The Japan News by The Yomiuri Shimbun
Businesses grapple with coronavirus guidelines
Businesses and stores that often directly interact with customers are feeling the effects of guidelines compiled to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Communication between sales associates and customers has fallen in cosmetics departments. At live music venues, the usually feverish mood has been dampened.
Workers in such places find themselves bewildered by the changes they have had to make, but they say they understand it is to help prevent the virus from spreading.
“Unless our customers are holding our cosmetic testers in their hands, it is difficult to attract new customers,” said Takahiro Tashiro, 29, deputy chief of Tashiro Co.’s sales headquarters. Tashiro Co. is a Yokohama-based company operating the Cosmetic Terrace chain.
Sales associates only hand merchandise to customers upon request, and the practice of applying makeup to customers directly has been suspended. The associates can now only offer cosmetic advice to customers verbally, with the length of time for such counseling halved to 15 minutes, on average.
The guidelines of 12 retail industry associations, including the Japan Department Stores Association, state merchandise and equipment that many people touch should be disinfected regularly; customers and sales associates should keep a certain distance from each other; and sales associates should refrain as much as possible from holding unessential conversations.
“I used to learn all about skincare [from the associates] while trying new products,” said a 28-year-old customer in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture.
Live music venue Macana in Sendai reopened its doors on
June 11 after being closed for 72 days.
The guidelines presented by the Miyagi prefectural government allow clubs with live music to hold events but they are being advised to operate at 50%.
On the first day of the resumed service, about 20 customers came, and they did not loudly cheer for musicians.
“It felt strange to be separated from other people in the audience,” said a company employee in her 20s who enjoyed the attending a live music performance after a long hiatus.
An industry association involved with such clubs released its own guidelines, requiring performers to wear masks unless doing so hinders their performance. It also urges members of the audience to refrain from shouting.
“Many of the points [mentioned in the guidelines] are just not realistic for clubs with live music,” said Yoichi Sato, 53, who runs Macana.
In Kanagawa Prefecture, recreational beaches will not be opened to the public this year.
The prefectural government has compiled guidelines on the use of recreational beach sites, which stipulated that beachside service areas can only be used by those with reservations, and markers should be placed on beaches to maintain social distancing among visitors.
Municipal governments in the coastal areas and organizations operating the recreational spots have since given up on opening the sites, citing the difficulty of implementing the guidelines.
There have also been cases where worker opposition has caused guidelines to come under review.
Initially, the Japan Library Association asked libraries to record the names of visitors as a means of identifying users should infections occur. However, many library workers voiced objections saying that it runs against the association’s philosophy that the privacy of users must be protected.
The association’s opposition comes from a bitter lesson learned in the prewar era, when book-lending records were used by police to crack down on political offenders.
Workers added that if libraries ask visitors to take time to write down their names and other information at the entrance, they will form long lines that will result in a crowd or close-contact settings.
On June 26, the association revised the decision on the matter. The revised rule stipulates that each library will make their own judgments about this rule.