Japan keeps tourism freeze despite plunge in virus cases

TOKYO (AP) — Filled with pink and fuzzy things and cuddly bears, 6%DOKIDOKI, a tiny store in the heart of Tokyo’s Harajuku district, is bursting with “kawaii,” the Japanese for “cuteness.”

What it doesn’t have enough of, as in zero, are foreign tourists. And it could sure use some.

Like much of Asia, including Taiwan, Vietnam and Australia, Japan’s borders remain closed to tourists. While other Asian countries are inching toward reopening, Japanese borders will likely remain shut for some time to come. That’s a hardship for the many businesses that had come to rely on foreign tourists, who numbered 32 million in 2019, before the pandemic.

“Foreigners understand ‘kawaii' more emotionally than do Japanese. They use, ‘Kawaii!,’ in the same way they say, ‘Wonderful,' 'Awesome,’ or ‘Lovely,’ " said manager Yui Yoshida, noting Japanese tend to use the word mainly for tangible things like cute puppies.

“We had so many foreign customers before the pandemic,” she said. “Then suddenly no one could come.”

6%DOKIDOKI opened 26 years ago and has a loyal following: when it was imperiled by the pandemic downturn, supporters in and outside Japan started up crowd-funding campaigns to keep it afloat. It is also boosting mail-order sales and has introduced colorful face masks in a psychedelic flurry of hues and bear-shaped pouches useful for carrying hand sanitizers.

Yoshida doesn't expect foreign visitors to return until cherry blossom season next year.

That even might be optimistic.

While mandatory quarantine requirements have been eased somewhat after the number of new coronavirus cases plunged from hundreds per day to a few dozen per day in Tokyo, unlike the Indonesian resort island of Bali and some destinations in Thailand, Japan...