Photo/Illutration A Hakuri Tabai Hanbey "izakaya" in Akita’s Kawabata district on Jan. 28 (Anri Takahashi)

AKITA—Bars and restaurants unaffected by COVID-19 pre-emergency measures have faced tougher financial times than those where such business restrictions may apply, a businessman here said.

Government-supplied cooperation funds more than offset the losses incurred by businesses that cut their operating hours or stop serving alcohol as a requested measure to halt infections, according to the experiences of Masahiko Murakami, the 59-year-old president of Dreamlink Co.

Dreamlink, based in the Akita prefectural capital in northern Japan, operates 85 eateries nationwide, including the Hakuri Tabai Hanbey chain of “izakaya” Japanese-style pubs.

“Businesses in the areas where infections are spreading have stayed in the black while those in areas where the virus is contained are in the red,” Murakami said. “Such a contradiction is going on.”

Murakami said the company compared the balance sheets of its 85 eateries during the August-September period in 2021, when the fifth wave of infections was peaking.

He said the company’s outlets located outside areas under a state of emergency or pre-emergency measures had worse business results than those that shut down or shortened their operating hours in areas under a state of emergency or pre-emergency measures.

Murakami said all of the company’s eateries posted profits during the same period in 2019, before the pandemic. For the same period in 2020, when the pandemic reached Japan and there was no cooperation money paid, all 85 businesses fell in the red.

But for the period in 2021, 31 eateries located in areas under a state of emergency and eight eateries in areas under pre-emergency measures showed a surplus. The 46 eateries not affected by the anti-virus measures all posted losses.

Hakuri Tabai Hanbey’s pub in Tokyo’s Kabukicho district closed during the state of emergency in the August-September period. It received 100,000 yen ($865) per day in cooperation money and ended up with a 2.27-million-yen profit, Murakami said.

But Hakuri Tabai Hanbey’s pub in front of JR Akita Station operated as usual during the same period and posted a 1.51-million-yen loss.

The trend has continued during the current sixth wave of the pandemic, the company said.

Dreamlink compared preliminary earnings figures of all 42 Hakuri Tabai Hanbey outlets nationwide as of the end of January, when 34 prefectures, including Tokyo, were under pre-emergency measures.

Twenty-one of the 33 outlets in areas where the pre-emergency measures kicked in from Jan. 21 had been in the red until Jan. 20.

But after they either closed or shortened their business hours on Jan. 21, all 33 outlets expected profits.

Five of the nine outlets located outside of the pre-emergency areas were in the red until Jan. 20, and all nine forecast losses after Jan. 21.

Several COVID-19 states of emergency or pre-emergency measures have been issued for Tokyo, and Dreamlink’s businesses in the capital have managed to get by, Murakami said.

The company also operates 24 restaurants in Akita Prefecture, which is not under pre-emergency measures.

However, the number of new infections in the prefecture started rising around mid-January.

The Hakuri Tabai Hanbey outlet in Akita’s entertainment district has had only two or three customers a day, the company said. But even when the outlet is empty, the company must cover labor costs and rent.

“Businesses in local areas that successfully curb infections will suffer financially and have to pay debts after the pandemic is over,” Murakami said.

He called for a pandemic-related financial assistance system that distributes money to those who need it.

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