Photo/Illutration Tourists satisfy their hunger on a pleasure boat in Tokyo’s Chuo Ward. (Tetsuro Takehana)

Indoors and outdoors, on land and over water, bustling crowds returned to Japan well before May 8, when the government will downgrade the severity category of COVID-19.

An estimated 168,000 people attended the two-day Spring Takayama Festival, or Sanno Matsuri, held in mid-April in Takayama, Gifu Prefecture, the city said. That was more than triple the attendance of 53,000 last year.

The festival’s main event, a parade of floats, was held for the first time in four years, attracting many tourists from in and out of Japan.

The spread of the novel coronavirus hammered the tourism industry, which is now seeing a rebound toward pre-pandemic levels.

Customers are returning to Yakatabune pleasure boat businesses, which were devastated by the pandemic.

Harumiya, which operates shared boats in Tokyo’s Koto Ward, said about 9,000 people canceled their reservations between spring and autumn in 2020, when the pandemic started.

That period nearly sank the company. But business started to turn around in summer 2022.

In March this year, Harumiya generated its largest profit in its history for the month.

“It feels we have finally gotten out of the tunnel,” said Susumu Yasuda, the 56-year-old company president.

Live music venues, considered risky places for the spread of the virus, were often forced to close their doors during the pandemic. In some places, as an anti-virus measure, patrons were urged not to cheer or shout during live performances.

On one night in mid-April, five-member band Dive to the 2nd performed at the Harajuku Ruido club in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward.

Although people in the crowd were mostly masked, they screamed through the protective gear.

Cheering has also intensified at J.League soccer games since the government said spectators can decide whether or not to wear masks.

During a match held at Todoroki Athletics Stadium in Kawasaki, maskless fans roared for Kawasaki Frontale.

“A pre-pandemic Todoroki has come back,” Yuuri Toyoda, 20, a university student who lives in Tokyo, said at the stadium. “I’ve realized this is the J.League.”