On April 7, 2020, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared a state of emergency in response to the spread of COVID19. As a result, an increasing number of businesses are unable to continue operating and are having difficulty performing their contractual obligations. Their business partners may be in a similar situation. In this article, we explore the possibility of exempting or reducing parties’ liability in light of the coronavirus outbreak, using “force majeure” under contracts governed by Japanese law.