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Mixed reactions to Tokyo's campaign to work from home

TOKYO — Tokyo’s commuters offered mixed reviews as the government launched a campaign to get more of them to work from home.

People in Tokyo were in two minds about the city's Telework Day campaign, which people to work remotely as the city gears up to host the 2020 Summer Olympics. Photo: Redd Angelo on Unsplash

People in Tokyo were in two minds about the city's Telework Day campaign, which people to work remotely as the city gears up to host the 2020 Summer Olympics. Photo: Redd Angelo on Unsplash

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TOKYO — Tokyo’s commuters offered mixed reviews as the government launched a campaign to get more of them to work from home.

Monday (July 25) marked the first dry run of a “Telework Day” encouraging people to work remotely as the city gears up to host the 2020 Summer Olympics. 

The authorities are seeking ways to make room for 920,000 spectators expected to visit Tokyo each day during the Games.

“There’s no option, but to ask regular commuters to stay at home rather than going out to work,” said Dr Azuma Taguchi, an expert in urban studies at Chuo University in Tokyo. The alternative, he added, is overcrowding that could cause accidents and delays.

With Tokyo’s population of close to 14 million sitting at the centre of the world’s largest conurbation of some 35 million people, the logistical challenge of moving everyone around will exceed that faced by London Olympic organisers in 2012.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs said it would take about a month to collect data on how many people took part in what is set to be an annual event. 

Meanwhile, Twitter users were divided over the results, with some saying trains were less crowded than usual and others saying they noticed no difference.

Dr Taguchi, who developed a simulator for transport use in the city during the Olympics, said at least 20 per cent of commuters would need to take part in Telework Day for it to be effective.

Apart from relieving congestion during the Olympics, the government hopes that it will result in more flexible work practices.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has spoken out in favour of changing the way the Japanese people work, allowing more time for family and leisure pursuits that could also bolster consumer spending.

“I think there may still be some reluctance among traditional Japanese companies who think it doesn’t fit their type of work,” said Mr Jiro Akama, vice-minister of internal affairs, in an interview last week. “But we want them to give telework a try.”

Seeking to cater to those who cannot work from home, railway company Tokyu Corporation has opened a network of 70 shared office spaces. The company says demand is rising by 10 per cent a year.

Customer Haruyuki Asada, 51, has been commuting almost two hours each way to his central Tokyo office for three decades.

Now, when he has an afternoon meeting between the two, Mr Asada spends the remainder of the day working at a desk in a shared office nearby, rather than returning to headquarters. 

He then heads straight home, avoiding overcrowded trains.

“I’m able to sit down and read on the train,” Mr Asada said. “I sometimes get home while it’s still light.”

While Tokyo’s “commuter hell” has eased since the days of window panes cracking under the strain of bodies packed into the carriages in the 1960s and 1970s, it is still not unusual to have to queue to reach the station platform on some lines during rush hour. BLOOMBERG

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