The Hyogo prefectural government ordered three pachinko parlors to close in Kobe to combat the spread of the coronavirus. It is the first time in the nation that such an order was issued based on the revised law on special measures against new strains of influenza, according to the local government.
Hyogo Gov. Toshizo Ido was telling reporters Friday morning, "We will issue a written notice to shops that are still open today," and the local government was in the process of exercising the measure.
Under the law, prefectural governments can take three steps: request cooperation, request operators to suspend their business, and order operators to suspend their business. Ordering a business is the strongest measure and forces operators to comply or be in violation of the law.
Just like when making the request, governments concerned are allowed to disclose the names of operators when ordering businesses to temporarily close, however, there is no penalty if it operators choose not to comply.
According to the Hyogo prefectural government, there are a total of 391 pachinko parlors in the prefecture. On April 15, the government asked them for their cooperation, and on April 27 and 28, the government released the names of seven pachinko parlors that did not follow the request. Later two of the seven pachinko parlors closed.
The prefectural government checked the remaining five pachinko parlors on Friday morning, and Kobe's Phoenix Shinzaike, Phoenix Maya and Phoenix Nagata were still open.
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