Twenty-two pachinko parlors in Tokyo finally closed their doors on Tuesday just moments before their names were set to be publicly released, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has revealed.
The 22 parlors had previously refused to comply with official requests for temporary closures, based on Article 45 of the revised special measures law to combat new strains of influenza, in order to fight the spread of COVID-19.
According to Jiji Press, the government had confirmed via information from citizens and visits by metropolitan officials that the venues continued to operate, but the parlors were eventually found to be closed upon further visits from officials on Tuesday, shortly before they were to be named and shamed. There are a total of around 750 pachinko parlors in Japan’s capital city.
The government of Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, followed through with its own threat on Tuesday by naming six local pachinko parlors that had refused to suspend operations.
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