In Japan, there are four national holidays between the 29th of April and the 5th of May. We refer to the week as Golden Week. This year, if you take two days off, you'll get a ten-day holiday. If nothing had happened on the 11th of March, today's news would be filled with people departing from Japan and tourist attractions. People really understand that those who are not suffering from the damage caused by the earthquake and tsunami are expected to spend money to boost the Japanese economy, and that it will help the victims and the disaster-hit areas. Because of this, they are trying to enjoy the long holiday, but still many of them apparently can't bring themselves to enjoy it as much as they used to.
Anyway, have you heard of Shinkansen/ 新幹線? They are bullet trains. Right before the Tokyo Olympics were held in 1964, the train service started between two major cities: Tokyo/東京 and Osaka/大阪. In 1975, another bullet train service started between Osaka and Fukuoka/福岡. Fukuoka is a business hub in the northernmost part of the Kyusyu region/九州地方. Since bullet train services have played a important role in local economic developments, both the Kyusyu and the Tohoku regions hoped that bullet trains would run longitudinally through their regions (The Tohoku region /東北地方 is the northern part of Japan and has been seriously damaged by the 3/11 disaster).
Last December, Shin-Aomori/新青森 in the northernmost part of the Tohoku region was finally connected to Tokyo by bullet train. Only six days before the 3/11 nightmare, new bullet trains were introduced. It enabled you to travel to shin-Aomori from Tokyo for about three hours. It's amazing to me. However, the devastating earthquake cut ”the large artery”. On the first day of the so-called Golden Week, the 29th of April, the entire route became available.It's reported that many local people in the disaster-hit areas are encouraged by the big, visible improvement. Since many inland areas of the Tohoku regions weren't seriously damaged and have already gotten back to normal, people there expect tourists to visit their towns. It'll surely help seriously-damaged coastal areas rebuild themselves. Actually, in Aomori/ 青森, now is the best time to see cherry blossoms.
As for the Kyushu region, a big ceremony was supposed to be held on the 12th of March in order to celebrate a full bullet train service between Fukuoka and Kagoshima/鹿児島 (the southernmost part of the region). It means that you can travel between Kagoshima and Aomori by bullet train (about 2000 kilometers). However, the 3/11 earthquake forced the ceremony to be canceled. Needless to say, all the Japanese people--no matter where they live and whether or not they felt the huge quake--were really shocked by what happened in Japan on that day. I want to travel throughout Japan by bullet train some day.
In Japan, there are four national holidays between the 29th of April and the 5th of May. We refer to the week as Golden Week. This year, if you take two days off, you'll get a ten-day holiday. If nothing had happened on the 11th of March, today's news would be filled with people departing from Japan and tourist attractions. People really understand that those who are not suffering from the damage caused by the earthquake and tsunami are expected to spend money to boost the Japanese economy, and that it will help the victims and the disaster-hit areas. Because of this, they are trying to enjoy the long holiday, but still many of them apparently can't bring themselves to enjoy it as much as they used to.
Last December, Shin-Aomori/新青森 in the northernmost part of the Tohoku region was finally connected to Tokyo by bullet train. Only six days before the 3/11 nightmare, new bullet trains were introduced. It enabled you to travel to shin-Aomori from Tokyo for about three hours. It's amazing to me. However, the devastating earthquake cut ”the large artery”. On the first day of the so-called Golden Week, the 29th of April, the entire route became available.It's reported that many local people in the disaster-hit areas are encouraged by the big, visible improvement. Since many inland areas of the Tohoku regions weren't seriously damaged and have already gotten back to normal, people there expect tourists to visit their towns. It'll surely help seriously-damaged coastal areas rebuild themselves. Actually, in Aomori/ 青森, now is the best time to see cherry blossoms.