Advice on travel to Tokyo in the aftermath of the earthquake

[tategoi]

I am scheduled to go to Tokyo for a few days for leisure early next week, with main objectives in taking photos in the Mt Fuji and Tokyo city areas, plus electronics shopping in Akihabara. I'll be staying in Akihabara Washington hotel.

I hope someone could update me on the following:

1. Narita airport already back in operation. What about Narita Express to the city?

2. Power was disrupted in Tokyo after the quake yesterday. Has it been restored?

3. If the buses to Mt Fuji are affected by the quake?

4. Based on past experience of earthquakes in Tokyo, albeit less severe, would the shops be opened 1-2 days after the quake? I saw that many shops had their shelves and merchandise damaged.

5. Are there many buildings affected by the quake in central Tokyo, especially the hotel I'm staying? I visited the English website, but nothing said on the status.

I don't intend to postpone my trip mainly because my tickets are Saver J-class redemption, as you know, SQ will no longer offer Saver redemption from the end of Mar. I'd have to go Standard if I were to redeem for next month, and that means double the KF miles required.

Any update will be much appreciated. Thank you.

[j.lin]

At this point of time, the country is full of uncertainties. The electricity in Tokyo not yet restored, the public transportation not fully recovered, people are rushing to buy whatever food from grocery shops to stock up. The people will spend most of their time and energy to rebuild the affected areas....and this takes days, months and even years....

Looking at the situation right now, I don't think it is suitable for you to stay in Tokyo.

[9V-SIA]

My suggestion is to take the flight but perhaps move to an area unaffected by the earthquake.

I have friends skiing in Hokkaido now, having landed in Japan yesterday or this morning.

CTS via FUK & NGO

It's the start of Singapore school holidays

[SQ218]

I myself is scheduled to arrive in Fukuoka in 4 weeks time and make my way to Tokyo a week later. Hope things sort of get back to normal in Tokyo by then.

[HUGE AL]

I am scheduled to go to Tokyo for a few days for leisure early next week, with main objectives in taking photos in the Mt Fuji and Tokyo city areas, plus electronics shopping in Akihabara. I'll be staying in Akihabara Washington hotel.

I hope someone could update me on the following:

1. Narita airport already back in operation. What about Narita Express to the city?

2. Power was disrupted in Tokyo after the quake yesterday. Has it been restored?

3. If the buses to Mt Fuji are affected by the quake?

4. Based on past experience of earthquakes in Tokyo, albeit less severe, would the shops be opened 1-2 days after the quake? I saw that many shops had their shelves and merchandise damaged.

5. Are there many buildings affected by the quake in central Tokyo, especially the hotel I'm staying? I visited the English website, but nothing said on the status.

I don't intend to postpone my trip mainly because my tickets are Saver J-class redemption, as you know, SQ will no longer offer Saver redemption from the end of Mar. I'd have to go Standard if I were to redeem for next month, and that means double the KF miles required.

Any update will be much appreciated. Thank you.

The title of this post is quite misleading (eluding to an update on conditions in Tokyo following the quake, it's really all about you ) and the contents insensitive.

1. NRT is currently on a reduction of flights and there are still approximately 13,800 people stranded. NEX had suspended service, but -- as with many companies -- cannot even update their website.

2. NHK is reporting 4 MILLION buildings are without power. There are four nuclear power plants on high alert and one that may melt down.

3. Many roads and highways are closed. Buses are being diverted to help in rescue operations.

4. No.

5. See #2. e-Mail may be the best choice as they will get to it when power restores and they have time. You don't want to tie up the phone lines that they need for emergency communications. There are CRAZY phone booth lines all over Tokyo as mobile communications have been knocked out:

http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lh...ekz0o1_500.jpg

Don't think the families of the thousands of people who died really care about your Saver Award. SQ is allowing all fees waived.

All this can easily be garnered by Google.

[jhm]

I agree with everything HUGE AL has said.

The UK government are advising against all but essential travel to Tokyo and Tohoku. If the OP can cancel/change his holiday, I would do so. Now is definitely not the time to go for a holiday.

Personally but YMMV, I wouldn't care at all about any money/miles or having to travel later when a J award is not available (!!!) - this is all absolutely insignificant compared to the human tragedy still unfolding in Japan.

