To the question, "What are you doing this weekend?" the preferred answer was "Nothing special, staying at home."

That explained the ghost town atmosphere that prevailed in many popular districts of Tokyo on March 28 after Governor Yuriko Koike called on residents to refrain from making nonessential trips from their homes to reduce the risk of being exposed to the deadly new coronavirus.

Governors of a number of neighboring prefectures also urged people to stay indoors as the nation ramps up a sharp increase in infections.

It was evident across the vast metropolis of 13 million that residents were taking those calls seriously, and when they ventured out, practicing social distancing.

The low pedestrian traffic was undoubtedly due to the fact that many retail outlets, movie theaters and even Starbucks Coffee Japan Ltd., decided to shutter their businesses for the weekend.

The famed Shibuya scramble crossing in front of Tokyo's Shibuya Station, normally packed shoulder-to-shoulder with people waiting for the traffic signals to change, was unusually free of pedestrians even at 11 a.m.

One 71-year-old man who has operated an outlet selling newspapers and magazines near the West Exit of the station for 30 years or so said, “One would have thought this was a day when heavy snow had fallen."

The giant video screen in front of the station occasionally showed a video of Koike making her plea for cooperation to prevent a further spread of the coronavirus.

Among the retail outlets that had closed were ones popular with the younger crowd, such as the Shibuya 109 fashion building and the Shibuya Parco commercial complex.

One 56-year-old woman from Kita-Kyushu was in the Shibuya area on March 28 with her husband, 54, and 14-year-old son. The three had come to Tokyo to help the woman’s older son, 22, move because he will start work in the capital from April.

“I am so surprised because this looks nothing like the Shibuya I often see on TV,” the woman said.

She had been worried about coming to Tokyo because 40 or more new coronavirus infections have been reported for three straight days. But now she is more worried that her older son will be starting a new life in such strained circumstances.

“I do not consider this outing as nonessential because I also want to look into whether neighborhood supermarkets have an adequate inventory of products,” the woman said.

Despite Koike's request to stay indoors, plenty of younger people paid no heed.

One 21-year-old male was with two members of his band. The three had been out since the previous night in Shinjuku before arriving in Shibuya.

All three wore black face masks, but not to protect themselves from coronavirus infection.

The band is known for its flashy makeup and outfits. “We didn’t put on our makeup today, but when we do, we don’t wear face masks.”

The Shinjuku Expressway Bus Terminal by the South Exit of Shinjuku train station connects the capital with various parts of Japan through a daily schedule of 1,500 coaches.

Normally, the facility is bustling with people at this time of year to take in cherry blossoms, students on their spring vacations and foreign tourists sightseeing in the capital.

But the waiting room on March 28 still had seats available for passengers waiting to board coaches.

“This is the first time I have seen so few people,” an employee said. “This is less than 10 percent of normal levels.”

A 49-year-old mother and her 20-year-old daughter disembarked from a bus that had left Nagano. The daughter will begin working from April as a beautician in Tokyo, having graduated from a vocational school in Nagano.

The mother had tagged along to help with her daughter’s move.

Nagano Governor Shuichi Abe on March 26 asked local residents to refrain from visiting areas where the coronavirus has spread.

“I feel somewhat guilty coming at a time like this, but I cannot help it because she has to work from next week,” the mother said.

There were only eight passengers on the bus and she said, “I did not think it would be so empty.”

A 52-year-old man from Shizuoka Prefecture was in Tokyo to sign an apartment contract on behalf of his son who will enter a Tokyo university from this spring.

“I actually wanted my son to come along, but the number of infections in Tokyo is rising,” the man said. “I will return home right after signing the contract.”