Digital displays informing passersby about how crowded the areas are at noon every day were seen around the four major stations of Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ikebukuro and Shimbashi on Monday, one day into the extended state of emergency for 10 prefectures.
The signs show the percent increase or decrease in the number of people around each station compared to January 2020, before the spread of the coronavirus. Outside the west exit of Shinjuku Station, the digital display showed a 25% decrease on Monday.
After the new state of emergency was issued on Jan. 7, the number of people in the downtown area of Tokyo significantly dropped at night, but it was only down about 20% in certain areas during the day, according to the metropolitan government.
"We would like everyone to see the number and think about encouraging people to work from home more and refraining from going out unnecessarily during the day," an official of the metropolitan government said.
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