Photo/Illutration Commuters in front of JR Shinbashi Station in Tokyo’s Minato Ward on Jan. 4 (Jin Nishioka)

People in Japan returned to work on Jan. 4 for the first time in 2023, again with wishes for the COVID-19 pandemic to finally end in the New Year.

For the first time in three years, there were no COVID-related restrictions in Japan during the year-end and New Year holiday period.

Naoto Kubo, 43, a company employee who lives in Tokyo’s Katsushika Ward, said he spent the holidays at the home of his wife’s parents in Choshi, Chiba Prefecture.

“Our relatives got together for the first time in many years,” Kubo said in an interview in front of JR Shinbashi Station in Tokyo’s Minato Ward.

“We made the first visit of the year to a shrine and watched the Hakone Ekiden (relay road) race. Our 5-year-daughter looked happy.”

He said he could refresh himself during the break.

“As expected, it was fun and important to communicate face to face,” he said. “There has been so much gloomy news, but I wish for health and peace for the new year.”

Tsutomu Miyake, 48, a business owner in Yamato, Kanagawa Prefecture, said he did not travel during the holidays.

“I went to see a movie on New Year’s Day in Ikebukuro (in Tokyo). There was a large turnout and many shops were open.”

He said his business is related to events, so he wants an end to the COVID-19 pandemic as soon as possible.

“I am hoping for a world where I’m permitted to take off my mask,” Miyake said.

Matao Saito, 66, who sells tuna and salmon roe at a shop in the Tsukiji Outer Market in Tokyo’s Chuo Ward, said customers started returning around November 2022, shortly after the central government eased its COVID-related border controls.

But prices of seafood products have soared due to higher transport costs following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the weakened yen.

Compared with normal times, the prices of crab are up by 50 percent while tuna prices are up by 20 percent, driving away potential customers, Saito said.

Sales during the holidays were around 80 percent of the pre-pandemic level.

“I hope more foreign visitors and elderly customers will come by this year,” he said.

In Hokkaido, Sapporo Mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto had sports on his mind at his news conference held on the morning of Jan. 4.

“I want to continue to appeal the significance of our city bidding to host the Olympics,” he said.

The city government has suspended its campaign activities to be named host of the 2030 Winter Olympics because of the bribery scandal over the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“It is difficult to obtain the understanding of people in Sapporo, Hokkaido and the nation unless we show that the operation of the 2030 Olympics will be different from the previous ones,” Akimoto said.

He reiterated that Sapporo will conduct another opinion poll on the pros and cons of hosting the 2030 Winter Games.

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike addressed the COVID-19 situation in the capital during her New Year’s speech at the metropolitan government’s office in Shinjuku Ward.

Tokyo is now dealing with a surge in the number of new COVID-19 cases, which recently reached 10,000 or so daily.

Koike, however, put a positive spin on what she witnessed over the holidays.

“By seeing long lines of people visiting shrines or temples at the beginning of the New Year, I feel things are getting back to normal and full of bustle,” she said. “Let’s turn this bright sign into a wave of growth and secure a sustainable future for Tokyo.”

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