OSAKA -- At least one pachinko parlor in the western Japan prefecture of Osaka continued to operate on April 25 despite being named and shamed by the prefectural government for remaining open in spite of a closure request amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The Osaka Prefectural Government disclosed the previous day the names of six pachinko parlors that continued to operate in spite of the closure request on its official website, based on a special measures law against new types of influenza and other infectious diseases. Of the six, the government was notified that two would close. It plans to delete their names from its website once the information is confirmed.

Customers were seen forming a long line at one of the parlors in the prefectural city of Sakai before its opening. Around 150 people were seen queued up waiting to receive a numbered entry ticket at the store just after 9 a.m. -- about an hour before the store opened. Employees called for customers to spread out.

License plates showed that some customers using the parlor's parking lot had come from outside the prefecture, including Kobe and Wakayama, also in western Japan. Some 300 people were waiting in line by the time the store opened.

One person who turned up, a man in his 60s, commented, "It's my daily habit, so I came here again today. I feel like there are more people lining up than usual." A man from the city of Wakayama, who came to the pachinko parlor with his wife, said, "I saw the list (of the six pachinko parlor names) on the news and visited. It's just a request (for closure), so I think it's OK for some outlets to operate."

Meanwhile, a 79-year-old woman who lives nearby, who was taking a walk, expressed concern, saying, "It's scary to think that people coming from far away could be carrying the virus."

(Japanese original by Yuta Shibayama, Osaka City News Department)