Nara's deer are fed to run when they see children, and Japan's Golden Week is on a retaliatory outing

Traffic jams, queues, spending money

For the first time in two years, Japan has been so lively

The May Day Golden Week in China is over, but the Golden Week in Japan continues.

This year, Japan's Golden Week lasted for 10 days.

Over the past two years, Japan has declared a "declaration of emergency" in the hope that people will turn Golden Week into stay-at-home week.

Under the epidemic, japanese people's travel has been severely restricted, and the tourism industry has been very dismal.

In March of this year, things changed. Japan has completely lifted "key measures such as preventing spread", and people can finally travel without restrictions.

On the first day of the holiday, there was a 17-kilometer traffic jam on the central highway in the tokyo metropolitan area. Jr (Japan Railways Group) overall booked 1.6 times more than last year, and JAL Airlines increased passengers by 4.2 times compared to last year.

Among them, the Hawaii route has increased by nearly 9 times, and it is almost full.

Iconic attractions are also overcrowded, with Kyoto's coffee shops queuing for 3 hours; Nara's deer fed to their stomachs; Kamakura High School's front station packed with punch card influencers; and Kyoto's Kiyomizu-dera Temple blocked.

After two years of limited travel, the Japanese appear to have embarked on "retaliatory" travel.

01

Nara fawns refused to open their mouths

Hermès clerks don't touch the ground

Japan's Golden Week is not Labor Day, but a holiday consisting of a combination of boys' day, Green Day and other neighboring festivals.

This year's holiday starts on April 29 and ends on May 8. Two of those days were supposed to be weekdays, but most companies opted for a full 10-day holiday.

For many Japanese people, the 10-day holiday of unlimited travel is probably the most anticipated thing in the past two years of the epidemic.

Minya, who has settled in Japan, chose to take her family on a road trip between Nara and Kyoto-Osaka during this year's Golden Week.

After arriving in Nara, the first question Minya had was parking.

At that time, the parking lot within a kilometer of Nara Park was already full, and they searched for more than half an hour just to find the parking lot there.

In Nara, feeding sika deer is a must-do for almost every visitor.

In the past two years, when the epidemic was severe, few tourists came to feed the deer, resulting in insufficient food for the deer in the park, and when they saw people, they chased after them for food.

During this year's Golden Week, Nara Park welcomed a large number of tourists. When Minya fed the deer, they refused to eat because they had already been fed by other tourists.

In addition, she also discovered a strange thing. The deer here seem to be particularly afraid of children, and when they see children, they will run, but when they see adults, they will approach.

Only after asking the staff did they learn that there has been an endless stream of tourists recently, and there are often playful children chasing the fawn, resulting in the fawn seeing the child's conditioned reflex.

After two years, so many tourists flocked to Nara again, and the sika deer may be surprised.

When we think of Kyoto, it's easy to think of a quiet ancient capital full of historical charm. But kyoto, this year's Golden Week, is really bustling.

According to statistics, the flow of people at Kiyomizu-dera Temple on May 3 was 3.6 times that of last year, and the number of tourists was almost impossible to accommodate on the street. Everyone is rubbing shoulders, and there is no social distancing at all.

Although there are many tourists during golden week, there are not so many shops near Kiyomizu-dera Temple.

Many stores have closed down due to a lack of foot traffic during the past two years and the inability to pay rent.

Some of the shops that are still open are mostly owned shops, and they do not have to pay rent so they can barely make ends meet.

In the scenic Arashiyama Area, the number of people on May 3 was 2.2 times higher than last year.

Haruka, who chose to come to Arashiyama, felt congested and couldn't help but complain: "I suspect that people all over Japan have come to Kyoto."

In the commercial street of Shijo-Hegencho, Octopus saw the scene like this: "The road is full of people, many shops are queuing, and the Hermès clerks are busy without touching the ground." ”

Honeydew originally wanted to go to the very famous la madrague coffee shop, but as a result, there was already a queue of 3 hours at the entrance of the store an hour after opening.

She couldn't wait so long, so she had to go to other stores, which was also a pleasure.

Osaka's Shinsaibashi and Dotonboru are among the few areas in Japan that have remained popular during the past pandemic.

This year's Golden Week is even more crowded with a large number of tourists. Minya simply felt that there were so many people here that there were too many people to see where to stay." ”

Restaurants with usually 20 or 30 seats can be eaten within 1 hour of queuing. Some small shops only have eight or nine seats, and the waiting time will be longer.

The trip ends with Minya's return journey of about 500 kilometers. It was supposed to take 7 hours by car to get there, but due to traffic jams, it took about 11 hours to get home.

In fact, she has already chosen to start at the wrong peak, and if it is on the peak day of the return journey, this journey can be blocked for 14 hours.

02

The number of visitors to Sensoji Temple increased by 3.6 times

Want to see the pandas queue up for an hour first

During Golden Week, many people choose to go to Tokyo.

