This file photo shows the TV Asahi Corp. headquarters in Tokyo's Minato Ward (Mainichi/Kazuhisa Soneda)

       TOKYO -- TV Asahi Corp. staff members held a party to mark the end of the Tokyo Olympics on the night of Aug. 8, in defiance of Tokyo Metropolitan Government requests, the company's in-house rules and despite Japan's capital being under a coronavirus state of emergency.

       Alcohol was consumed at the party and one of the participants was injured after falling from a karaoke parlor, the broadcaster announced on Aug. 10.

       According to TV Asahi, six employees at the company's sports division and four external staff members -- all of whom were in charge of Olympics TV programs -- held the party at a karaoke parlor in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward. When they were about to leave the parlor in the wee hours of Aug. 9, one TV Asahi employee accidentally fell from the venue, suffered a leg injury and was taken to the hospital. The person was hospitalized in the capital, but their condition is apparently not life-threatening.

       Though TV Asahi has not revealed details about the incident, including how the employee fell, the injured person is apparently a woman in her 20s, according to the Metropolitan Police Department's Shibuya Police Station. Police reportedly received an emergency call at around 4 a.m. on Aug. 9 from a passerby saying that a person had fallen from a second-floor window.

       TV Asahi's public relations division issued a comment saying: "We deeply regret this incident and are so sorry for these actions that significantly lacked self-awareness even though we are in a position to call for self-restraint, including avoiding non-urgent and unnecessary outings. We sincerely apologize for causing trouble."

       In March, nine TV Asahi staff members held a farewell party, and four of them later became infected with the coronavirus.

       (Japanese original by Yuka Matsubara, Cultural News Department)

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