TOKYO, March 23 (Xinhua) -- The Tokyo Station was as crowded as ever in the early morning with office workers in suits hurrying along on Monday, the first day after the Japanese government lifted the state of emergency in the greater Tokyo area.
The cherry blossoms in Tokyo started to bloom 12 days earlier than usual. Along the Meguro River, a famous scenic spot for appreciating cherry blossoms, the staff held a sign of "self-control for flower appreciation," while the people going for the flowers still formed an endless stream.
The number of passengers on the trams did not decrease much during the emergency state, a woman told Xinhua, as she did not feel there were more passengers. As the end of the fiscal year approaches, she said she expects to have to commute to work every day.
Another passenger said he worried that social laxity could lead to the next COVID-19 resurgence.
After the first state of emergency was lifted last year, the Japanese government introduced a series of measures, including "Go to travel" and "Go to eat," in an effort to boost economic recovery, while the epidemic has since rebounded.
Along with the recent lifting of the state of emergency in the capital area, the government also issued measures to strengthen prevention and control of the epidemic in the catering industry, deal with the mutated virus and promote vaccination.
At a steakhouse in Tokyo's Minato district, the owner planned to continue disinfection, install dining partitions and sell a face mask that you can wear while eating. The owner said the lifting of the state of emergency gave workers a glimmer of hope that business would soon return to normal levels.
During the state of emergency, the steakhouse was only open until 8:00 p.m. local time, and sales fell to half of what they were a year ago. Starting Monday, all restaurants in Tokyo will be allowed to extend their opening hours by one hour to 9:00 p.m. But there are also many restaurateurs who have decided to close because of the poor business prospects.
Japan's travel industry is in a similarly mixed state, expecting more visitors while fearing a resurgence of the pandemic.
Some other parts of Japan went on alert as the state of emergency around the capital was lifted. Osaka prefecture began setting up thermal imagers at the Shin-Osaka Shinkansen Station on Monday to screen the temperatures of passengers from Tokyo. Osaka prefectural authorities said the temperature measurement is to prevent a local outbreak along with the increase in people traveling from Tokyo.
Regardless of the lifting of the emergency state in the Tokyo area, people are not optimistic about the control of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to a public opinion survey released by Kyodo News on Sunday, 56.5 percent of the respondents were not satisfied with the Japanese government's anti-epidemic measures. Meanwhile, 82.2 percent of the public were disturbed by cases of COVID-19 variants in various places in Japan. Another 52.2 percent thought it was premature to lift the state of emergency in the capital area. Enditem