Society

Tokyo crowds remain despite fresh coronavirus emergency

Jul 15 (Japan Times) - TOKYO – Despite a fresh state of emergency over the coronavirus taking effect in Tokyo on Monday, pedestrian traffic in busy areas of the capital did not dramatically decrease from the week before.

The finding was based on smartphone location information collected by Agoop Corp., a unit of major mobile phone carrier SoftBank Corp. Agoop Corp. compared data from Monday and July 5, before Tokyo declared a new state of emergency.

The study compared the number of people at the JR East’s Shinjuku Station between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m.

Monday’s numbers were down 11.7% from one week earlier.

In contrast, the size of decline was limited to 2.7% to 3.3% at Ikebukuro, Shinbashi and Akihabara stations. Meanwhile, Ueno Station saw a 3.2% increase. Pedestrian traffic remained unchanged at Tokyo and Shibuya stations.

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