Around 80% of shoppers at our stores still wear masks. It’s not our stance to allow employees to remove masks before our customers do so.

Oh, for Pete's sake! HOW LONG will this endless virtue signalling continue? When staff behind counters finally can stop masking, that will signal the 80% that it is time to enjoy breathing freely again. It is a self-reinforcing circle at this point. Shame on Takashimaya--and every other employer forcing their staff to continue in this misery.

Change has always come slow, if at all, for Takashimaya.

Last time I was at their Shinjuku store, they still has elevator girls.

Takashimaya department store President Yoshio Murata, saying the store will continue to require employees to wear masks for the time being to ensure customers feel safe.

Feeling safe and being safe aren't necessarily the same thing. And Japan being Japan, possibly the most risk-averse society in the universe, a sizeable chunk of the populace will never feel safe no matter what pronouncements the government makes.

So if Takashimaya employees are sick of wearing a mask, it might be time to look for another job.

There will always be some customers ( especially old obaachans ) wearing masks unable to shake off the fear that was instilled into them over the last couple of years. So poor Takashimaya staff will be forced to wear masks indefinately ? Pathetic.

Alot of mask wearers simply prefer to hide their face. They have gotten used to it, are kind of introverts to begin with, and now like it this way.

If you are shy or simply like to be anonymous, the mask is now your best friend. Culturally it’s quite interesting to see Westerners throwing off their mask as soon as possible, and Japanese clinging to them and trying to excuse wearing them for the longest time possible.

More people starting not to wear masks. We have had no problems not wearing them, except we wear them at the hospital.

Pollen is bad this year. I have had pollen conjunctivitis for about one month.

They should set an example by saying the employees can take their masks off.

This is going to be an endless vicious cycle - the poor staff will continue to wear masks so the customers feel obliged to wear masks too. End result: nobody will take off their masks. If only the Japanese government would grow a pair and actually release a formal statement about how masks are no longer necessary and establishments and their staff don't need to wear one.

Why make such a fuss? The Japanese have worn masks for the last 100 years so why should they have to stop now just because some foreigners like to whine about it?

It seems that Starbucks have dropped the mask requirement for staff, from today but so far only one has gone au naturel at my local one. I hope the others follow her example without too much delay, as most of the customers are maskless as I sit here.

In JapanToday........Todays 'National section headline 'Japan faces uphill battle to ensure food security'... A few commentors asked why is the man in the article photo wearing a mask in the middle of a rice field ???

It is really only a problem in countries where certain sections of the populace politicized mask wearing. I guarantee if governments had banned mask wearing for sone reason, there would be people running around wearing masks and squealing about their fweedum to wear them.

The immaturity of some people in non-Asian countries other has been embarrassing to watch.

its people choice.

let me them be free.

they are coming to spend money so what is problem,masked or not?

its people choice.

let me them be free.

they are coming to spend money so what is problem,masked or not?

The problem people are finding with the quote is not about letting customers be masked or not, it is about the stores keeping a policy for their employees to be masked, which makes sense from a business point of view as long as the majority of their customers remain masked.

I think that we took the masking thing about as far as we really needed to quite some time ago. Quite a lot of people died from COVID and many more are left with long-term health issues as a result, so it is understandable that there will be people who feel more comfortable wearing a mask for a bit longer. For those in that category, I totally understand and respect their decision. However, I can't really understand the mentality of a lot of people here - many saying something similar to the Takashimaya president - I won't take my mask off until at least 50% of people have taken off theirs etc. Well, if more than 50% of the population say the same thing, that means they will never take off their masks! It's just ridiculous, there is no real logic to it. If you are an adult human being with your own functioning brain and you honestly believe that wearing a mask is no longer necessary, than just go ahead and take the thing off! You have the J government and most experts backing you up at this point and most other countries got rid of them long ago with no disastrous results. Just wearing one when you don't want to or don't think you need to just because you are worried that some random stranger might not approve is rather immature in my opinion.

And, the customers won't stop wearing masks until shop staff make them feel comfortable not to. See the problem?

As a few commentators have pointed out, it's an endless circle that can only be broken by the store's staff taking off their masks. Sadly, I doubt that will happen.

Why are people wearing them outdoors. Ridiculous.

Mexican stand off…..

Why make such a fuss? The Japanese have worn masks for the last 100 years so why should they have to stop now just because some foreigners like to whine about it?

Utter nonsense - it was a fairly rare thing until recently when it has become an unhealthy psychological fetish.