Many people in Osaka celebrated on Monday night the full lifting of the state of emergency as bars, restaurants and nightclubs in the city’s major entertainment districts largely reopened, some with a new and unique prefectural-run QR code system to track infections.
In the Kitashinchi district near Osaka Station, home to an estimated 2,000 eating, drinking and entertainment establishments, the mood was festive early Monday night as customers, some without face masks, gathered in restaurants to enjoy open-air dining. Nightclub owners and hostesses, on the other hand, were preparing for the night, donning masks and taking precautionary sanitary measures.
“Everybody is in a good mood, and I’ve gotten more fares today than I have in a while,” said Kazuyuki Maeda, a local taxi driver.