What smartphone data tells us about Tokyo's economy

Aug 21, 2021

Office and residential buildings are seen from the observation deck of Tokyo Skytree, the world's tallest broadcasting tower, in Tokyo, Japan June 18, 2019. REUTERS/Issei Kato - RC1E42E94890

Millions call Tokyo home. Image: REUTERS/Issei Kato

Yuhei Miyauchi

Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Boston University

Kentaro Nakajima

Associate Professor, Institute of Innovation Research, Hitotsubashi University

Stephen Redding

Harold T. Shapiro Professor in Economics, Princeton University

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The map shows the geographic location of ‘stays’ around Meiji Shrine. Each red-shaded rectangle corresponds a 25 × 25 metre grid cell. The darkness of the red represents the number of stays in each grid cell between December 2017 and February 2018. The building at the top-left surrounded by trees is the main building of the shrine. The stays are concentrated tightly along the path that runs from the road to the main building of the shrine, consistent with their accurately capturing patterns of movement within the city.

The darkness of the red represents the number of stays in each grid cell between December 2017 and February 2018. Image: Authors

Average number of work and other stays per day for weekdays and weekends (excluding home stays) for our baseline sample users in the metropolitan area of Tokyo in April 2019. Image: Authors

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