KYOTO/TOKYO/OSAKA: With Tuesday set to mark one year after Japan downgraded COVID-19 to lower infectious disease status, hustle and bustle returned to many tourist spots in the nation.

Meanwhile, medical institutions have remained on alert for a possible spread of infections, including during the Golden Week holiday period between late April and early May.

The government on May 8, 2023, lowered COVID-19 from Category II to Category V, the same level as seasonal influenza, under the infectious disease control law.

In the western city of Kyoto, roads have been congested with tourists, including those from abroad, in the Arashiyama district, a major sightseeing spot, on Thursday, ahead of the four-day weekend from Friday.

The number of tourists has returned to the levels before the novel coronavirus pandemic, a man in his 50s who runs a long-established store that sells household goods said.

“I’m happy to see an increase in tourists,” the man said. With traffic congestion and littering becoming serious problems, however, he called on administrative authorities to take appropriate measures.

A female worker in her 50s at a souvenir shop said: “A recovery in the number of tourists led to many people walking while eating and roads being littered with waste such as ice cream cups as a result.”

The Tsukiji outer market in Tokyo’s Chuo Ward has also been packed with tourists.

“Tourists started to increase after the downgrade of COVID-19 to Category V, with foreign visitors accounting for roughly 70 to 80 percent,” Hiroyuki Fukaya, 44, who runs a seafood wholesaler, said.

Thanks in part to the yen’s sharp depreciation, expensive items, such as a pack of dried scallops priced at more than 10,000 yen, are selling like hot cakes, according to Fukaya.

Some establishments are not fully benefiting from the downgrade of COVID-19, however.

“Regular customers have come back, but the overall number of customers is still about 60 to 70 percent of the levels before the pandemic,” said Atsunori Matsuda, 83, manager of Shibarakutei Irori, a restaurant in the Shinbashi district in Tokyo.

The spread of homeworking is one reason, Matsuda said, adding that the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic is lingering.

Medical facilities are keeping measures to prevent group infections in place.

A hospital in the western city of Osaka continues to restrict face-to-face meetings between hospitalized COVID-19 patients and their family members even after the May 2023 downgrade of the disease.

The hospital began to gradually ease the meeting restrictions around last October, but has stopped short of announcing the relaxation.

An acrylic shield has been removed from the reception desk, while body temperature checks at the entrance are still being conducted.

An official at the hospital said that it will keep necessary countermeasures intact.

JIJI Press