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In October 2022, Japan reopened its borders. There is no better place to see the effects of that than at Takeshita Street in Harajuku. It is a major tourist drawcard in Tokyo. Yes, travelers are back! The spark of life has returned to Harajuku.
I’m posting a few photos to show you the difference between 2020 and 2022. Two years ago, Takeshita Street was empty. At that time, everyone was making an effort to observe social distance. A once vibrant, bustling place was shunned. No one wanted to go there.
Many people and businesses suffered. Notices of closure, temporary or permanent filled Takeshita Street. It needs tourists to survive. I have no idea how some people made ends meet. It must have been a tough time.
I was the same, very hesitant to go outside. Like everyone else, I had a certain amount of fear of contracting the disease. There is one thing that surprised me, though.
In 2020, the rate of infection in Tokyo was low. The daily rate was in the tens of people. That number was far lower than in many other countries. Japan was lucky the problem didn’t get worse for some time. That came later.
It came two years later to be precise. We saw spikes in the infection rate after the Olympics and the New Year period. If I’m not mistaken, it was over 20000 people per day in Tokyo at some points.
In mid-October 2022, the infection rate seems to range between 1500 and 5000 people per day. It is far higher than in 2020. There is one more difference, and it is a massive one. People no longer seem to fear the disease.
Takeshita Street has regained its old spark. You can see it with the crowds. They are back. People are elbow to elbow and smiling. Tourists are there. The crepe and gelato shops are busy. Everything is back to normal after nearly three years.
Please don’t read too much into this article. I only wanted to show some photos of how much the situation has changed. Let’s hope things continue to improve.
These Takeshita Street photos camera gear:
- Camera: Fujifilm X-T3
- Lens: Fujifilm XF 16-55mm F2.8 R LM WR
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