Koike's press conference and the scapegoating of the nightlife district - Kabukicho in March 2020

Koike's press conference and the scapegoating of the nightlife district - Kabukicho in March 2020

In March 2020, amidst growing fears of the spread of infection, Governor Koike stated that "many infections occur in bars and nightclubs. Although these words were an administrative alert to the crisis, they rapidly spread the image of Kabukicho as a symbolic "nightlife district = source of infection. The media showed images of the neon district every day, and radical words such as "seal off the city" spread on social networking services, exposing the city to society as a scapegoat.

The reality of Kabukicho, however, was not so simple. The Entertainment Business Control Law distinguishes between cabarets and host clubs, which involve entertainment, and bars, which are forbidden to entertain, and many bars were a form of business with a low risk of infection. Nevertheless, the administrative statement lumped the two together, and even small establishments that operated seriously were regarded as "perpetrators" and subjected to discriminatory stares.

At the time, Kabukicho was a symbol of Tokyo as "the town that never sleeps," but its bustle turned into a "symbol of risk. Amidst the tension surrounding the declaration of the state of emergency, the government and the media took up Kabukicho as an easy-to-understand target and used it for political and social purposes. But the cost was high: the pride of the town was damaged, and residents and employees felt a strong sense of resentment that they had been unfairly targeted. Thus, in the spring of 2020, Kabukicho reached a tipping point of prejudice and distrust.