Japan out to control crowds in suburbia as downtown becomes ghostly quiet

Entertainment hubs like Shibuya and Shinjuku in Tokyo are now ghosts of their normal selves - Reuters

TOKYO (The Straits Times/ANN): Japan's megacities are being forced to look at crowd control measures in their suburban residential areas, after "strong appeals" for people to avoid going downtown worked relatively well.

Entertainment hubs from Shibuya and Shinjuku in Tokyo to Umeda in Osaka and Sannomiya in Kobe are now ghosts of their normal selves, with footfall plunging by about 70 per cent, but residential shopping arcades have become more crowded.