Society

Bigger crowds seen in tourist spots near Tokyo

Nov 25 (NHK) - Data from mobile phones show that during a three-day holiday through Monday, bigger crowds were seen at some tourist destinations near Tokyo than before the coronavirus outbreak.

IT firm Agoop gathers mobile-phone data with consent from users to estimate the number of people visiting various places.

Its data show crowds around 3 p.m. on Sunday were bigger than the average for holidays between mid-January and mid-February before the spread of the virus, mainly in tourist spots near Tokyo.

In Kanagawa Prefecture, visitor numbers were up by 89 percent in Hakone-Yumoto, by 30 percent at the Katase-Nishihama waterfront area, and 12 percent in Yokohama's Chinatown district.

The number of people visiting Tokyo's Odaiba Marine Park area increased by 11 percent. Atami Onsen, a hot-spring resort in Shizuoka Prefecture saw a 10 percent increase.

On Saturday, Tokyo's historic Asakusa area saw the biggest holiday crowd since the government issued a state of emergency in April.

In contrast, the number of people visiting commercial districts of Tokyo remained lower than the average before the outbreak. On Sunday, the number of visitors was down 41 percent near Tokyo Station, and down 36 percent around Shibuya Station.

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