Photo/Illutration Fewer passengers are seen at JR Tokyo Station's Shinkansen gates on April 25, following requests by authorities to refrain from going out during the Golden Week holidays. (Hikaru Uchida)

Foot traffic fell 50 to 80 percent around major train stations in “special alert areas” on April 25, the first day of the Golden Week holidays, compared to before the coronavirus outbreak, according to smartphone data.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on April 16 designated Tokyo, and six prefectures covered by his April 7 state of emergency declaration as “special alert areas” that require increased efforts to stop the spread of infections, along with Hokkaido, Ibaraki, Ishikawa, Gifu, Aichi and Kyoto prefectures. 

The public in many of the 13 areas appeared to be heeding calls by authorities to stay home during the holiday period, which runs through May 6.

Major mobile carrier NTT Docomo Inc. analyzed turnout in areas measuring 500 meters by 500 meters, including each rail hub, based on data from smartphone base stations.

Pedestrian traffic around Tokyo's usually bustling Shinjuku Station in Tokyo dropped 78.9 percent compared to weekends in January and February, data collected as of 3 p.m. on April 25 showed.

Umeda Station in Osaka saw 84.9 percent fewer pedestrians and Tenjin Station in Fukuoka 73.2 percent fewer. 

The data shows continued declines in pedestrian traffic in the areas.

On April 18, the first Saturday after Abe extended the state of emergency nationwide, Shinjuku Station recorded an 80.2 percent drop in foot traffic.

The number of pedestrians plummeted 84.1 percent at Umeda Station and 72.1 percent at Tenjin Station that day.

Foot traffic also declined in some areas not under special alert.

Sendai Station, which saw a reduction of 61.1 percent on April 18, recorded 63.5 percent fewer pedestrians on April 25.

Hiroshima Station marked a 33.9 percent decrease on April 18. On April 25, it saw 41.0 percent fewer pedestrians.

Matsuyama Station's 24.6 percent decline on April 18 dropped to 31.0 percent on April 25. 

A tally collected from users of a smartphone app by Agoop Corp. showed the same trend.

The data from the Softbank Group Corp. affiliate’s app covered the same time and utilized similar measurements as the NTT Docomo analysis.

On April 25, Tokyo Station recorded an 81.1 percent drop in foot traffic, while Namba Station in Osaka saw an 80.2 percent fall and Hakata Station in Fukuoka recorded 77.8 percent less, according to the Agoop data.

(This article was written by Roku Goda and Shiori Ogawa.)

 

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