Changes in work styles caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have made it less important for companies to have offices in the city. Yokohama was the most popular destination for companies relocating from Tokyo.

Pandemic prompts companies to flee central Tokyo

Relocations skyrocket more than 20% in FY2020

KENJI ASADA and AIKO MUNAKATA, Nikkei staff writers

June 1, 2021 13:05 JST

TOKYO -- The COVID-19 pandemic may be helping to halt a trend that many had thought irreversible: the concentration of Japanese businesses in central Tokyo.

The number of Japanese companies that have moved their headquarters from the center of Tokyo in fiscal 2020 increased more than 20% from fiscal 2019, according to data from National Tax Agency.