The Japanese expression "kankodori ga naku" (literally, "the cuckoo sings") is frequently used to describe a business slump.
"Kankodori" appears in a headline in Flash (Feb. 18) concerning Nara Park. Not only are visitor numbers to this destination way down, but the famous deer that wander its premises appear underfed for lack of humans to treat them with the park's special shika sembei (deer crackers).
"The number of visitors from China has been declining day by day," said a woman who sells the crackers. "Sales are only about half of what they were before the ban (on visits by Chinese tour groups) went in place."