COVID-19 forces closure of Tokyo neighborhood ramen joint

P. Smith - Weird that people expressing sadness for Mr. Haga are getting downvoted lie crazy.

Weird that people actually care about up or down votes.

It is the sympathetic content of your remarks that matter, not the number of down or up-votes.

I have been supporting restaurants, but find it hard to go into a crowded place with tons of slurping going on.

and may look to open another restaurant in a residential neighborhood with a more regular flow of traffic.

Good luck, and hopefully it will work well. Consider take-away menu, and save some extra income for survivial in another possible rainy day.

P. Smith, Big Yen, don't worry too much about the downvotes on this site. Wear them with pride.

Yours truly,

A professional downvote recipient ;-)

On topic, it's sad to see any business like this close down after so much hard work. I hope he's able to reopen somewhere else after a good rest.

Real working people are all the same. They do not work only 8 hrs. They work and work.

Why can't they just close temporarily, then reopen once the virus is curbed?

Sad story, but this:

"After a hectic day dishing up almost 200 bowls of ramen during a non-stop seven-hour service, Yashiro Haga's small shop is finally quiet"

this is why he has to close -- because people will go out of their way to take advantage of Go To Campaign coupons or of sentiment and the ability to say, "Wow! I went there on the last day! How crowded! It was so great!" It's like the people who still go out to lunch with mamatomos a few times a week in crowded city centers to talk about how awful life is "dealing with corona".

Judging by other articles' comments, the mistake you made was expressing sympathy for a Japanese person on this website. It seems that is the quickest way to get major downvotes recently. Make sure to express something negative about Japan next time I guess and you'll be sure to get a flood of upvotes. Weird isn't it?

You're not wrong there I've noticed that too, what a cynical disgrace

Tragic. I hope the best for Mr. Haga.

As do most of us. Very peculiar and unsettling trend of late, to downvote decent, heartfelt comments here.

Probably the same sort of individuals who trash family run and independent stores/restaurants online. That seems to be a thing, these days, as well.

I hope he gets a good sleep and that something good can come out of all that hard work.

Respect to you, Mr Haga.

Weird that people expressing sadness for Mr. Haga are getting downvoted lie crazy.

Judging by other articles' comments, the mistake you made was expressing sympathy for a Japanese person on this website. It seems that is the quickest way to get major downvotes recently. Make sure to express something negative about Japan next time I guess and you'll be sure to get a flood of upvotes. Weird isn't it?

P. SmithToday 03:37 pm JST

Weird that people expressing sadness for Mr. Haga are getting downvoted lie crazy.

For many articles, many comments are downvoted for no apparent reason.

Just the pleasure to downvote, I guess.

@P.Smith

I 100% agree!

That is so sad!

Since the pandemic is on, I still support my 2 favorite regular Mom and Pops Izakaya in my neighborhood.

They also struggle a lot, but me and all other many years regular guests are doing our best that they will survive these hard times.

These shops are the heart of Japan. And if the heart stops to beat, everyone knows what will happen.

Photography work was ending with potoshop and other digital platforms.

Ramen shops are ending because of the crowded seating and slurping noodle breath all over the joint. Hard to social distance when people are spurting out vapor everywhere.

I bet his broth was great.

@Jonathan Prin

"Once news spread of Haga's shop shutting down, customers flocked in. "

It's not hard to understand if you read it...

If he had so many customers, I don't feel like it is because of coronavirus then...especially if he thinks about opening a new restaurant.

Confusing article not explaining anything

.

It is a sad but difficult to avoid consequence of the whole situation, fragile business like this will suffer, with or without lockdowns.