Japan's summer holiday season started in full swing on Thursday, with reservations for domestic trains and flights leaving Tokyo reaching a peak as travelers took advantage of a lack of coronavirus restrictions for the first time in three years. While more people headed abroad for their break, numbers are nevertheless far below the pre-COVID-19 era as new cases across the country remain elevated, hitting record highs in recent weeks. Families flooded JR Tokyo Station, where Natsuki Kato, who was heading to the western prefecture of Hiroshima, said, "I want to avoid crowds for my three kids, an...
