TOKYO: Oriental Land Co. said Friday that it will move up the closing time for its Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea theme parks further, to 7pm, between Tuesday and Feb. 7 as a fresh state of emergency over the novel coronavirus has come into effect in the Tokyo metropolitan area.

The operator previously said that the two Disney theme parks in the city of Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, would close at 8pm between Friday and Jan. 31, instead of 9pm. From Tuesday, after the three-day weekend, the number of visitors to each of the parks will be capped at 5,000, excluding those who have already bought advance tickets.

Measures to prevent infections will be strengthened at the parks. Since the parks were reopened in July last year after a shutdown reflecting the epidemic, Oriental Land has been limiting the number of guests to about half of the normal levels.

Other businesses in the service industry, including restaurant operators and retailers, have also decided their measures in response to the government’s emergency declaration, covering Tokyo and neighboring Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures, and lasting until Feb. 7.

Many “izakaya” pub operators, which rely heavily on sales from nighttime operations, have decided to close outlets on a temporary basis. Miki Watanabe, chairman and group CEO of major izakaya chain operator Watami Co., said the company “wants to comply with authorities’ requests” for shorter business hours, but added, “The country’s dining-out industry will collapse if things remain unchanged.”

Watami opted to temporarily close 83 of its some 140 directly run outlets in the four prefectures. “We won’t be able to raise sales if we don’t serve alcoholic beverages after 7pm in line with authorities’ request,” Watanabe said.

Among other izakaya operators, Kushikatsu Tanaka Holdings Co., which serves skewed food, decided to suspend operations at 83 outlets, or almost all of its directly run outlets in the Tokyo area, from Friday.

Businesses have taken different paths on takeout services.

Three major “gyudon” beef-on-rice restaurant operators–Sukiya Co., Yoshinoya Co. and Matsuya Foods Co.–and hamburger chain McDonald’s Holdings Co. (Japan) Ltd. each decided to stop eat-in services at 8 p.m. in the Tokyo area while continuing takeout and delivery services during nighttime.

Meanwhile, hamburger chain Mos Food Services Inc. and Starbucks Coffee Japan Ltd. decided to end both eat-in and takeout services at 8pm.

Eat-in areas at convenience stores operated by Seven-Eleven Japan Co., a unit of Seven & i Holdings Co., will be closed all day.

FamilyMart Co., which is affiliated with major trader Itochu Corp., and Lawson Inc. will close such areas at 8pm.

JIJI Press