Crowdfunding projects are spreading nationwide to help restaurants in crisis cope with drastic declines in business caused by social distancing and other precautions being taken to curb the coronavirus pandemic.
Around 80 percent of the nation's eateries saw their February sales drop from a year earlier, and the monthlong national state of emergency declared Tuesday is expected to exacerbate the situation, according to a foundation supporting small businesses.
In Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, a local advertising agency started a crowdfunding project backed by Kashiwa City Hall to aid more than 100 eateries.