An izakaya restaurant in Tokyo s Shibuya Ward closes at 8 p.m. following the metropolitan government s request to contain the novel coronavirus pandemic on Jan. 21. (Yoshikatsu Nakajima)
Businesses will not be penalized for customers refusing to leave after closing time under new rules that would introduce fines for not complying with local restrictions amid the pandemic, a government official said.
“In a case where a business complies with the government’s request to change operating hours but deals with a customer who won t leave, that business would be totally exempt from a non-criminal fine,” said Motohiro Nao, a deputy director-general of the Cabinet Secretariat.
This eatery in Nagoya has a sign at the entrance that says, We have reached our limit, but we are not giving up. (Masaki Yamamoto)
A civil law and medical expert says that even though not all dining occasions pose the same risk of coronavirus infections, some bars and restaurants that are safer may still feel compelled to close under a government request.
Shigeto Yonemura, a University of Tokyo professor who is also a medical doctor, raised concerns in the Diet about legal provisions targeting all bars and restaurants that do not cooperate with government requests to shorten business hours.
Yasutoshi Nishimura, the state minister in charge of dealing with the COVID-19 health scare, responds to questions in the Upper House Cabinet Committee on Jan. 14. (Kotaro Ebara)
The state minister in charge of handling the novel coronavirus pandemic said it is possible more prefectures could be added to the state of emergency depending on new infection trends.
Yasutoshi Nishimura, the state minister in charge of economic revitalization who also heads the government’s response to the COVID-19 crisis, said the state of emergency could be expanded beyond the 11 prefectures currently subject to it.
“Additional prefectures might be included depending on the infection situation,” Nishimura said at an Upper House Cabinet Committee meeting on Jan. 14 in response to a question from Hideya Sugio, a member of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.