OSAKA—Bar owners and customers here, fed up with the prefectural government asking for curtailed operating hours during the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, are blatantly defying the latest request.

Many drinking establishments in the city are now open and often crowded with customers well after 8 p.m., when they should have closed in line with the current pre-emergency measures in place in Osaka Prefecture.

Some businesses in Osaka city’s Minami entertainment district have posted signs saying they would be closed until the pre-emergency measures are lifted.

But one “izakaya” Japanese-style pub in the area was still open one recent night even at 10:30 p.m. And almost all of its 70 or so seats were filled.

“I have to protect the livelihoods of my employees,” the izakaya’s manager in his 40s said. “I cannot tolerate (the government’s requests) any longer.”

Most of the customers were young, and they were laughing and talking even though no plastic barriers were in place on the tables.

The pub had shortened its business hours under the state of emergency that was lifted on June 20. Under the pre-emergency measures still in place, alcohol should not be served after 8 p.m.

Although the izakaya manager knows about that requested deadline, his establishment remains open until midnight.

On weekdays, he gets about 100 customers, while the number doubles on weekends.

The manager said that in late 2020, he applied for money distributed to establishments that cooperate with the request to shorten their business hours. He finally received the funds in June.

“I was in a very difficult situation having to wait six months,” the manager said.

The pub has a staff of about 20.

He acknowledged that many other businesses in the vicinity have continued to comply with the prefectural government request.

“We all have our lives to live,” the manager said. “From now, I believe we have to take responsibility on our own in deciding how long to remain open.”

A number of places around JR Tenma Station were also open well beyond 8 p.m.

Some businesses with signs saying they would close at 8 p.m. were still operating close to midnight.

A 22-year-old university student who was waiting in line with two friends to enter a bar also expressed frustration with the requested restrictions on serving alcohol.

“We decided to go out drinking for the first time in a long time because the state of emergency was lifted,” the student said. “We searched for a place that was open until late because if we are to drink, we want to do so until after midnight.

“Because we held off for such a long time, I think the sense of urgency among younger people has weakened.”

Some businesses said they have found it difficult to comply with other government requests on measures to halt the virus.

One such request is to allow entry to groups of two customers at the most.

A fortysomething owner of an izakaya recalled the time three regulars showed up.

“I couldn’t bring myself to refuse them,” he said.

Two tables were set up about a meter apart so the trio would be separated but close enough to hold a conversation.

The owner said he knows of businesses that no longer comply with the government requests.

“Customers are flocking to those businesses that are open until late, and I feel that is increasing the risk of infection,” he said.

Osaka Prefecture has dispatched about 800 workers to check for compliance with the requests, but that task has proved rather futile, given that there are about 58,000 bars and restaurants in the prefecture.

They work in teams of two for the patrols.

One team set a quota of checking 20 businesses a night. The pair only managed to check on 15.

One prefectural government employee on patrol said bar owners have complained about not receiving the government money for cooperating with the requests.

A colleague was lectured for about an hour by another business owner for visiting without an appointment.

Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura urged local residents to report any establishment that remains open after 8 p.m.

“We will be unable to control infections if more businesses decide they can do whatever they want,” he said.

(This article was compiled from reports by Arata Namima and Ai Asanuma.)