Japanese pachinko parlors getting attention for all the wrong reasons

A senior Japanese politician has reportedly announced that the federal government is considering new ways to stop non-essential businesses from trading during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

According to a report from Inside Asian Gaming, Yasutoshi Nishimura (pictured) serves as Japan’s Economic Revitalization Minister and is said to be particularly concerned by the number of pachinko parlors that have remained open despite being advised to close as part of the month-long state of emergency declared by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on April 7.

Profound prospects:

A member of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Nishimura reportedly detailed that the government may soon begin using the recently-amended Special Measures for Pandemic Influenza and New Infectious Diseases Preparedness and Response Act to publicly name non-essential enterprises flouting the coronavirus-related lockdown. From here and the 57-year-old purportedly detailed that the legislation could moreover give individual prefectures the ability to permanently close repeat offenders.

Pachinko snub:

The highly-infectious coronavirus strain has so far killed some 280 people in Japan while Inside Asian Gaming reported that Nishimura’s revelation came after multiple governors detailed that some punters were ignoring the voluntary quarantine request by travelling long distances in order to enjoy games of pachinko.

Isolation initiative:

The Japan Times newspaper reported that Akashi-born Nishimura is spearheading the Japanese government’s anti-coronavirus measures and is attempting to convince the population to decrease all human interactions by up to 80%. He purportedly additionally suggested that people could help to defeat coronavirus by taking advantage of restaurant delivery services and begin interacting with family and friends online rather than in person.

Nishimura reportedly told the newspaper…

“I’m alarmed that efforts to decrease the number of new patients have been insufficient.”