As Japan slowly opens up its economy after a lengthy emergency declaration, the restaurant and tourism industries are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
We can finally stay open until late at night, said Kazunari Maguchi, the proprietor of Rockfish Bar in Ginza district of Tokyo. On Monday, the Japanese capital and Osaka stopped asking restaurants to shorten operating hours.
Since the state of emergency was lifted this month, Rockfish has served drinks until 8 p.m. The bar has been slow to regain customer traffic, given that the busiest time customarily started from 9 p.m. prior to the pandemic.
Maguchi wants people to enjoy a relaxing nighttime atmosphere, said Maguchi.
The COVID - 19 restrictions had been in effect for 19 prefectures through the end of September, but they started being lifted in phases the following month. On Monday, restaurants and commercial buildings outside of Okinawa were able to open for normal business hours.
It remains to be seen how much traffic will be restored at restaurants, hotels and inns now that many of the constraints have been lifted for those businesses have been lost.
The number of people traveling in the Ginza area during the 1 p.m. hour Monday jumped 11.6% from a week earlier, according to location data provided by Docomo Insight Marketing.
The same numbers shot up 22.4% for Omiya Station's bustling commercial center near Saitama City. The area around Nanba Station saw a 20.1% increase in foot traffic, with Osaka's Yokohama entertainment district logging a 15.7% gain.
Watami pub operator Izakaya reopened all its locations on Monday.
This day has finally come, said a company representative. Our izakaya locations in particular have been closed for long periods, so we're very pleased. However, Watami is closing several locations earlier than in pre-COVID times, or by midnight.
We'll make a careful decision on extending hours while observing customer traffic, said the representative.
Reservation at restaurants for the week through Sunday climbed 6% from the previous week, according to TableCheck, which manages bookings for 5,400 restaurants across Japan.
Although the numbers indicate a recovery, the rate of growth is modest. Many restaurant chains like Watami have so far decided not to stay open during late hours. It seems that both the clientele and proprietors are taking a wait-and-see approach.
Bookings for the week through Jan. 3, 2022 have recovered as of this month to roughly 50% of the level seen in 2019 according to All Nippon Airways, up from roughly 30% in September.
The Prince Kyoto Takaragaike hotel has seen bookings swing upward since the emergency was lifted this month. Weekend occupancy rates have climbed to between 70% and 80%, said a manager.
The falling number of infections has apparently lifted demand for going out. The seven-day average for coronavirus infections stood at about 310 people for the week of Oct. 24, down 98.7% from the peak around late August.
New infections are now at a level not seen in about 15 months. In Tokyo, just 17 cases were reported on Monday, making the second day of the row with fewer than 20.
The number of infections has fallen dramatically, Tokyo Gov. said. Yuriko Koike told reporters Monday. We intend to do whatever it takes to keep it at this level.