Japan’s prime minister has declared a state of emergency in Tokyo ahead of the Olympic Games this month, banning bars from selling alcohol.
The owners of some restaurants and bars in Tokyo are outraged as they will be forced to suspend serving alcohol again under a fresh COVID-19 state of emergency.
As the Japanese Times has stated, owners are complaining of what they see as the double standards imposed by the government in banning alcohol while allowing the Tokyo Olympics to proceed as planned.
Set to run from 12 July to 22 August, the state of emergency means alcohol sales in on-trade venues, including restaurants and karaoke bars, will be suspended. Venues will also have to close by 8pm.
At the same time, the Olympic Games in Japan – which will take place from 23 July to 8 August – will be held without spectators at venues in and around the capital.
In a conference on Tuesday 7 July, the prime minister said: “Although the number of severely ill patients and the occupancy rates of hospital beds have remained at a low level, the impact of the mutated strains must be taken into account.
“We must strengthen the countermeasures to prevent the infections from spreading to the rest of the country again.
“Given the situation, we will issue a state of emergency for Tokyo, and extend [the current state of emergency] in Okinawa until August 22.
“In areas under the state of emergency, we will continue with the measures we have been undertaking and will uniformly suspend the serving of alcoholic beverages at restaurants.”
Japan is not the only nation to have imposed alcohol restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic. South Africa’s government has introduced multiple nationwide alcohol bans since the start of the pandemic.