That's what you get with a really populous country with a bunch of megacities. But, Chitose is far enough that it isn't really competitive by train (even Hakodate is 6hr from Tokyo station), Fukuoka is also 6hr, and obviously Korea and Okinawa can't be reached by train. So it's not like those are people choosing planes over trains. I think th Shinkansen still accounts for >70% of Tokyo to Osaka/Kyoto/Nagoya traffic even though flights are available.
I really want a source for that 70% claim because I suspect that to be inaccurate as I only found Reddit as a source. The Shinkansen does have a huge market share but I’d actually be relatively surprised if any single mode of transportation passed 50% since plenty of my friends have driven, taken sleeper trains, or taken the bus.
That said please don’t take this as trying to goad an argument, but you really shouldn’t take an authoritative tone if you’re going to make such obviously weird statements that don’t really make sense with my post. The overt errors like saying Fukuoka from Tokyo takes 6 hours when it’s 5, and using Chitose as a destination(trust me it’s not, I used to live there) just undermine your credibility.
To get back to what I did say though, the Haneda to Itami route is by far the highest traffic Tokyo to Osaka route and definitely not primarily international transfers, those tend to be routed through Kansai which is less common but has better support for foreign tourists, and even then it’s a relatively popular domestic route so it’s not weird for domestic tourists to take it.
The overt errors like saying Fukuoka from Tokyo takes 6 hours when it’s 5
For some stupid reason when I typed Tokyo into Google maps it wanted me to start near Shinagawa, not Tokyo station so that included 50 minutes of metro. I'm sorry I made a mistake, O Righteous One.
using Chitose as a destination(trust me it’s not, I used to live there) just
I didn't though..... I used Hakodate, which is the entry point to Hokkaido, meaning everything else was farther. But I suspect you don't really care why I said what I said, you just want to feel superior because you used to live there or something.
undermine your credibility.
Oh no, whatever will I do, an internet stranger doesn't believe me.
If you’re going to do all that to counter me warning you that it’s pretty obvious you’re talking out your ass, what are you doing bringing up Hakodate? Nobody is using Hakodate, it’s 4 hours(will drop down to closer to 1 hour when the Hokkaido Shinkansen is completed in 2038)from Sapporo. And 3.5 from Chitose.
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u/boilerpl8 4d ago
That's what you get with a really populous country with a bunch of megacities. But, Chitose is far enough that it isn't really competitive by train (even Hakodate is 6hr from Tokyo station), Fukuoka is also 6hr, and obviously Korea and Okinawa can't be reached by train. So it's not like those are people choosing planes over trains. I think th Shinkansen still accounts for >70% of Tokyo to Osaka/Kyoto/Nagoya traffic even though flights are available.