SoraNews24 —Japan News—

Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.

RocketNews24 Japanese

Featured

McDonald’s Japan finally bans eat-in dining at over 1,900 locations in Tokyo, elsewhere in Japan

New policy goes into place ahead of Japan’s spring vacation period.

There’re some surprising gaps in how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting life in Japan. In some ways, it’s brought big changes that mirror those in other countries, like an ongoing mask shortage, the cancellation of major events, and postponement of movies releases.

But one thing that hasn’t been nearly as affected is people’s abilities to eat in restaurants. Granted, a lot of people are voluntarily choosing to eat at home these days, but restaurants that want to stay open are allowed to do so, and not just for take-out orders, as in-restaurant dining has yet to be legally barred by the Japanese government.

However, McDonald’s Japan is now taking it upon itself to institute such changes at a number of its locations. From April 20, 1,910 of the chain’s restaurants will cease offering eat-in service and will only be providing meals to-go or via home delivery orders. The affected restaurants are located in Tokyo (350 affected restaurants) and the prefectures of Kanagawa (230), Chiba (160), Saitama (180), Kyoto (80), Osaka (240), Hyogo (150), Aichi (190), Fukuoka (90), Hokkaido (90), Ibaraki (80), Ishikawa (30), and Gifu (40).

Prior to the new policy, McDonald’s had restricted in-restaurant dining at certain branches between the hours of 8 p.m. and 5 a.m., and had also closed certain branches entirely in response to the coronavirus outbreak. While the no-eat-in rule doesn’t apply to all of the roughly 2,900 branches the chain has in Japan, it does affect the majority of them. Eat-in service is to be suspended at the branches through at least May 6, which keep customers from dining in the restaurants for the official duration of Japan’s Golden Week spring holiday.

While the change means certain lonely SoraNews24 writers will have to find a new place to hold their one-person parties, hopefully this will help flatten Japan’s coronavirus curve, and at least we can take heart in knowing that McDonald’s Japan’s still offers its free smiles as part of its delivery orders.

Sources: McDonald’s, Nihon Keizai Shmbun via Jin
Photos ©SoraNews24
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Like this:

Like Loading…

Related Stories

Trackbacks

  1. There are no trackbacks yet.
  2. Trackback URL

Trending Today

  1. Making the latest social media snack sensation in Japan, Dot Butter
  2. Pokémon Adidas crossover sneaker line releases in Japan, gives your feet Pikachu hugs [Pics]
  3. Can hanging a handy fan on your crotch keep you cool in the Tokyo summer? SN24 investigates
  4. Are Japanese temples on Mt Koya cashing in on the foreign tourism boom?
  5. Ghibli/Kyoto crossover artwork decorates goshuin papers for Zen and Ghibli art exhibition [Pics]
  6. 7-Eleven Japan’s Ramen Machine is a viral hit, but there’s one glaring problem
  7. Japan’s new delicious dark horse sweet potato dessert drink is waiting at a beef bowl chain
  8. Tokyo to repaint streets over rule that makes it impossible for cars to pass bicycles
  9. Japan’s new Pokémon Poké Ball hotel releases new details, and it’s giving away free stays [Video]
  10. Starbucks and clothing brand Beams team up for launch of second collaborative core collection

© SoraNews24 —Japan News— / SOCIO CORPORATION

Powered by WordPress VIP

%d