TOKYO - The mass exodus sparked by Japan's
Golden Week spring holidays reached its peak on Saturday as travellers
crowded high-speed trains, airports and expressways.
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| Travellers crowded high-speed trains, airports and expressways during Japan's Golden Week. (EPA photo |
The international terminal at Tokyo's Haneda airport, which
expanded the number of slots for international flights at the end of March, was
abuzz with families departing for overseas destinations.
Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways said their flights were
almost fully booked, with around 16,000 people estimated to be heading abroad
on Saturday alone, while about 110,000 were flying domestically.
Ken Hasegawa, a physiotherapist from Chiba prefecture east of
Tokyo who was ready to depart for South Korea with eight relatives, said he was
looking forward to sampling the food in Seoul.
"It's more convenient now that there are more
flights," he said.
At Narita airport near Tokyo, about 36,000 people were
leaving the country Saturday.
Shinkansen high-speed trains departing Tokyo were packed,
with passengers standing in the aisles in cars with non-reserved seats.
At Tokyo Station, 8-year-old Nanami Noro waited for a Tokaido
Shinkansen train going west on the way to her father's hometown in Mie
prefecture.
"I'm looking forward to playing in nature," she
said.
Roads were overwhelmed too, with traffic backed up for more
than 50 kilometres heading towards an interchange north of Tokyo on the
Kan-Etsu expressway running from the capital to Niigata Prefecture on the Sea
of Japan coast.
The peak of "U-turn" travelers returning to Tokyo
and other large cities before the holidays end Tuesday is expected to hit
expressways on Sunday through Monday, air routes on Monday through Tuesday and
railways on Tuesday.
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