Starting Over

6 months after the suspension of inbound tourism, a government domestic tourism campaign saw demand for Tokyo hotels both old and new begin to recover. Alongside banquet sales, particularly for weddings, sales of take-out Christmas dinners reflected demand for stay-at-home services. One new Shibuya hotel saw an upswing in reservations, with some rooms repurposed for use as workspace. But now coronavirus cases in Tokyo are rising rapidly, forcing the government to make a difficult decision.

The threat of COVID-19 infection is just around the corner. Anyone can be infected at any time. If someone was infected in the school, what should the students do? The students in Jiyu Gakuen, have begun to think about corona and discrimination for themselves.

Last December, the Hawaii state government decided to accept Japanese tourists, and flights to Hawaii were resumed. The airline industry in Japan was filled with hope for a bright future. However, in January 2021, the state of emergency was again declared in 11 prefectures, including Tokyo. As the spread of COVID-19 continued, the number of passengers at Haneda Airport decreased dramatically, and tenants of the airport's shopping areas have also kept their doors closed. But airport workers are perseveringly preparing to bring back air travel.

The fall 2020 campaign to boost domestic travel helped bring old and new hotels back to life. But late in the year, infection figures surged and Tokyo issued a second state of emergency. At one long-established hotel, a couple forced to postpone a large wedding once before faced having to do so again. A new hotel in Shibuya has taken measures such as reducing employee attendance to two-thirds, while finding a way to increase workspace by remodeling rooms and use the lobby as a gallery space.