Nagoya’s central district is seeing more empty stores and offices as the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in teleworking and almost no inbound tourists.

Tsuruha Co., a major Sapporo-based drugstore operator, had a flagship store for tourists from overseas in Nagoya’s Sakae area, the largest business district in the Chubu region.

After entry bans were introduced for inbound tourists following the pandemic, the company closed the outlet in mid-May along with 15 other stores in cities including Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe.