The New Year's return rush peaked Sunday with trains, airports and roads all packed with travelers coming back from hometowns or resorts in the early morning.
According to Japan Railway companies, reserved seats on Tokyo-bound bullet trains on the Tokaido Shinkansen Line were almost fully booked throughout the day, while all nonreserved seats were occupied on some of the Nozomi bullet trains from Fukuoka to Tokyo.
"I saw some passengers (without reserved seats) standing the entire way," office worker Yuta Ogawa said after his bullet train arrived at Tokyo Station. "But the situation this year seems less worse compared with the last time.
"I'm refreshed and ready to get back to work tomorrow," he added.
Japan Airlines Corp. said domestic flights to Tokyo's Haneda airport were booked at 99 percent of capacity, while All Nippon Airways Co. said its planes were 93 percent full.
At Narita International Airport in Chiba Prefecture, around 44,000 people returned from overseas on Sunday alone.
On Saturday, air traffic to and from Hokkaido was severely disrupted by heavy snow that forced the cancellation of 37 flights at New Chitose Airport near Sapporo.
Motorists heading toward Tokyo also faced headaches. On the Tomei Expressway, traffic was backed up 18 km at 9:30 a.m. around the Hamamatsu interchange, while a 13-km jam developed near the Yui rest area, both in Shizuoka Prefecture, the Japan Road Traffic Information Center said.
Backups were expected to be even worse in the afternoon and the evening, the center said, predicting traffic jams stretching 45 km long at several points on the Tomei and Kyushu expressways.