Evenings are normally the busiest time at Mikado, a retro gaming arcade in Tokyo, but these days the shutters come down early, leaving Street Fighter fans out in the cold.

Since early January, Tokyo and other parts of Japan have been under a state of emergency to bring down surging virus cases. Businesses are told to close early, with possible fines for those that refuse.

But unlike bars and restaurants, arcades like Mikado do not receive government cash as compensation for lost income.

Several arcades went bust following Japan's first state of emergency last year, which saw most of them close completely for two months, and those that survived are now struggling.

Even before the pandemic, “smaller, independent gaming centres were already closing down at a rapid rate”, Morihiro Shigihara, a journalist and author who once managed an arcade, told AFP.

The number of Japan's arcades has plunged from 22,000 in 1989 ― around a decade after the release of Space Invaders ― to just 4,000 in 2019, according to police, who licence the establishments.

And since late last year, a number of well-known arcades in Tokyo have shut up shop for good, including in the entertainment districts of Akihabara and Shinjuku.