Fewer People On Japan's City Streets

Above, the Dotonbori section of Osaka usually sees hundreds of people during normal times. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

In my most recent shopping trips into Gallup, New Mexico, I found far fewer cars on the streets and people walking around. We are under stay-at-home orders.

We're not alone.

There are far fewer people on the streets of Tokyo and other Japanese cities due to the coronavirus pandemic.

According to News On Japan:

Far fewer people were on the streets of shopping areas in Tokyo and other cities in Japan on Saturday, after authorities issued stay-at-home requests in the wake of the rapid spread of the new coronavirus. 

For the second straight weekend, many people in Japan refrained from going out after the country's National Governors' Association on Thursday called on residents to avoid leaving their homes except for essential reasons. The number of temporarily closed stores and restaurants increased from the previous weekend. 

"As the vast majority of stores are shut, the number of people on the streets is only about 10 percent of normal times," said a 48-year-old shop employee in Tokyo's Omotesando shopping district. "I hardly see foreign tourists now these days." 

Besides Tokyo, where a surge in new cases has made the capital the worst-hit area in the country, stay-at-home requests have also been issued by prefectures including Osaka, Fukui, Fukuoka, Miyagi and Ibaraki.

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