The number of passengers using major stations in east Japan -- including Kanto, Koshinetsu and Tohoku regions -- dropped by 50% to 90% last week (April 13-19), when the government declared a state of emergency nationwide to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.
On that weekend figures fell by between 70% to 90%. The survey was announced Tuesday by East Japan Railway Co. (JR East), which counted the number of passengers who passed through automatic ticket gates.
JR East surveyed its 18 major stations in 16 prefectures over a seven-day period, which included weekdays April 13-17 and weekend April 18, 19, and compared the results with the same period last year.
The numbers dropped sharply at all stations on April 18 and 19, the first weekend since the state of emergency was issued nationwide on April 16.
Passengers at Tokyo Station dropped the largest by 89% from a year earlier, followed by Shinjuku Station and Yamagata Station, which both fell by 88%. The lowest decline of 71% was seen at Morioka Station in Iwate Prefecture, where no infections have been reported, although the figure is still high.
In regard to figures on the weekdays, there was a gap between stations in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba prefectures where the state of emergency had already been issued, and the stations in other prefectures where the declaration was made in the middle of the week. The number of passengers at Tokyo and Yokohama stations dropped by 77% and 68% respectively, while Niigata station fell by 55% with Morioka station decreasing by 47%. The number of passengers plummeted by 82% at Yamagata Station.
Meanwhile, JR East Shinkansen users fell by 87% on the surveyed weekdays followed by 94% on the surveyed weekend. Narita Express, or N'EX, which connects Narita Airport to central Tokyo, saw passengers drop by 97% on the weekdays and 99% on the weekend.
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