[tategoi]

My apologies to Huge and jhm, it had never been my intention to be insensitive after all that had happened in Japan. My hears goes out to all the people in Japan.

I am reluctant to change my traveling plan is exactly because of the lack of saver redemption in the future, I am just being honest with what I think here, in case someone is wondering why I am so persistent.

If I can get all these information easily with a Google search, I'd do so. Why would I be wasting my time posting the questions here and risks of ruffling some feathers? Most online news say little about Tokyo, focus so far is on cities of Miyako, Sendai and areas nearer to the epicentre.

To answer my own questions, Narita Airport website wrote that all railway companies had resumed their service from/to airport. And according to a posting in a Japan-guide forum, communication and transportation are back to normal, albeit some delays.

Japan Times reported that, as of Saturday noon, electricity at about 5.1 million households in the Tohoku and Kanto regions was still out. However, the supply for Tokyo and Gunma, Saitama, Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures has been restored.

Tokyo Disneyland will remain closed till 20th Mar.

I am still monitoring the situation, and I will post any useful updates that I can find. But now the main concern seems to be the radiation.

I hope others who are currently in Tokyo or who have friends or relatives there would share their findings here. Such first hand experience would be more useful than any armchair information posted by people outside Japan.

[tategoi]

j.lin and 9V, many thanks for your advice. I just got off from a phone conversation with a friend who used to stay in Tokyo, he also thinks that I should just cancel the trip. His rational is there might be more aftershocks, the Japanese will know how to handle, but since I have never experienced an earthquake before, I may not know how to react when it hits again. So I guess I will give KF a call tomorrow morning.

[phaleesy]

Absolutely sound advice from your friend- unless you're a search and rescue worker, you should not be setting foot in Japan now.

My advice for self-centered individuals whose only concerns are about their own safety in the aftershocks, saver awards, electronics shopping, logistics in travelling around Japan, opening days of Tokyo Disneyland (!) during times like these is to sit in their armchairs in the comfort and safety of their homes and watch Sky News.

[B727]

His rational is there might be more aftershocks, the Japanese will know how to handle, but since I have never experienced an earthquake before, I may not know how to react when it hits again. So I guess I will give KF a call tomorrow morning.

I think that is wise. I understand where you're coming from in light of your J saver redemnptions, but some things are just not meant to be. A trip to a place of catastrophic tragedy is one of those.

The disaster is still unfolding with the threat of aftershocks and meltdown of a nuclear power plant. I'm sitting here at the UA lounge in DEN tuned in to CNN where a very sad iReport talked about the cries of children at Disneyland during the earthquake. Heartbreaking.

Trust me, you will feel so much better after you've called KF to cancel your redemnption and rebank the miles so you can use them toward another more worthwhile trip in the future

[9V-SIA]

Things are not as black and white to me.

While I am heartbroken at the events unfolding along the Pacific margins of Japan, my philosophy has always been to think of / take care of those left behind. Life goes on...

I will not be cancelling my trip next month to Osaka/Kyoto.

Although my heart tells me to cancel ( aftershocks, nuclear fallout, human misery ), my head says that the last thing the Japanese economy needs is a collapse of their tourism industry to add to their woes.

Just avoid the affected areas..

[jhm]

9V-SIA, what you're planning doesn't contradict the UK government advice which I mentioned above, i.e. avoid non-essential travel to Tokyo and Tohoku (for the moment) but the rest of the country is okay.

A friend in Osaka tells me that whilst they felt the earthquake on Friday and apart from the shocking images on TV and fear for relatives/friends who may be living in the affected areas, they're otherwise unaffected.

[jhm]

The US government are now advising against all tourism to Japan.

http://www.travel.state.gov/travel/c...a/pa_5377.html

The Department of State requests all non-essential official U.S. government personnel defer travel to Japan and also urges U.S. citizens to avoid tourism and non-essential travel to Japan at this time.

[HUGE AL]

NHK reporting SIX nuclear reactors on high alert; TWO in process of a meltdown.

New projected death toll = 10,000+

[jjpb3]

Title of the thread changed to reflect the actual inquiry.


jjpb3