Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Seeing the damage of the shinkansen tracks and the supports, it looks like it will be a long time bofore we see that train running again. Is that going to affect people going to Niigata this season by the shinkansen? or is the damage affecting areas past the ski resorts?

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • Replies 52
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • SnowJapan Admin

As it is at the moment, no. Some trains are running from Tokyo to Yuzawa today, and Yuzawa is where the vast majority of people get off for the snow.

 

The problems with the shink seem to all be in the Nagaoka area.

 

Still regular aftershocks going on here \:\(

Link to post
Share on other sites

I bet it will be longer than 2 weeks too. The damage to the supports on the bridges looks like a major repair. The report I saw on the news said that it will be out of order till its fixed. Hopefully for the people that need that service that it will be sooner rather than later.

Link to post
Share on other sites

From the coverage I saw on Sky, the normal train lines looked pretty mangled up as well as well as a fair few roads. How long is it going to take to clear all that up and get traffic moving again?

Link to post
Share on other sites

Wasn't there a shink stuck in a tunnel somewhere in Gunma/Saitama?? I saw some coverage of people in the dark in atunnel while it was all going on. I suppose once it finished they were able to come out coz I ain't heard any more of it.

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • SnowJapan Admin

Posted this in another thread, but thought it fit in here too:

 

>>>> as you might imagine, hotels (here in Yuzawa) are seeing mass cancellations over the last few days - quite a few even for the winter months. Just been on the phone to a few and they are empty right now and the phone is off the hook ringing with cancellations.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Route 19, the main road between Matsumoto and Nagano City, is closed just north of the turnoff for the toll tunnel to Hakuba. It slid a couple of weeks ago.

 

The main Nakajo road that people use to avoid the tunnel is also down. It slid a couple of days ago. They've been showing the film on the news. At the earliest it will reopen next week. A different part of the road slid a couple of weeks ago, but that part has been cleared.

 

Note that this is due to rain from the typhoons and has nothing to do with the earthquakes.

 

There is still a narrow Nagano City to Hakuba road open via a different route through Nakajo. For the scenic route, you can also go from Nagano City to Hakuba on the road that passes Kinasa and the Hakuba Minekata resort (308?).

Link to post
Share on other sites

Speaking with some Japanese people who were planning on going to Niigata for skiing this season - they said basically that they won't now, they'll stick with Fukushima and other areas. However illogical it may well be, the "image is damaged" as they said.

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • SnowJapan Admin

I've been speaking to a few Japanese tour company people in the region. They are saying the same thing. Basically their job now is just dealing with cancellations and they said that there have been a huge amount of winter cancellations, not necessarily because Yuzawa or the area here has seen much structural damage, or because there is a big chance of further quakes in the area in winter - but because of the damage to the "image". That's what they said.

 

Yuzawa is looking beautiful today, peak of the koyo at town level. It would normally be bustling on a day like today. But the only people here though are the town people - other than that it's almost empty.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Actually have seen very little about Yuzawa in the news (at least here in Tokyo). Coverage seems to have focussed mainly on Ojiya and nearby areas.

 

Did Yuzawa suffer much structural damage? Are the supermarkets still stocking food? etc

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • SnowJapan Admin

I haven't seen any problems in Yuzawa. The electric went off for about 6 hours in the town area, but once that was back on no real problems. There is a train stuck out on the tracks near Gala Yuzawa that they aren't moving for some reason, but everything else is pretty much back to normal (shops open, etc). No tourists though. Quite a few of my friends are hotel owners and they are facing pretty bleak times by the looks of things.

 

Yuzawa still really felt the big jolts on Saturday and Tuesday, but surprisingly less severe than what was felt just to the north in Shiozawa/Muikamachi from what people are saying. (The one on Tuesday was 5 in Muikamachi, 3.4 in Yuzawa)

Link to post
Share on other sites

I dont mean this to sound bad but I wonder with all the cancellations going on there (though Im sure they will pick back up) if it would be cheaper to go up there? If the hotels are going to want to get customers back they will have to find a way, right?? Could that mean cheaper package deals? Hope people dont take this the wrong way...

Link to post
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...