With the spread of the new coronavirus, people are trying to deliver gifts to their families as the movement to refrain from returning home during the New Year holidays is spreading.
At major department stores in Tokyo, people are visiting one after another to buy gifts for families who cannot meet during the New Year holidays.
Since it is difficult to go out due to the spread of infection, expensive wines that can be enjoyed at home and assorted sets of special products from all over the country are selling well, and sales are higher than the previous year.
These gifts are also called "homecoming" by combining homecoming and year-end gifts.
According to department stores, the number of people who buy year-end gifts was mainly in their 60s and 70s until last year, but this means that the number of people in their 30s and 40s is increasing.
A woman in her 50s living in Tokyo who gave her parents a new year's dish said, "I can't go home, I can't show my grandchildren's faces, and I can't eat delicious food with them. I chose it. I made it so that my mother wouldn't have to buy it. "
Akihisa Furuguchi, a gift manager at Isetan Mitsukoshi, said, "Because I can't meet at Corona, the connection between people is more important than ever, and some people say that they bought it for the first time. Gifts are for people. It's a connection, and I want you to make use of it. "