In Sendai, driving a taxi is becoming an increasingly popular job.

In the nine months between April last year — the start of fiscal 2024 — and December, a total of 350 people became cab drivers in the city, a figure that is 3.5 times the number of new starters in the whole of fiscal 2021, when the number plunged amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Several factors have contributed to the renewed interest in driving cabs.