Fewer people rang in the new year with an annual visit to shrines and temples, a tradition known as hatsumode.
The Yomiuri Shimbun analyzed visitor numbers to places of worship on New Year's Day using data from Agoop Corp., a tech company affiliated with Softbank Corp.
Comparing visitor numbers from 0:00 a.m. to 0:59 a.m. on New Year's day in 2021, visits to Meiji Jingu shrine in Tokyo, Sensoji temple in Tokyo, Atsuta Jingu shrine in Aichi Prefecture, Sumiyoshi Taisha shrine in Osaka, Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine in Kyoto and Dazaifu Tenmangu shrine in Fukuoka Prefecture decreased to 20% to 40% from 2020 levels.
People also stayed away from downtown Tokyo.
According to a mobile spatial statistics report compiled by NTT Docomo Inc., which estimates visitor numbers based on smartphone location information, the number of people in the Ginza district and Shibuya Center-gai shopping street on Jan. 2 decreased by 39.5% and 46.2%, respectively, compared with holidays between Jan. 18 and Feb. 14 last year, just as new coronavirus infections were first being detected.
On the other hand, numbers in the vicinity of Shinjuku Station were down only 22%.
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