Japan is currently experiencing a renewed surge of COVID-19 cases, and The Pokémon Company has announced that it is closing 21 of its Pokémon Center stores as a result.
As reported by Sora News 24, the 21 stores are located in Japan's hardest hit areas, which includes Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka and Kyoto, where parent company Nintendo is headquartered. The Pokémon Company says the closures should only be temporary at most locations but did not announce when they plan on reopening. The announcement was made after contact tracers discovered confirmed that an employee at one of the Tokyo Pokémon Centers was infected with COVID-19. That location was immediately closed. The closed Pokémon Centers are all located within areas covered by Japan's state of emergency orders, which recently expanded to include eight more prefectures within the country.
Pokémon Centers are located throughout Japan and carry exclusive merchandise for Nintendo and Game Freak's popular video game and anime franchise. Each location has become a popular tourist attraction and gathering spot for fans of the franchise. The stores have previously hosted special events for the release of every new Pokémon game. The next new releases in the series, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, are scheduled to be released this fall on Nov. 19.
In addition to the Pokémon Center stores, the Pokémon Company also announced that it was temporarily closing its Pokémon Cafe restaurants in Tokyo and Osaka, as well as the Pikachu's Sweets candy shop in Tokyo. As with the stores, the closures are expected to be temporary.
Unlike some other businesses hit with pandemic closures, the Pokémon Centers and its related restaurants are expected to weather the storm of Japan's current emergency. Since the release of the original video games for the black-and-white Game Boy in 1996, Pokémon has expanded into a multi-billion dollar business and the highest-grossing media franchise of all time. The latest games in the main series, Pokémon Sword and Shield, were released for the Nintendo Switch in 2019 and have sold over 21 million copies worldwide.
Japan pandemic situation continues to worsen, with the city of Tokyo alone reporting more than 100,000 new cases in the month of August so far. A shortage of hospital beds in the city has forced officials to ask approximately 35,000 patients to seek care within their homes. The state of emergency places restrictions on eateries and other businesses, and officials are discussing possible school closures. The director of the anime series How A Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom recently criticized anime studios for requiring animators to still come in to work during the current surge and state of emergency.
Source: Sora News 24