Tokyo nightlife still not fully lit despite global COVID recovery

May 14, 2023 | News On Japan

May 14, 2023 (Nikkei) - Tokyo is darker at night now than in 2019 before COVID-19 ravaged the city's entertainment districts. Nighttime satellite images show the city last year had luminosity only 90% that of 2019, while Paris and London had fully regained their glow.

Based on NASA satellite image data processed by Colorado School of Mines, a research university in the U.S., Nikkei has calculated nighttime brightness in various cities during the April-October period of 2022. Data showed that illumination levels increased 3.2% in Paris and 1.4% in London from 2019 averages, but fell 3.2% in New York and 11.6% in Tokyo.

The sharp drop in Tokyo is mostly attributed to a slow recovery in city centers frequented by business people for after-work socializing.

Nighttime luminosity fell much more in entertainment quarters than in residential areas, with light levels falling more than 15% in popular nightspots like Roppongi, Shinjuku and Ginza. People traffic downtown was about 20% less in February than three years earlier, according to mobile location data provided by Docomo InsightMarketing.

The Japanese government has not imposed a state of emergency or any other COVID-19 curbs on dining and gatherings since the spring of 2022, but Tokyo's nighttime economy remains stagnant. ...continue reading

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