TOKYO: Restaurants and bars in Tokyo and other regions that were under a Covid-19 state of emergency until Thursday face a long road to a full recovery.

A ban on serving alcohol was lifted when the state of emergency ended, but many restaurants and bars have yet to see customer traffic return to the level before the pandemic.

A 26-year-old company worker visited a restaurant in Tokyo’s Shinbashi district Friday, despite heavy rain due to an approaching typhoon.

“This is the first drinking party since I came to Tokyo in April,” he said. “I’m happy.”

Tokuharu Hirayama, manager of the Nemuro Shokudo “izakaya” pub, said he stocked beer for the first time in several months. “Several bookings are coming in from mid-October,” he said.

Hirayama complained that the lifting of the state of emergency was too sudden, and that he has been forced to reduce the number of dishes on the menu from 50 to 15 due to a shortage of staff.

Prolonged restrictions “wore us down,” he said.

A liquor wholesaler in the Japanese capital’s Kyobashi district said that it started receiving a wave of orders the day after the government announced the end of the state of emergency.

“I had been unsure what would happen at one point, but I’m happy now,” a representative said. But the number of orders remains low, and the representative said that the store is still struggling.

“The customers can’t have fun if we don’t serve alcohol,” said the manager of a seafood izakaya in the Dotonbori district of Osaka, western Japan, which had closed during the state of emergency.

“I’m happy that sales will go up, but we will be in a harsh situation if infections surge,” the manager of a Korean restaurant said.

Food stalls in the Nakasu district of Fukuoka, southwestern Japan, resumed service on Friday after almost all of them were closed during the state of emergency. Among them was Shinryu, a noodle stall run by Yuki Hatake, which opened for the first time in two months.

Shinryu got certification for its COVID-19 precautions only on Thursday. “I can operate with confidence that it is a certified store,” Hatake said. “I hope that customers can feel secure.”

Most of the open stalls were full, but the number of operating stalls was less than half the usual levels. The number of people in the area were also much lower.

JIJI Press