The national government and the Liberal Democratic Party have started examining revisions to the Entertainment and Amusement Trades Control Act that would end the ban on dancing after midnight in clubs and bars. The move is part of the government’s efforts to promote culture via relaxed regulations. The revisions would mandate how establishments can attract patrons and how they should handle highly inebriated patrons while eliminating the need to obtain a permit from the local public safety board. At the earliest, the new law could be submitted to the extraordinary session of the Diet this fall. The revised law would also permit post-midnight live performances at jazz bars and live houses depending on their proximity to residential areas and other conditions. Source: Nishinippon Shimbun 8/13
If you’d like to get up to speed on this story, read our report from 2012, in which Hugh McCafferty, gauges the international community’s reaction to the clamp-down on dancing in Fukuoka.
