Expectations that large commercial facilities will be asked to close and large events will be held without spectators under a planned state of emergency have caused confusion among those in relevant industries.
Large commercial facilities are expected to be asked to close with the exception of sections selling products such as daily necessities.
"We don't even know where to draw the line for sections that sell daily necessities. Even if we are expected to close suddenly, we can't react," said a representative of a major department store Friday morning.
A total of 27 professional baseball games are scheduled in the four prefectures to be covered by the planned state of emergency from Sunday through May 11. Tickets are already on sale for some of the games. The teams are set to discuss their responses based on official requests from central and local governments.
Eleven official J.League soccer games are scheduled to be held in the four prefectures during the same period. The league and clubs are considering holding the games without spectators, depending on government measures.
Ticket sales have also begun for the summer sumo tournament set to start on May 9 at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo. The Japan Sumo Association had planned to limit the number of spectators to 5,000 per day, which is less than 50% of the capacity, but it is now reconsidering its plans.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
