Families and groups of tourists flocked to Tokyo's historic Asakusa area on the first Sunday since the end of a coronavirus state of emergency covering much of Japan.
Visitors took photos, rode in rickshaws, and walked along the Nakamise shopping street leading to the Tokyo neighborhood's iconic Sensoji Temple.
Shop owners around the temple's Kaminarimon Gate say more tourists came on Saturday than on that day a week ago. Some shops had cut prices of souvenirs.
A woman in her 30's from Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, came with her child. She said it was a good change of pace for her child, who had not taken a train for a while.
A couple from Niigata Prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast said they were visiting Tokyo to attend a friend's wedding. They said they were enjoying their first trip to Tokyo in a year.
