national

Golden Week return rush peaks

18 Comments

Shinkansen trains, expressways and airports were packed with travelers on Tuesday as holidaymakers returned home on the last day of the Golden Week holidays.

Narita Airport said it expected more than 50,000 passengers to arrive back at the airport by Tuesday night, TBS reported. An airport spokesperson said more than 400,000 people had departed from Narita since the Golden Week holiday period began on April 29.

ANA and JAL reported that Haneda-bound flights were all full on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, JR East said its bullet trains had been running at 100% capacity on all inbound services to Tokyo since Monday afternoon. JR West also reported full load factors.

On highways, the Japan Road Traffic Information Center said that at 3 p.m., there were bottlenecks of 15 to 20 kilometers on the Tomei Expressway leading to Tokyo and the Kanetsu Expressway in Saitama. It said a lot of people returned to Tokyo on Monday night when there were lines up to 35 kilometers at some points.

© Japan Today

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

18 Comments
Login to comment

Ridiculous.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

I hate it. I have to work, and Hakata station is horrible.

Beer will keep me sane, though, more or less ; )

4 ( +4 / -0 )

@lucabrasi

I hate it. I have to work, and Hakata station is horrible.

Beer will keep me sane, though, more or less ; )

I'm already stocked up. Since they rebuilt Hakata station, it has become a travels nightmare place. 8 years ago before the reconstruction, you could breeze through the station, maybe see 100-200 people at a glance, but now you can see well over 6000, it's crazy. Place has become one of the busiest cities in Kyushu. Stayed close to home, went to Amagi, to an Onsen, avoided all Hell traffic and tonight watch a good movie and pizza with the family. I'm not jealous of anyone stuck at Hakata, Tenjin or anywhere else.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Thank you, bass! ; )

Have fun with the family.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Whats Golden in that long weekend?

2 ( +3 / -1 )

"more than 400,000 people had departed from Narita since the Golden Week holiday period began on April 29."

Heck, it started April 25. A couple of months ago I inquired into booking an air ticket to the States departing April 25, and the price was nearly 40% higher than if I depart in September.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Oh the bliss of staying quietly at home ! (If only we'd managed to clean the place up after moving here five years ago...) But it still beats crowded 'planes and trains - not to mention bumper-to-bumper traffic !

4 ( +4 / -0 )

"What's Golden in that long weekend?"

Beer?

5 ( +5 / -0 )

people who find golden week fun and unstressful have never really been on a long relaxing vacation, void of crowds traffic noise. and yes these holidays are possible in Japan if you go to the right places at the right times. avoid being a sheeple

0 ( +2 / -2 )

any extended time off in japan wouldn't be complete without numerous reports on traffic jams...

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Articles on Japan Today: Golden week return rush peaks -6 May 2014 Number of children in Japan fall new low- 5 May 2014 Too many people create chaos. Not enough people create chaos. You cannot choose one but not the other. Live it up! Enjoy it...

2 ( +2 / -0 )

So Golden Week rush peaks only exist in the Kanto area?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Golden Week was always my favorite week of the year when I was in Tokyo, because I never went anywhere. Had the city to myself, and the weather actually made getting out and about very enjoyable, unlike Obon.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

@serrano: Absolute rubbish. The ticket was only 40% higher because you were booking so close to the departure date, I presume as is usual for you, a rock bottom economy priced ticket. Try booking that same ticket for September in July and see what you get quoted. I won't bore you with the way I book tickets but a good look at the start of the year for the whole of the next year can/will save you a packet, and yes, a lot of these tickets can be cancelled at minimum cost. I'm out of Japan now and have paid no more / no less through forward planning than if I had wanted to travel next week.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

35km of bumper-to-bumper is absolutely RIDICULOUS.

Still, nothing beats the 70km+ I had to endure in Obon week a few years ago after they CLOSED the Tomei. My god you had to see it to believe it! 22hrs stuck in the car!

4 ( +5 / -1 )

@theResident,

Please "bore" us. I for one would like to hear...

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I hope everyone has a lovely time!

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Seriously, I want to learn something here. Keep it positive.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites