Data Shows Jump In Long - Distance Travel From Tokyo
Mobile phone data shows that long-distance travel from Tokyo rose sharply during the first weekend since restrictions between prefectures were relaxed last week.
NHK analyzed anonymous network data tallied by mobile carrier NTT Docomo. It shows that arrivals from Tokyo last Saturday and Sunday rose in all other prefectures compared to the final weekend of May.
Yamagata saw travelers from Tokyo jump 148 percent. The figure rose 147 percent in Okinawa, 94 percent in Kagawa, 92 percent in Wakayama, 91 percent in Niigata and Tokushima, and 90 percent in Nagano.
Waseda University Professor Sasaki Kuniaki says the data shows that more people in Tokyo are traveling to distant locations like the southern island prefecture of Okinawa. He says this suggests that tourism and visits to hometowns are gradually returning.
