Tokyo COVID curbs declared illegal in "Kill Bill" restaurant case
16/05/2022 10:58
By Rocky Swift
TOKYO, May 16 (Reuters) - Japan's "Kill Bill" restaurant
operator prevailed in a court case on Monday that declared
Tokyo's now defunct COVID-19 infection curbs were illegal.
The orders, enacted in the capital during various states of
emergency, included shortened operating hours and a ban on
alcohol sales, though there was a compensating government
subsidy. Businesses that didn't comply were subject to fines.
Global-Dining Inc 7625.T , which runs more than 40
restaurants, defied the restrictions, taking the city government
to court over the matter. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2OL068
The district court said the Tokyo government had not
provided a "rational explanation" for the measures. The court
determined they had been illegal but it denied Global-Dining's
claim for 104 yen ($0.80) in damages.
The restrictions ended in March. Whether this ruling would
inhibit the city government in acting against any renewed
COVID-19 outbreak is unclear.
In a statement, Global-Dining president Kozo Hasegawa, said
the case revealed the "injustice and sloppiness of the Tokyo
Metropolitan Government." His company crowd-funded more than 25
million yen to fight the case.
Global-Dining's Gonpachi restaurant, with a cavernous inner
courtyard, inspired the fight scene in Quentin Tarantino's first
"Kill Bill" film. It was the site of a dinner between then Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi and then U.S. President George W.
Bush in 2002.
($1 = 129.3600 yen)
(Reporting by Rocky Swift in Tokyo; Editing by Bradley Perrett)
((tetsushi.kajimoto@thomsonreuters.com;))