By WATARU SEKITA/ Staff Writer
May 3, 2023 at 18:14 JST
Tickets gates are crowded with passengers at JR Tokyo Station on May 3. (Wataru Sekita)
Travelers swarmed Tokyo Station on May 3 for trips to their hometowns or other destinations as the latter half of the Golden Week holiday period began.
Some trains on the Tokaido Shinkansen Line that departed Tokyo Station between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. were carrying 40 percent more passengers than capacity, according to Central Japan Railway Co.
Saki Endo, a 32-year-old company employee, was standing in line for unreserved seats on a bullet train around 1 p.m. to return to her hometown in Shiga Prefecture.
“I stayed at home for a while because I found through Twitter just how congested Tokyo Station was in the morning,” said Endo, who was able to find a seat soon. “My husband had almost given up on (finding a seat) after seeing the Twitter posts.”
May 3, which is Constitution Day, starts a string of national holidays leading to the weekend.
But some workers are taking nine consecutive days off from April 29 for their Golden Week holidays.
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