TOKYO: People working in tourism-oriented areas in Japan are increasingly alarmed as they are set to have throngs of visitors from China, where the Lunar New Year holiday period has started at a time when the country has been stunned by outbreaks of pneumonia caused by a new type of coronavirus.

"We can't close our shops. It can't be helped," Kazuo Sasaki, 69, an official at the Nijo Fish Market in Sapporo in the northernmost Japan prefecture of Hokkaido, said, while expressing concerns over growing risks of infection due to an increase in the number of visitors. The fish market is one of major sightseeing spots in the Hokkaido capital, which attracts over 300,000 tourists from China a year.

At a Sapporo drug store where Chinese account for about 70 pct of customers, face masks and sterilization agents have been in short supply.

The store now allows its staff workers to wear masks when serving customers, in order to protect their own health. "We want to sell products to as many people as possible," an official at the store said, with a sense of tension.

A 20-year-old male university student working part-time at an eatery near Maihama Station of East Japan Railway Co., or JR East, in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, said: "I can't wear a mask when I serve guests. It can't be helped, but I'm scared." The train station is a gateway to Tokyo Disney Resort, which is flooded with tourists from abroad, including China, as well as Japanese visitors.

"I'm startled when someone sneezes in front of me," said a housewife in her 40s who was visiting the theme park in Urayasu with her five-year-old daughter. The woman, who is from Tokyo's Setagaya Ward, said that she is increasingly worried to see a flurry of media reports about the new coronavirus every day.

Meanwhile, an official at the Nishiki Market in Nakagyo Ward in the city of Kyoto, western Japan, which is also a popular destination among foreign tourists, sounded relatively optimistic, saying: "I don't feel a sense of crisis (among member shops). We are waiting to see (what will happen)."

At the same time, the official showed a stance of closely monitoring how the situation will develop and said, "I'm a little concerned about a possible drop in the number of Japanese visitors."

To avoid infection with the new coronavirus, workers at the market, where more than 120 shops sell products such as fish and local vegetables, have been advised to wear masks and frequently gargle, the same measures as those against influenza.

JIJI Press