The Obon holiday rush began in earnest Saturday amid heightened vigilance following Friday’s megaquake advisory.
Airlines reported that many domestic flights departing from Tokyo’s Haneda airport were fully booked, including flights to areas that could be affected in the event of a Nankai Trough earthquake mentioned in the advisory, Kyodo News reported. The 800-kilometer undersea trough runs from Shizuoka Prefecture, to the southern tip of Kyushu island.
At Tokyo Station, reserved seats on most outbound trains were full, especially on the Tokaido Shinkansen. Trains on all shinkansen lines are running at slower speeds due to the advisory.
Reservations for reserved seats on the shinkansen and conventional trains of the six JR companies during the Obon holiday period, which lasts until next weekend, were about 1.2 times higher than last year, JR companies said.
Airlines reported that reservations for domestic flights were at the same level as last year.
Expressway operators are predicting that traffic jams of more than 10 kilometers this weekend.
