Japan Bankruptcies:

 https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210227/p2g/00m/0bu/035000c

Article:

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The number of coronavirus pandemic-induced corporate bankruptcies in Japan reached a monthly record of 126 in February, with the restaurant and apparel industries hardest hit, a survey by a credit research company showed Friday.

The cumulative number of such bankruptcies since the start of the novel coronavirus outbreak in the country in February last year stood at 1,108, Tokyo Shoko Research said.

With many companies staying afloat by relying on public support measures, pandemic-induced corporate failures could start increasing at a faster pace, it said.

Of the cumulative bankruptcies, eating and drinking establishments made up the largest portion at 194, with such businesses in prefectures subject to the state of emergency hit by restrictions on operating hours and calls for residents to refrain from nonessential outings.

In January, Japan declared a state of emergency covering some prefectures and the restrictions remain in place for 10 of them.

The apparel industry including clothing manufacturers and retailers saw 102 bankruptcies, followed by the construction industry with 97 cases. There were 68 bankruptcies in the accommodation industry.

By region, 271 bankruptcies were filed in Tokyo, followed by 106 cases in Osaka.

Ideas:

Its very unfortunate that any business as the fail during the pandemic much less in normal times.

It would be good to know just how much more in terms of public support or subsidies would have been needed to help these businesses survive?

Most likely the 60,000 yen that was provided really didn't cover much when you consider if the eating and drinking establishments maybe lost anywhere from 4 to 5 hours each day because of having to close at 8 or 9PM when they might usually stay open to midnight or even 1AM.

While the larger establishments most likely had the resources or a reserve to survive the pandemic, maybe many of the smaller places didn't have much in reserves and were also working on very slim profit margins each night.

So even before the pandemic they are always aware of how slim their profits margins were and any cut in hours or sales would have a larger affect on them than the larger places.

As far as clothing manufacturers and retailers most likely the loss of sales in brick and mortar stores because of the increase in online shopping and or customers just not going to places they used to go to before the pandemic.

But also there has been the criticism that the clothing stores and other places were not getting the same public support or the 60,000 yen subsidy that the restaurants and bars were getting and as such had no support to survive.

And even hotels in the accommodation industry which is a large part of the tourism industry both domestic and international as the tourism industry in Japan has virtually been all but shutdown.

Its interesting about the construction industry having challenges during the pandemic. But at the same time its not surprising that all sectors and businesses have had challenges during the pandemic.

Have a nice day and be safe!