While the state of emergency continues to request restaurants to shorten their business hours, the act of gathering and drinking alcohol on the streets, especially in downtown areas, has become a problem.
Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo has taken measures to block the plaza in front of Takadanobaba Station with a fence as a countermeasure against such "drinking on the street".
Due to the state of emergency, many restaurants in Tokyo are closed or shortened business hours, and while drinking alcohol outdoors, mainly in downtown areas, "street drinking" is occurring one after another, and in addition to the risk of infection, garbage is left unattended. Annoying behavior is a problem.
In Shinjuku Ward, we have been calling out to stop "drinking on the street" in cooperation with the police, but in the plaza in front of Takadanobaba Station, about 100 people, mainly young people, drink alcohol at times. It means that.
The ward closed the plaza by half on the 9th of last month, but no noticeable improvement was seen, so on the 19th, a fence was installed between the plaza and the sidewalk to block the smoking area inside the plaza. The we.
An 80-year-old woman living nearby said, "I always thought that many people were gathering in the square and it was dense and dangerous. I'm glad I closed it."
A male student in the second year of college said, "I think my college student was drinking in the plaza. I understand that I can't do events and travel and feel stressed, but when the plaza was closed, I couldn't drink on the street and Corona quickly started drinking. I want you to fit in. "
Koichi Matsuda, director of crisis management in Shinjuku Ward, said, "There are some parts that people who are drinking cannot hear even if I call out, so this time I had to make a painful decision to physically block it. How can I drink? I would like to continue to think about whether it will reach the people who are out there and take measures. "
Representative of a garbage picking group "Looking back at your actions"
In the plaza in front of Takadanobaba Station, a nearby Waseda University student group continues to pick up trash.
The Rotary Association, which was launched last January, picks up trash in the square six times a week in the morning or at night.
In March, after the second state of emergency was lifted in Tokyo, the number of people drinking in the open space increased, and about 200 empty cans were left unattended, but even now. Every time, about 5 trash bags are filled, including bottles of wine and whiskey.
Regarding the closure of the plaza, Mr. Kuninori Arai of Waseda University, the representative, said, "The plaza was the face of Takadanobaba, and it was also a place for interaction and relaxation. It's hard. I think that drinking on the street and littering have led to a constant blockade, so I would like those people to reconsider their actions in the Corona disaster. "