Japan mulls tougher measures to force pachinkos to shut

Japanese pachinko parlors are proving harder to kill than Godzilla, despite public shaming by some local governors.

Earlier this month, some Japanese politicians expressed displeasure at the reluctance of some pachinko operators to shut their doors to reduce the spread of COVID-19. But the national emergency declared by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe didn’t arm local governors with the authority to actually order the businesses to close.

Politicians responded with the only tools at their disposal: publicly naming and shaming pachinkos that remained open. In Tokyo, Governor Yuriko Koike said Tuesday that 156 pachinkos had closed following public pressure but hundreds of others are believed to remain open.

Things have gone less smoothly in Osaka prefecture, where around 30 pachinkos were still open going into last weekend. Agence France Press reported that Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura had publicly shamed nine operators, although this has resulted in only some of them closing their doors.