Japan's cities get quieter as infections rise

Jul 27, 2020 | News On Japan

Jul 27, 2020 (NHK) - A study of mobile phone location data suggests there were fewer people in Japan's city centers on Saturday than a week earlier, amid a resurgence in the number of coronavirus cases.

The statistics compiled by mobile carrier NTT Docomo show the number of people who were around Tokyo's Shinjuku Station at 3 p.m. on July 25, the third day of a four-day holiday, was 46.9 percent lower than a year before. That is down by 2 points from the year-on-year reduction registered in the area on July 18.

The number of people in downtown Shibuya was 37.8 percent lower than a year before, down by 2.6 points from a week earlier.

Tokyo Governor Koike Yuriko urged people to avoid non-essential outings during the holiday period to help curb the spread of the virus.

Other major urban areas across the country also saw decreases, of 1.3 points around Sapporo Station, 12.7 points around Nagoya Station, 7.4 points around Osaka's Umeda district, and 7.9 points around Fukuoka's Tenjin district.

But some airports saw increases; 7 points at Haneda Airport's Terminal 1, 5.2 points at Hokkaido's New Chitose Airport, and 5.7 points at Okinawa's Naha Airport.

That suggests a government tourism campaign that subsidizes domestic travel has encouraged people to make trips.

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