FILE PHOTO: A staff member of an Izakaya, a Japanese-style dining bar, prepares to close around 20:00 local time, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Tokyo, Japan February 2, 2021. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo
TOKYO (Reuters) - The number of Japan's "izakaya" dining bars that went bankrupt hit a record high in the year that ended in March, a sign some service-sector firms are being left behind even as the economy emerges from the shock of the coronavirus pandemic.
A rebound in global growth and domestic consumption has helped the world's third-largest economy recover from the doldrums, with business confidence improving to pre-pandemic levels in the first quarter.
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