On Friday,April 29, 2011, Japan was abuzz with folks traveling across thecountry and abroad for the annual Golden Week holidays – though relative topast years, the number of travelers appears to be down following the March 11,2011earthquake and tsunami disaster.
Atthe onset of the 10-day vacation period through May 8, railway stations andairports in Tokyo were jammed with people traveling to tourist spots or theirhometowns.
TheTohoku Shinkansen Line resumed full services throughout its route from Tokyo toShin-Aomori Station the same day, recovering from disruptions nearly 50 daysafter being stricken by the disaster. Seat reservations at Japan Railwaycompanies and airlines were down compared to past years
AtNarita International Airport (the so-called Tokyo Airport), the number ofpassengers using the airport during Golden Week is expected to be half of otheryears, as the disaster and the massive accident at the crippled Fukushima-ken (Fukushima Prefecture)Dai-ichi (Big One) nuclear plant have discouraged people from going abroad.
Still,tourist traffic made a relatively solid start at the onset of this year’s longholiday.
EastJapan Railway Co. said shinkansen (bullet) trains on its Tohoku, Yamagata and AkitaShinkansen lines were congested, though there were some vacant seats.
Thefirst service of the day by the new Hayabusa bullet train was sold out by noonThursday. The first new model developed by JR East since 1997 began its serviceon March 5, 2011 but was suspended only six days later with the magnitude 9.0quake and began operations again on April 29, 2011.
Onthe Tokaido Shinkansen Line of Central Japan Railway Co., or JR Tokai, thenumber of passengers on the train that departed at 6AM. was at 30 per centabove capacity.
Onthe Tomei Expressway linking the cities of Tokyo and Nagoya, a 49-kilometre traffic jam was seenin Isehara-shi (Isehara City), Kanagawa-ken (Kanegawa Prefecture).
AtTokyo’s Haneda airport, flights departing for domestic airports were almostfull.
AtNarita International Airport, the departure lobby was seen bustling with manyfamilies departing for overseas tourist spots like Guam, Hawaii and Europeancountries, although the number of people departing from it Friday is estimatedat only 26,300, down a sharp 20,000 from 2010.
Filesby Andrew Joseph
