Unsettled Tokyo in black and white
The notoriously crowded Tokyo morning rush-hour trains are sparsely populated. Classrooms are eerily empty. Store shelves are bare.
People with gas masks pop up throughout a city overwhelmed by fear of the spread of the new coronavirus, which is altering daily life and casting doubt over the Summer Olympic Games.
Struck by the contrast of the white protective masks against the stark cityscape, AP photographer Jae. C. Hong captured the unsettling new norm in black and white.
A man exits Shinjuku Station in Tokyo, March 6, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
An English church in Roppongi no longer asks its members to high-five during Sunday services. Instead, they give a Japanese-style bow to each other.
A luxurious department store in the Ginza shopping district put out an apologetic notice on its cosmetics floor saying that their employees are not allowed touch customers to prevent the spread of the virus.
More than a million kids in the city are free after the nationwide school closures.
A growing list of sporting events have been canceled or postponed or held without any spectators. Sumo is among the last to join the list. Its spring tournament in Osaka held without any fans.
An employee works in a luxury store in Tokyo, March 6, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A couple embrace while waiting at a pedestrian crossing in Tokyo, March 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A woman is reflected on a temporary closure notice outside the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, Friday, March 6, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A beam of light falls on a man at a train station March 12, 2020, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A station attendant walks out of an empty car of a train decorated with a sign promoting the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, March 6, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A woman in a kimono walks past gift shops in Tokyo, March 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A pedestrian waits to cross the street in the Harajuku section of Tokyo, March 9, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Commuters ride escalators at a train station in Tokyo, March 9, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A commuter reads a book while waiting for a train to arrive at a station in Tokyo, Friday, March 6, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A group of elderly women play gate ball at a park in Tokyo, March 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A commuter wearing a plastic glove holds a mask in a train in Tokyo, Sunday, March 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A woman plays with a boy at a park near the temporarily closed Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, March 6, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A commuter wearing a gas mask pauses for photos outside a train station in Tokyo, March 6, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A mannequin wears a mask at a souvenir shop near Sensoji Temple in Tokyo, March 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A man walks through the Meiji Shrine gardens as the shrine’s torii gate stands in the distance in Tokyo, March 9, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A man falls asleep in a train passing the Rainbow Bridge in Tokyo, March 12, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A caricature artist wears a mask jokingly layered with a drawing of exaggerated lips while working in her shop in Tokyo, March 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Two men walk along a sidewalk in Tokyo, March 9, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Illuminated Olympic rings float in the water in the Odaiba section of Tokyo, March 6, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Text from AP News story AP Photos:Unsettled Tokyo in black and white by Jae C. Hong.