Santa Claus visits that never came back after the pandemic

I have been writing about places you can visit Santa Claus for 25 years. One thing I have noticed since the pandemic is that many places that used to have Santa Claus visit no longer do. Still, there are more Santa Claus now than there were at the turn of the century. But it is a shame that even though the pandemic is long over, the annual Santa Claus visits are still effected.

Point in case; Takashimaya. I just shared two places on City-cost where you can visit Santa Claus in 2025. They are the Nihonbashi and Yokohama branches of the department store. But in 2019, before the pandemic, other branches of Takashimaya had a Santa Claus visit. For example, the Takasaki branch. Even 25 years ago when I first came to Japan, Santa Claus visited the Takasaki branch. As far as I am aware, is last visit to that branch was 2019.

However, it may well be that this year they will schedule a visit from Father Christmas at a later stage. We can only hope. But Takashimaya is not the only example, there are dozens more. Another example; almost all of the Toysrus had a regular Santa visit before the pandemic and very few of them have brought that event back since the pandemic. It is such a shame.