TOKYO: Tourist spots across Japan were bustling with many visitors on Saturday as the country marked the first weekend since the government significantly relaxed COVID-19 border restrictions and launched a domestic travel promotion scheme earlier this month.

In the hot spring resort town of Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, there were many foreign tourists alongside Japanese.

Tom James, a 33-year-old British man who was waiting for a bus there, said that he had wanted to come to Japan since before the COVID-19 pandemic, and that he is happy that he was able to come after the easing of border restrictions.

A 69-year-old woman from Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, came to Hakone with a friend using the government’s travel promotion scheme.

“It is my first trip in two years and 10 months,” she said. “I’m a little worried (about COVID-19), but I want to enjoy.”

In the western city of Osaka, the landmark Tsutenkaku Tower and the Dotonbori downtown area were crowded with tourists from the morning.

“I hope to enjoy Osaka with my family, such as eating (local specialties) okonomiyaki and takoyaki,” a 48-year-old man from Gamagori, Aichi Prefecture in central Japan, said.

“The number of foreign tourists is also increasing here, though slowly,” a 66-year-old female worker at a Japanese sweets shop in the Dotonbori area said. “We’re implementing various measures, so I hope things will return to how they were soon.”

“We got off to a good start,” said Ryuko Takai, president of Tsutenkakukanko Co., which operates the Tsutenkaku Tower. “The border measures were relaxed only recently, so we’ll see the effects later.”

In the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa, many tourists appeared to be enjoying shopping on the Kokusai-dori street in the prefectural capital of Naha.

“Given the public mood (against outing amid the pandemic), there were not many places I could travel to,” a 22-year-old corporate worker from the western city of Nara said. “I’m glad to be here for the first time in a while.”

A 60-year-old female worker at a souvenir store noted that the number of visitors has increased considerably from when COVID-19 infections were at a peak. “The government’s travel promotion scheme is apparently contributing in part,” she said.

Still, the 60-year-old male owner of another souvenir store said that the number of visitors remains “far lower than before pre-pandemic levels.”

“It will take time to make up for the losses in the past two years,” he said. “The situation will remain tough for a while.”

JIJI Press