Operator News

Japan – Japanese governors turn to naming and shaming pachinko halls defying lock down

By Phil - 28 April 2020

Japan has turned to naming and shaming operators of pachinko halls who have refused to shut up shop during the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite under a month-long state of lock down, Japanese legislation prevents the government of forcing businesses to close or indeed fine those who refuse.
In Osaka around 30 pachinko halls have stayed open

Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura has so far named nine pachinko operators that are still open. He said: “It is very possible that infections spread at these places. I am not doing this to make examples out of them or to apply pressure. This is being done to ask Osaka residents not to go there.”
A spokesman for Osaka Prefecture later added: “A lot of places have closed down after we named the six last week. We are now conducting a survey of pachinko parlours and will announce the results accordingly.”

Of the parlous still open, he added: “They are big, and we know where they are. When it comes to bars and restaurants that are still operating, however, finding them is more difficult.”

In neighbouring Hyogo, Governor Toshizo Ido has named six pachinko halls which are still open. Having taken similar action, Tokyo’s Governor Yuriko Koike now believes that 156 pachinko halls still in operation that government officials had visited had now close, but there is still believed to be another 600 who haven’t closed yet.

Osaka-based pachinko operator Okada Enterprise said it was trying to protect the incomes of its 600 strong workforce

“If we suspend our operations now, we will go bankrupt and will have to abandon our responsibility to our employees and business partners,” the group stated.

Eleven pachinko halls are believed to be still in operation in Wakayama Prefecture with its Governor Yoshinobu Nisaka saying he will name and shame them next week if they do not shut.