The return rush for the New Year’s holidays came to a peak Tuesday afternoon at major hub stations and airports nationwide, with people getting ready for the start of work Wednesday.
According to the Japan Railway group, almost all seats were booked on Tokyo-bound bullet trains. People without reservations pushed the average occupancy rate for some nonreserved cars beyond 120 percent.
Bookings for flights bound for Haneda airport in Tokyo reached 93 percent for Japan Airlines and 99 percent for All Nippon Airways, the carriers said.
Road traffic also got nasty Tuesday. Noon saw a 26-km traffic jam on a Tokyo-bound section of the Tomei Expressway in Shizuoka Prefecture and more tieups were expected by the evening.