Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike’s call for residents to stay indoors this weekend has sent people rushing to supermarkets to stockpile food and other essentials.
On Thursday morning, a day after she made the request, the U-Takaraya supermarket near Koenji Station was unusually crowded with shoppers holding baskets full of groceries. Shelves were cleared of bottled water, meat, cup ramen and spaghetti. Long lines snaked around in the already cramped aisles of the store. There was even a scuffle when a man yelled at another shopper for apparently cutting in line.
A fish salesman lamented that the lines left him no room to restock.
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