Many train seats are booked for Silver Week in Japan

JR Central is a train company in Japan. On September 4, it reported how many train seats were booked for Silver Week. Silver Week is a holiday period in Japan. This year it runs from Friday, September 18, to Wednesday, September 23.

The company runs the Tokaido Shinkansen, a line of fast trains. On September 3, 1.07 million reserved seats^*1 on these trains were already booked for Silver Week. Express trains^*2 that start or end in Nagoya, a city in Japan, had 40,000 booked seats. For this period, the company has 3.16 million seats on the Shinkansen and 170,000 seats on the express trains. That is 3.33 million seats in all.

The number of booked seats is higher than last year. On the Shinkansen, it is 171 percent^*3 of last year's number. On the express trains, it is 168 percent.

The busiest day for trains leaving Tokyo will be Saturday, September 19. The busiest day for trains going back to Tokyo will be Tuesday, September 22. Many seats are already taken on the Nozomi and Hikari trains that leave Tokyo Station on the morning of September 19. Most other trains still have seats.

During Silver Week, some trains will have only reserved seats. These are the Nozomi trains on the Tokaido Shinkansen and the Sanyo Shinkansen, and the Hida, Shinano and Nanki express trains. On the Nozomi, a person with a ticket without a reserved seat can still get on. But that person can only stand in the space by the doors of a regular car^*4.

From September 19 to September 23, 46 Nozomi trains will run between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka, a station in the city of Osaka, with a special car. Each of these trains will have one car for people traveling with children.

1. *1 reserved seats: Seats with a number that you book before you travel.
2. *2 Express trains: Trains that stop at only a few stations, so they are faster.
3. *3 percent: A part out of 100. 171 percent means 1.71 times as many.
4. *4 car: One part of a train. A train is made of many cars joined together.