‘Do not open, I will start a fire!’: Japan’s bars, restaurants targeted by coronavirus ‘vigilantes’

A local government employee was charged with forcible obstruction after threatening restaurants that stayed open in Tokyo

This came before Prime Minister Shinzo Abe lifted the coronavirus state of emergency for all of Japan on Monday

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A Tokyo office worker is seen at a discount izakaya bar offering cheap food and drinks. Some establishments were targeted before Japan lifted its emergency restrictions. Photo: Reuters

Published: 6:00pm, 25 May 2020Updated: 9:52pm, 25 May 2020

Bars, restaurants and other entertainment businesses in Japan have been the target of “coronavirus vigilantes” during state of emergency regulations in the last few weeks, with citizens threatening those that stay open with verbal abuse, and even arson.

Last week, a 63-year-old local government employee was charged with forcible obstruction of a business after he threatened to set fire to restaurants that stayed open in Japan’s capital.

The man, who works for the government of Toshima in central Tokyo, taped handwritten messages on the doors of a number of establishments that read, “Do not open! I will start a fire!”, according to The Mainichi newspaper.

A temporary closure sign hangs on the entrance to a bar in the Kamata district of Tokyo. Photo: Bloomberg

In Yokohama, a sign reading “Idiot! Die! Go out of business!” was attached to the door of an izakaya – a Japanese-style pub – in late April. The restaurant had stopped serving food inside the bar but was offering a limited takeaway menu.

And as a live music venue in Tokyo’s Suginami Ward live-streamed a singer performing in a completely empty club, a message was left at the front door saying it should close until the end of the state of emergency.