The usual buzz of families traveling for the New Year holidays was dulled to a whisper at Japanese train stations on Saturday, the beginning of the homecoming season.
Calls to refrain from traveling are believed to be the cause of a decrease in the number of travelers.
Few people were seen on the Shinkansen platforms at JR Tokyo Station on Saturday morning. According to JR, the number of reservations for seats aboard the high-speed trains has seen a significant decrease compared to a typical year. The number of services has not been reduced, however, as a means of avoiding the crowding that might come about if the number of available trains were decreased. As of 10 a.m. on Saturday, between 10% and 30% of non-reserved seats on the Tohoku, Yamagata, Joetsu and Hokuriku Shinkansen lines were used.
On the Tokaido Shinkansen's Nozomi No. 1 train from Tokyo to Hakata, a maximum of 60% of the non-reserved seats were filled, compared to the 180% of capacity reached on Dec. 28 last year at around the same time.
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