People are coming back to izakaya (Japanese pubs) and bars in the first year-end party season since the government's downgrading of COVID-19 to a lower risk category of infectious diseases.
On Friday night, many drinking places in the Shimbashi district of Tokyo's Minato Ward, often referred to as the "holy land" of office workers, were packed with customers. Even outside tables were being used despite the cold weather.
According to Watami, the operator of Sandaime Torimero and other izakaya chains, as of Nov. 30 the company saw bookings for December swelling threefold from a year earlier on a same-store basis, exceeding the pre-pandemic level four years ago by 30%.