The U.S. Navy partially lifted an alcohol ban for sailors in Japan on Thursday but kept in place an order banning them from drinking in bars off base.

It relaxed a June 6 measure that confined many sailors to base and banned the consumption of alcohol after three drunken-driving cases in late May and early June, two of them in Okinawa and one in Nagasaki Prefecture.

"The temporary restriction on alcohol was not intended to be a punishment, nor was it ever intended to be permanent," said Rear Adm. Matthew Carter, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Japan. "We took this pause to train and reflect on the dangers of alcohol abuse. We must all be on the lookout to step in before alcohol-related incidents jeopardize our relationship with Japan."

Although commanders lifted the order confining off-duty sailors to base on June 10, local bars and restaurants say they are suffering badly.

The Dobuita-Dori shopping street near the Yokosuka naval base in Kanagawa Prefecture is usually crowded at night with sailors, but on Wednesday evening it was all but deserted.

"We typically get 150 to 200 customers on weekends, but only 15 or 16 came in last Friday and Saturday," said Yoshikazu Yamada, owner of Dublin Dock's Tavern, an Irish bar on Dobuita-Dori that counts 80 percent of clients as sailors. "If the worst comes to the worst, some bars may have to close down."

He said lulls like this are a hazard of relying on military clientele.

"It's inevitable, considering the relationship between the U.S. and Japan," he said. "We have had this situation several times, triggered by incidents in Okinawa."

On May 19, Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, 32, a former U.S. Marine who worked for Kadena Air Base, was arrested over the alleged rape and murder of a 20-year-old woman whose body was found dumped on a roadside.

Following that incident, U.S. Forces in Okinawa declared a month-long "Period of Unity and Mourning," prohibiting troops and civilian employees from holding parties and imposing a midnight curfew on drinking alcohol.

The navy then responded more harshly to the drunken-driving cases, with a total ban on off-duty sailors leaving their bases unless billeted to in-town accommodation. The ban was accompanied by an alcohol prohibition of indefinite duration.

"I've experienced similar situations in the past, but the terms were usually definite," said Yuta Ishiwata, owner of craft beer bar Jammin. There were no customers inside the bar when a reporter visited at around 8 p.m. on Wednesday.

"This time, the term is indefinite. If this continues, we will seriously have a hard time paying our employees' salaries," Ishiwata said.

Owner Atsushi Nagatsuka of liquor shop Marunaga, just around the corner from Dobuita-Dori, made a similar point.

"The situation is worse than before, because the term in indefinite," he said. Sales have slumped so badly that it now took the store four days to make the profit it used to generate in one day, he said.

"Since restrictions in Okinawa will be lifted on the 24th, I'd like the U.S. Navy to remove its restriction elsewhere as soon as possible."

A 2012 incident in which two sailors based in Okinawa were arrested over the rape of a 20-year-old woman sparked a revamp of the military's so-called liberty policy, which governs off-duty personnel. That included a ban on drinking off bases in Okinawa.

The regulation was revised in 2014, after requests from the owners of bars and restaurants near the bases. It removed the Okinawa-specific provisions and equalized the policy nationwide, allowing off-base drinking until midnight.

Okinawa Prefectural Police reported arrests of U.S. troops for drunken-driving increased by 44.8 percent in the 12 months that followed.

Meanwhile, despite the U.S. Navy's assertion to the contrary, one former service member said the order appeared to be a form of collective punishment. Former sailor Steven Carr told The Japan Times by email that it was unfair for all troops to be held responsible for the actions of a few.

"This is probably the most strained I've seen the U.S.-Japan alliance," Carr wrote.

He added later by phone: "I don't think Japan wants to fully support it. A lot of businesses around the bases are really dependant on the sailors."