Passengers are seen in the arrival at Kansai International Airport on Sunday.

Travelers return to Tokyo after Golden Week

TOKYO - The streets were full of people after the Golden Week. A series of holiday in Japan, Golden Week, is held every year, but there is something different this year. Due to the beginning of the new era, the Golden Week is extended to 10-days holiday. This lead to the rush of travelers returning to Tokyo from the extra-long Golden Week holiday grew on Sunday, with traffic jams over 30 km long seen on some parts of expressways. Not only expressways that are congested with travelers, but major airports, railway, and bullet trains were full of passengers as well.

A high school teacher from Kawasaki, Masafumi Mori, arrived at Tokyo Station after volunteering in Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture. The prefecture was hit by a major tsunami in March 2011, and Masafumi helped local workers to pack seaweed. Masafumi stated that the streets were full of people. “I can take another day off this time, although I was exhausted after working.” He said.

An airplane passenger, Junta Ogata, 24, arrived at Narita airport after a trip to Europe with his girlfriend. “I feel blue because I need to start working tomorrow,” he said with a wry smile.

Japan Road Traffic Information Center reported traffic jams of more than 30 km around the Takasaka rest area in Saitama Prefecture, and 20 km around Joban Kashiwa interchange in Chiba Prefecture.

Osamu Oide, a 55-year-old man said that he was refreshing himself by playing golf, but got exhausted after being caught in a traffic jam.

Source: https://japantoday.com/category/national/rush-of-travelers-returning-from-golden-week-holiday-intensifies