How Tokyo's 'Sleepless Town' is fighting the COVID taint

Kabukicho looks to claw back the crowds the pandemic has turned away

Tokyo's Kabukicho district is as famous as it is notorious, a neighborhood so full of night entertainment that it is often called a "sleepless town." (Photo by Ken Kobayashi)

ERI SUGIURA, Nikkei staff writer

December 31, 2020 16:00 JST

TOKYO -- Tokyo's Kabukicho -- the city's sleepless red-light district full of restaurants, tiny bars, nightclubs and sex parlors -- has been no stranger to notoriety in its 70-year history. But it was COVID-19 that provoked the biggest backlash of all.