A Tokyo-based restaurant chain operator filed a damages suit Monday against the Tokyo Metropolitan Government for ordering that business hours be reduced as a public safety measure during the coronavirus pandemic.

Global-Dining Inc. claims the order "is illegal and unconstitutional as it infringes the right to freedom of business" in the first such lawsuit anywhere in Japan.

The company runs dozens of restaurants in the Tokyo area including the Gonpachi izakaya pubs, one of which is famous for its appearnance in Quentin Tarantino's film "Kill Bill," and for the site of a dinner in 2002 between then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and U.S. President George W. Bush.