＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
The national government declared a state of emergency on April 7, 2020, and designated seven prefectures—Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Osaka, Hyogo, and Fukuoka—as “state of emergency areas.” Aichi and Kyoto, which were not designated as such, have requested additional designation.
Following the declaration of a state of emergency, the issue of compensation for business closures for businesses that have been requested to close suddenly came into focus.
France appears to be planning to provide fairly generous compensation for business closures. However, this may result in a significant financial burden.
In Japan, while Tokyo is positive about providing compensation for business closures in conjunction with requests for business closures, the national government and neighboring prefectures are opposed.
I would like to consider this issue in this article.
1. The National Government’s Basic Approach
(1) Requests for Business Closures
The national government will first issue a request to refrain from going out, followed by a request to restrict the use of facilities. We intend to assess the effectiveness of the request to reduce human contact by 80%.
(2) Compensation for Business Closure
Regarding compensation for business closures, even those not specifically requested to close will be adversely affected by the closures. Therefore, providing compensation only to those industries specifically requested to close would lack fairness, and expanding the scope of compensation would be limitless. Therefore, the national government has decided not to provide compensation for business closures. We recognize that there are issues of fairness and funding.
2. Tokyo’s Basic Approach
Tokyo believes that simply requesting an 80% reduction in contact with others and requests to refrain from going out are not enough to prevent an “explosive spread of infection (overshoot).” Instead of issuing requests for business closures to a wide range of businesses, the city is considering implementing its own “business closure compensation” (infection prevention cooperation funds).
(1) Business closure Request
On April 10, Tokyo announced the businesses subject to the request for business closures. The following are the businesses:
① Entertainment Facilities, etc.
Cabarets, nightclubs, dance halls, cafes, bars, public baths with private rooms, video stores with private rooms, internet cafes, manga cafes, karaoke booths, betting offices, live music venues, etc.
② Universities, Cram Schools, etc.
Large-scale educational facilities (with a total floor area of over 1,000 m2) such as universities, vocational schools, and schools, as well as driving schools and cram schools.
③ Sports and Amusement Facilities
Sports facilities such as gymnasiums, swimming pools, and sports clubs, and amusement facilities such as mahjong parlors, pachinko parlors, and game centers.
④ Theaters, etc.
Theaters, viewing halls, and movie theaters Art museums, entertainment halls, etc.
⑤ Meeting and exhibition facilities
Large-scale (total floor area exceeding 1,000 m2) assembly halls, public halls, exhibition halls, museums, art galleries, or libraries, hotels, or inns (limited to areas used for meetings)
⑥ Large-scale commercial facilities (total floor area exceeding 1,000 m2)
Stores other than those selling “essential goods” and stores operating “services other than essential services”
(2) Compensation for business closures
Businesses that comply with the request to close will receive 500,000 yen if they operate only one store, and 1 million yen if they operate two or more stores.
3. Basic Stance of the Six Other Prefectures
(1) Business Closure Requests
Other prefectures believe that business closure requests and business closure compensation should go hand in hand. However, due to their lack of financial resources like Tokyo, they plan to request business closure compensation from the national government.
The National Governors’ Association held a task force meeting on April 8 in response to the COVID-19 state of emergency declaration.
The meeting clearly stated their intention to work together with the national government to prevent the spread of infection, and as a concrete measure to increase the effectiveness of the state of emergency declaration, they requested the national government to provide compensation for losses associated with the cancellation or suspension of events and business activities.
Kanagawa and Saitama prefectures announced that they would request business closures based on the same standards as Tokyo. However, Chiba Governor Morita announced on April 10 that they would not request business closures. However, on April 11, he changed his stance, stating that Chiba Prefecture would also request business closures based on the same standards as Tokyo.
Osaka Prefecture announced the industries subject to business closure requests on April 10. There are no size requirements and the list of businesses subject to the closure request includes “entertainment facilities, theaters, cinemas, assembly and exhibition facilities, sports facilities, schools, etc.” These businesses are largely similar to those subject to the request in Tokyo. A decision on whether to request closures will be made on April 13th.
Regarding pachinko parlors, the Osaka Prefecture Amusement Industry Cooperative Association, an industry association, has already requested that its affiliated pachinko parlors suspend operations from April 9th.
(2) Compensation for Business Closures
Osaka Governor Yoshimura, who announced the list of businesses subject to the closure request, stated that “it would be difficult to provide independent subsidies like Tokyo.”
Governors of other prefectures, not as financially well-off as Tokyo, are also opposed to compensation for business closures. However, Governor Kuroiwa of Kanagawa Prefecture and others have hinted that “we will consider whether it is possible to respond in a manner similar to Tokyo’s by utilizing grants, etc.”
For prefectures other than Tokyo, it would probably be best to have emergency loans provided by government-affiliated financial institutions such as the Japan Finance Corporation or the Shoko Chukin Bank, or emergency loans guaranteed by the prefecture’s credit guarantee association provided by private financial institutions.
In that case, I think the repayment method would need to be a lump sum at the end of the term or a balloon payment method that limits monthly repayments to small amounts, and interest rates would also need to be kept low.
4. Issues with Tokyo’s Business Closure Request and Business Closure Compensation
(1) A Sense of Inequity Between Tokyo and Other Prefectures
Businesses and stores in Tokyo receive business closure compensation under the name of “infection prevention cooperation funds,” while businesses and stores in other prefectures receive no financial compensation even if they close, creating a sense of inequity.
(2) Concerns that customers of suspended businesses will flow from Tokyo to neighboring prefectures, spreading the infection.
Even if a business is suspended in Tokyo, other prefectures, such as Chiba Prefecture, may not necessarily request businesses to refrain from business closures. (Note: Chiba Prefecture also announced on April 11 that it would change its policy to request businesses to refrain from business closures.)
Furthermore, even if neighboring prefectures follow Tokyo’s lead and request businesses to close, some businesses and stores will likely continue operating because they will not receive financial compensation.
In that case, customers may flow from Tokyo to other prefectures that are not closed, potentially spreading the infection to those prefectures.
Even if Tokyo and its three neighboring prefectures voluntarily suspend business operations, there is a risk that customers will continue to flow to neighboring prefectures. I’ve heard that people in Osaka Prefecture, where I live, are going to the Kintetsu Department Store in Nara because the Abe Kintetsu Department Store is closed.
(3) Concerns about funds flowing from businesses and stores in closed industries to organized crime and North Korea.
There is a risk that some of the compensation paid to nightclubs, bars, and adult entertainment businesses for business closures will be channeled to organized crime, and some of the compensation paid to pachinko parlors will be channeled to North Korea and other countries.
(4) Concerns about further strain on Tokyo’s finances if the closure request is extended or reissued.
If the explosive spread (overshoot) of infections does not subside by May 6, the closure request may be extended. Even if the infection subsides, there is a possibility of another outbreak, in which case a second or third closure request would be necessary.
This would further strain and strain Tokyo’s finances, greatly increasing the risk of exhaustion.