TOKYO (BLOOMBERG) - Lines outside Tokyo's pachinko parlours show the limits of Japan's ability to enforce social distancing, just as the country heads into a series of holidays that could be key to its attempts to control the spread of the coronavirus.
Pachinko, a US$192 billion (S$274 billion) industry that lures gamblers with pinball-like machines, has come under scrutiny since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared a state of emergency in Tokyo and six other prefectures two weeks ago. As virus cases continued to climb in the country, topping 11,100 as of Tuesday (April 21), the emergency was extended nationwide.
While many non-essential businesses have voluntarily shut or cut hours in accordance with local government requests, there are no penalties for failure to comply and some pachinko parlours have remained open. Concerns have grown as gamblers risk spreading the virus by traveling in search of places to play.
"Where they are open in one area, I hear that people travel from other prefectures to gather there," Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who heads the government's response to the pandemic, said on Tuesday.
In a video call with regional governors, he promised to lay out guidelines by the end of Thursday on how to pressure businesses to comply.
Pachinko parlours already operate in a legal grey area, skirting anti-gambling laws by giving winners prizes that they can exchange for cash off the premises.
The issue is coming to a head as Japan braces for Golden Week, a series of public holidays from late April to early May that are among the most popular times to travel. The state of emergency is currently set to end May 6, though an extension is possible.
Unlike countries including the UK and France, Japan hasn't introduced fines for leaving home unnecessarily.
Japan has thus far avoided the explosive surge in cases seen in other parts of the world, but the number has been steadily increasing, and a wave of tourists from urban areas could rapidly worsen the situation in the regions, where the population tends to be elderly. Tourist hot spots have taken the unusual step of urging people not to visit, after a seaside resort saw traffic jams in sunny weather last Sunday.
Abe in his emergency address on April 7 urged citizens to cut contact with others by at least 70 per cent or 80 per cent, warning infections in Tokyo could surge to 80,000 in a month if the current rate holds.
The Osaka prefectural government has received hundreds of complaints about businesses that have failed to close, with pachinko parlours being the most numerous, Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura said on Twitter on Tuesday.
He plans to have officials contact each business individually, and will publish the names of those that continue to refuse to shut down, he said.
Large pachinko operators may be better positioned to close than smaller companies. Maruhan, which operates 318 parlours, has gradually closed more than 200 of them, according to its website. Yunika, which has continued to operate at least one of its handful of outlets in the Tokyo region, didn't respond to a request for comment.
Akiko Oishi, a former Osaka bureaucrat who is preparing to run in the next general election from the small opposition Reiwa Shinsengumi, said her conversations with business owners refusing to close show they were mostly doing so to avoid having to fold completely.
"The only way to ensure they close without putting them out of business is for the government to provide a lot of money," she said in an e-mail. "There's no other way out."
