TOKYO: Restaurants and bars in Tokyo, which is under a fresh coronavirus state of emergency issued by the Japanese government, are racking their brains for new ideas for survival, such as targeting solo customers.

At Bar Zikkai, a book cafe and bar in the posh Ginza district, where some 3,000 books are on display, solo customers were seen silently reading books over alcoholic and other beverages.

Since the new state of emergency over the novel coronavirus took effect on Jan. 8 in the Japanese capital and three neighboring prefectures, the store has been focusing more on solo customers and rejecting entry by groups of three or more people in principle. A pair of visitors are asked to sit separately and refrain from talking, except when making orders.

“I want to reduce the infection risk for my staff,” Haruna Hijikata, the 32-year-old manager of Bar Zikkai, said while noting that the store previously had “a lively atmosphere with its employees and customers enjoying conversations.”

“Our customers include many who come alone, and we adopted a strategy to enable solo customers to read books more comfortably,” Hijikata said. Bar Zikkai stops serving alcoholic drinks at 7 p.m. and close at 8 p.m. during the period of the state of emergency, which is slated to run until Feb. 7, accepting the Tokyo metropolitan government’s request for eating and drinking establishments not to operate after 8 p.m. The state of emergency was expanded later to cover seven more prefectures.

Dokutsuya, a ramen restaurant in the city of Musashino in Tokyo, has moved up its opening time to 6 a.m. to make up for the loss of revenue from closing early under the state of emergency.

“We’ve started to have new customers, such as salaried employees before going to work and mothers after getting their children off” to school or kindergarten, Ryu Yamamoto, the 37-year-old manager of Dokutsuya, said.

The measure is “part of our efforts to continue running the business,” Yamamoto said, expressing hopes that the early opening will attract more and more Tokyonew customers.

A “teppanyaki” grilled food restaurant in Shinjuku Ward is offering a one-hour five-course meal during the emergency period as a way for it to comply with the authorities’ request for closing by 8 p.m. while responding to customers’ wishes to have dinners at the restaurant from 7 p.m. It usually offers a nine-course meal that lasts for two hours.

“Each of the nine dishes has its own meaning, so there were things we didn’t want to change as we run this business,” the restaurant’s manager, 44, said.

“But we have to respond flexibly to the circumstances,” he said, noting that the business situation is tough amid the virus crisis.

JIJI Press