Many Stores in Tokyo Announce Immediate Temporary Closing, Following COVID-19 State of Emergency Declaration

On April 7th, Prime Minister Abe declared a month-long state-of-emergency in response to the spread of the coronavirus in the country. The declaration applies to seven prefectures: Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa, Saitama, Osaka, Hyogo and Fukuoka prefectures.

The declaration allows governors in the seven affected regions to ask people to stay indoors and request that businesses close, but there are no enforcement mechanisms and no penalties for those who fail to comply.

Kyodo news reports that as of the evening of April 7th, the prefectures of Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, Osaka, Hyogo, and Fukuoka have not requested the closing of any private-sector companies.

The office of Tokyo Governor Koike said that by April 10th, she will make public a list of the types of businesses and industries that the government will request to be temporarily closed; and that the companies will be asked to implement closures starting on April 11th.

Many department stores, commercial complexes, restaurant chains, sports clubs, and other retailers in Tokyo are not waiting for an official request, but have already announced temporary closures.

Below is an incomplete list of representative stores that will be closed from April 8th to May 6th; or which have announced shortened hours or other changes to business operations as a result of the emergency declaration.

Supermarkets

  • All major supermarket chains will be open, but some will operate on shortened hours.

Convenience Stores

  • All major convenience store chains like Seven Eleven, Lawson, and Family Mart will be open, but individual stores may have shortened hours at the discretion of the franchise owner.

Department Stores

  • Daimaru
    • Closed from April 8th until further notice: Shinsaibashi store, Umeda store, Kobe store, Ashiya store, Tokyo store, Fukuoka Tenjin store, Matsuzakaya Ueno store.
    • Daimaru Suma and Matsuzakaya Takatsuki stores: Only food floors will be open.
  • Isetan Shinjuku
    • Closed from April 8th until lifting of state-of-emergency
  •  LUMINE
    • Closed from April 8th until lifting of state-of-emergency: Ikebukuro, Yurakucho, Shinjuku, LUMINE East Shinjuku, NeWoMan Shinjuku
    • All other LUMINE stores in greater Tokyo closed from April 8th until lifting of state-of-emergency, except for food floors.
  • Mitsukoshi Ginza
    • Closed from April 8th until lifting of state-of-emergency
  • Odakyu Shinjuku
    • Closed from April 8th until May 6th
    • Food floors will be open from 10:30AM to 5PM, closed Saturdays and Sundays
  • Seibu Sogo
    • Closed from April 8th until further notice: Seibu Ikebukuro Main Store, Seibu Shibuya Store, Seibu Tokorozawa SC, Seibu Higashi-Totsuka SC; Sogo Yokohama store, Sogo Chiba store, Sogo Omiya store, Sogo Kawaguchi store, Sogo Nishijin store.
    • Stores in other areas of Japan operating on shortened hours: Seibu Otsu store, Seibu Fukui store, Seibu Okazaki store, Seibu Akita store; Sogo Hiroshima store, Sogo Tokushima store
  • Takashimaya Shinjuku
    • Closed from April 8th until further notice.
    • Food floors open from 11AM to 6PM
  • Tobu Ikebukuro
    • Closed from April 8th to May 6th, except for food floor.

Large Commercial Complexes

  • AEON Mall
    • AEON will close the tenant portion of 57 department stores it operates in 7 prefectures (Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Osaka, Hyogo, and Fukuoka) but will continue operating its supermarkets.
  • Roppongi Hills
    • Closed from April 8th until lifting of state-of-emergency.
    • Except for: Grand Food Hall, K-RIVER Pharmacy (*), Seijo Ishii, Tomod’s, NATURAL LAWSON, Family Mart, LINCOS, Roppongi Hills Clinic (*), Roppongi Hills Nishibori Dental Office (*), ROPPONGI HILLS POST OFFICE (*), The Sawayaka Shinkin Bank ATM, Seven Bank ATMs, Mizuho Bank ATMs, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation ATMs. Stores marked with asterisk will continue to follow regular store hours for opening/closing.
  • Tokyo MidTown
    • Closed from April 8th until lifting of state-of-emergency.
    • Except for: Seven-Eleven, Precce Premium, Tomod’s
  • DiverCity Tokyo
    • Closed from April 8th until further notice, except for some stores.
  • Sunshine City (Ikebukuro)
    • Closed from April 8th to May 6th, except for some stores.
  • Shibuya Hikarie
    • Closed from April 8th to May 6th.
    • Creative Lounge MOV: Open on April 8th until 5PM. Closed from April 9th to May 6th.
  • Shibuya 109
    • Closed from April 8th to first part of May.
  • Tokyo Dome City
    • Closed from April 8th until further notice.
    • Except for Seijo Ishii, Matumoto Kiyoshi, Seven Eleven, post office

Gyms and sports clubs

  • Konami Sports Clubs: Closed from April 8th until further notice. All facilities in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Ibaraki, Gunma; Osaka, Hyogo, Kyoto, Nara, ShigaOsaka, Hyogo, Kyoto, Nara, Shiga; and Fukuoka prefectures.
  • Tipness: Closed from April 8th until May 6th: All facilities in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, and Hyogo.

Barbershops

  • QB House, a nationwide discount barber shop chain, has announced that starting on April 8th, it will start to close shops in the seven prefectures affected by the emergency declaration.

Izakaya (Japanese-style pubs)

  • DD Holdings, which operates a Warayaki-ya, a major chain of izakaya, announced that it will close all 472 stores it directly operates from April 8th to 20th. It will place 10,000 full-time and part-time on paid leave during this time.

Restaurants and fast food chains

  • Sukiya (Beef bowl restaurant chain) will reduce menu items from 50 to about 20 selections in order to decrease work process.
  • MacDonalds: Some stores will operate on shortened hours.
  • Starbucks: As of the morning of April 8th, Starbucks has not announced temporary store closures related to the emergency declaration, but as was already announced, starting from April 6th, all stores in Tokyo will close at 6PM.

Cram schools

  • Surugadai Gakuen, which operates Sundai Preparatory School, one of Japan’s largest groups of prep schools, will postpone the opening of classes that were scheduled to open on April 15 to May 7th.
  • Kawaii Juku, another major prep school chain closed its self-study classrooms on April 7th throughout Kanto, Kinki, and Fukuoka. It will re-open starting on May 7th using video classes.

Sources: Official websites of businesses above, Nikkei newspaper, April 7, 2020 (in Japanese), Kyodo News, April 7, 2020 (in Japanese)


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