The "U-turn" of vacationers traveling back from hometowns and resorts after the yearend and New Year's holidays peaked Monday, with Tokyo-bound trains, airports and roads crowded throughout the day.
Tokyo-bound bullet trains were packed, with a Tohoku Shinkansen Line train from Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, running at up to 180 percent capacity in its nonreserved cars, railways officials said.
Airline officials said seats on flights arriving at Haneda airport from major cities such as Sapporo and Fukuoka were all taken.
Tokyo-bound traffic was also backed up, with a 25-km jam around the Numazu interchange in Shizuoka on the Tomei Expressway and a 13-km jam around the Honjo Kodama interchange in Saitama on the Kanetsu Expressway, according to the Japan Road Traffic Information Center.