while watching the events online from home as a social distancing measure to reduce crowding.
