Report from the scene] “It’s safe as long as it’s under a sunshade”?　The reality of business on the streets of Ueno Ameyoko, where business spirit is too strong even after the roundup.

No tables set up on the street?

On May 5, the Ueno Police Station of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department conducted a simultaneous bust in the restaurant district around the “Ameyoko Shopping Street” and the “Ameyoko Cleanup Operation. On the day of the operation, leaflets were distributed to warn people to be careful, and restaurants that had set up seats on the street and were operating without obeying repeated warnings and instructions were raided and tables and chairs on the street were seized.

In the case of street-side businesses in Ameyoko, we received 43 110 calls in ’25 with complaints such as ‘I ran into a sign and got into trouble,’ and 21 calls by April of this year. Although it is illegal to install seating without a road use permit, there is a history of temporarily relaxing standards to avoid ‘density’ in the COVID-19 crisis. However, even after the Corona was settled, the street occupancy has continued as is. It seems that there have been nearly 1,500 cases of guidance and warnings by the police in the past six months,” said a reporter from the National Social Affairs Department.

Two weeks have passed since the police roundup, but has anything changed in the Ameyoko area? We interviewed local residents.

Ameyoko is known as a shopping street with restaurants, fresh fish stores, dry goods stores, clothing stores, etc., and the drinking area in particular is crowded with customers day and night. It has long been a popular sightseeing spot in Tokyo, visited by many tourists from abroad.

How has the Ameyoko district changed since the bust? When we asked a male passerby around 9:00 p.m., when the izakaya bars are busy, he told us, “There are fewer businesses on the street than before.

He said, “The number of restaurants with tables on the street has decreased due to the exposé. In the worst cases, seats were pushed out from both sides and there was less than two meters of space for people to pass through, but now I don’t see so many stores doing illegal business in such a flashy manner. The police also patrol the area, so I think it’s not a good idea to blatantly do business on the street.”

However, according to this man, the reality is that “street business” still exists. That store is illegal, isn’t it? He told me about a certain tavern.

I do everything else, so it’s not a problem.”

The restaurant does not have seats extending far out into the street, but they are placed right under the awning that extends from the entrance to the restaurant. There are quite a few restaurants like this one that have their seats right up to the bottom of the awning. Some of the seats seem to extend out into the street. It is not only the seats. Signs to attract customers are also placed on the street, and waiters call out, “Would you like a drink? Would you like to drop by?

When we approached the male clerk who was calling out for customers, he told us that the street-side business was “only temporary” and that there was no problem because “other stores are doing the same thing.

He continued, “We, too, were told by the police that our business should not interfere with pedestrians, so we removed our tables and chairs. Some stores only remove them when police patrols come around, so I don’t see much point in just being careful. I don’t think we will be the only one to get caught while other stores are operating on the street. At this rate, things will be back to normal in a few months.”

Is it not illegal to install seating up to the bottom of the awning, which seems to be a response to the recent revelations? When we asked another restaurant worker, he said he did not think it was illegal.

He said, “Quite a few restaurants are operating with their seats just under the awning, but so far it hasn’t been a problem, so I think it’s safe. Since pharmacies and souvenir shops have not been told anything about placing their products outside their stores, I think it is okay for taverns to do the same. Some stores even cover them with a transparent sheet to create a boundary so that they don’t disturb pedestrians.”

We spoke to the Taito City Office.

When we spoke to the Road Management Division of the Taito City Office regarding business on the streets around Ueno Ameyoko, the answer was again, “We do not permit business on the streets.

Under the Road Traffic Law, it is not allowed to set up tables and chairs on public roads. If it is a private road, we would have to follow the opinion of the owner of the road. However, the roads around Ameyoko are ward roads, so if you are operating on the road without permission, you will be subject to guidance. The same applies to business under a shade or signboard if the street is a ward road,” said the Road Management Division of the Taito City Office.

In the Ameyoko neighborhood, the police department and the shopping district jointly conduct patrols twice a month and will continue to provide guidance to stores operating illegally.

Last year, severe action was taken in Shimbashi, where restaurants were operating rampantly on the street. An employee and the management company of a restaurant that was operating by setting up tables and chairs on the street were sent to prosecution on suspicion of violating the Road Traffic Law (unauthorized use of the road). The restaurant was subsequently ordered by the Tokyo Metropolitan Public Safety Commission to suspend business for 21 days under the Entertainment Establishments Control Law. According to the Metropolitan Police Department, this was the first time in Japan that a restaurant was ordered to suspend business after being caught violating the Road Traffic Law.

In the Shinbashi street business, the restaurant continued to operate despite more than 60 warnings and instructions from the Metropolitan Police Department. Many restaurants in Ameyoko are still operating illegally even after the police have been caught out. While unregulated business is a freedom that is typical of Ueno, if it continues, it will probably end up the same way as Shinbashi.