Stations, Airports Packed with Travelers; Scores Head Home for Holiday Season

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:43 JST, December 28, 2024

Train stations and airports across the nation were packed with people heading home for the year-end and New Year’s holidays on Saturday, the first of potentially nine consecutive days off.

Families and overseas tourists were among the travelers waiting in long lines with large suitcases on the Shinkansen platform at JR Tokyo Station in the morning.

“I want to show my parents how much my children have grown up,” said a 42-year-old man in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, who was returning with his family to his parents’ home in Takaoka, Toyama Prefecture.

A 50-year-old man in Tokyo who was heading to his family home in Aomori Prefecture, said, “My parents have bad backs and legs, so I want to help them remove the snow from the roof.”

According to East Japan Railway Co., as of 10 a.m. Saturday, non-reserved cars on the Hokuriku Shinkansen bound for Kanazawa from Tokyo operated with a passenger capacity of up to 120%. On the Tohoku and Joetsu Shinkansen lines, the capacity was between 80% and 90% for non-reserved cars.

Central Japan Railway Co. has made all seats on the Tokaido Shinkansen’s Nozomi available only by reservation from Dec. 27 to Jan. 5. The outbound trains from Tokyo were almost fully occupied Saturday morning.

Domestic flights departing from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport were also almost fully booked. As of Monday, reservations for domestic and international flights for the year-end and New Year’s holidays were about 10% to 20% higher than the previous year for ANA, JAL and their group airlines.