Japanese cinemas, which shut down in mid-April in response to the state of emergency declaration, have begun slowly re-opening.
On May 11th, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government announced that it was arranging to lift the state of emergency for the 34 prefectures least affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
The remaining 13, which include Tokyo and Osaka, are still under emergency advisories which include theater closures. Those will last until at least the end of the month.
Japan is the world’s third largest cinema box office market behind North America and China. Toho Cinemas and Aeon Cinemas have announced they will reopen 10 and 27 multiplexes respectively in the 34 least affected prefectures on May 15th.
Toho and Aeon are also taking measures to protect the safety of theater-goers with social distance-minded seating, mask wearing, hand sanitizers and clear plastic screens for interactions with staff. Several independent theaters in these areas are back in business.
Source: Variety