To celebrate Boys' Day during the holidays, 333 colorful carp flags fly under the 333-meter-high Tokyo Tower.

The carp flag, which means "carp jumping the dragon gate", is a traditional custom of the Japanese to pray for the blessing of children.

After sunset, Tokyo Tower is draped in a layer of colorful light, a special illumination of Golden Week.

There is a steady stream of Japanese tourists coming from under the tower to see and pray for blessings.

In addition to Tokyo Tower, the one attraction you will definitely visit in Tokyo is Sensoji Temple. On May 3, Asakusa saw 3.6 times as many visitors as last year.

Entering the Thunder Gate of Sensoji Temple, there is a 250-meter commercial street. During Golden Week, people come here to taste snacks, visit small shops or visit temples.

The whole road is crowded with tourists and can't get through.

Ueno Zoo is also a popular attraction during this year's Golden Week.

Although it implemented a reservation system during this period, there was a long queue at the door.

The main reason why everyone went forward and followed was the three Pandas in the zoo - the panda mother "Fairy" and her twin babies "Xiaoxiao" and "Leilei".

It takes almost an hour to queue up to meet these little cute sides.

In Japan, no one can resist the charm of the panda.

03

"Golden Week" becomes "Death Week"

It can't stop the enthusiasm for travel

Okinawa was the most affected area in Japan for most of the past year. Currently, 0.7 people per 10,000 people are infected with COVID-19, and more than half of the infection routes are unknown.

To this end, the Naha Dragon Boat Race, which was held every year during the Golden Week before the epidemic, has been suspended for three consecutive years, including this year.

Emorikousuke, a local video blogger in Okinawa, made a video in order to appeal to everyone not to travel to Okinawa during Golden Week.

Because of the severity of the epidemic in Okinawa, he jokingly called "Golden Week" a "Dying Week" (the Japanese abbreviation is pronounced GW).

And he said that many sightseeing venues in Okinawa are not currently open, plus Okinawa will enter the rainy weather during the Golden Week, hoping that everyone will dispel the idea of traveling, "Now, give up!" ”

But these situations have not hindered the pace of Japanese tourists. On May 3, the number of people at Naha Airport in Okinawa increased by 1.7 times compared to last year.

For many people who want to vacation by the sea, it is much more cost-effective to come to Okinawa than to go to Hawaii.

04

Someone chased the sea bare-chested

Someone wrapped in thick skis

The way the Japanese spend Golden Week is not only crowded in famous cities, but also finds unique ways to play that suit them everywhere.

On the coastal beach of the port city of Yokohama, you can see a rare dense crowd after the epidemic, looking at Uyangyang in the distance.

Many of the surrounding residents come with their children to dig clams in the sea, which is their traditional seaside activity.

May in Gunma is another sight.

People wore thick snow suits and rode the snow fields as if they were living two seasons with other places.

Kamakura, as a must-visit place for Internet celebrities, is even more crowded during the Golden Week.

Especially in front of Kamakura High School, it is the original location of "Slam Dunk Master", so many young people come to take photos every day.

Everyone stood by the track and waited for the tram to pass by, and then took photos with it one by one, which was the biggest purpose of the trip.

The long-lost travel has made many Japanese people feel free and happy again, but their worries about the epidemic still linger.

05

There will be a rebound in the epidemic in many places

Epidemic prevention cannot be relaxed

According to the survey, the proportion of people who are "uneasy" about the seventh wave of the epidemic is as high as 76.8%.

In the first seven days of Golden Week, the average number of new infections in Japan was nearly 40,000 per day, 8 times that of the same period last year.

Japan's tourism industry has been severely damaged in the past three years because of the epidemic, which is the main reason why Japan relaxed restrictions during Golden Week this year.

They believe that the virus has weakened and the vaccination rate is high, so they make this bold attempt in the hope of bringing more opportunities to the economy.

Although there are no travel restrictions in terms of policy, many experts in Japan believe that the seventh wave of the epidemic has begun, and many counties and cities will rebound from the epidemic, and epidemic prevention cannot be relaxed.

To this end, Japan still retains some basic prevention and control measures, such as calling on people to wear masks, maintaining safe social distancing, and implementing contactless payments.

At the same time, Japan has added 100 new nucleic acid testing sites for Golden Week, and there are currently about 10,000 in the country.

Since the recent new infections are mainly young people, Some of the testing points in Tokyo have been set up around karaoke shops to attract young people to take the initiative to test.

Now, Golden Week is nearing its end. "Nihon Keizai Shimbun" reported on the 6th that the Japanese government plans to restart the conditional entry of foreign tourists in June.

In this Golden Week attempt, they should have tasted the sweetness.

Text, Editing/Slipping

The image comes from the Internet, if there is infringement, please contact to delete

The above content is from "The Bund TheBund" (WeChat: the-bund)

Lawyers have been authorized to pursue and protect the copyright of articles.

Welcome to share, leave a message to communicate. Please indicate the source of the reprint.