Japanese Government to allow indoor venues to operate with up to 5,000 capacity

The Japanese Government is increasing indoor event capacity limits from today, allowing up to 5,000 people into indoor events subject to hygiene and safety measures.

Part of a series of measure introduced since Japan fully emerged from its Coronavirus state of emergency in late May, the new advice requires venues to not surpass 50% of normal capacity.

According to the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, the Parco Theater in Tokyo has introduced a new three-stage ticketing system for its reopening.

The number of tickets put on sale will be determined by the level of coronavirus infections at the time the tickets are to go on sale.

In addition, Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and the J-League football competition are set to welcome a limited number of fans back into stadiums from this week.

On 22nd June, the NPB and J-League proposed that fans should be allowed back into stadiums from 10th July and despite a recent rise in COVID-19 infections in Japan, these plans remain in place.

However, fans are being directed to avoid singing, clapping or waving scarves when watching games, as part of the J League’s 70 pages of guidelines on anti-virus measures, covering players, staff and fans.

This follows advice from Japanese theme parks requesting that guests not scream when on rides.