Nightmare Japan Golden Week Crowds

Golden week in Japan is notorious for its nightmare traffic jams & huge crowds.

Little did I know that before our day trip from centre of Tokyo to Hitachi Seaside Park 100km away, all in pursuit of witnessing the famous display of spring flowers. 

Golden week is the longest stretch of national holidays in Japan, including national holidays on April 29, and May 3, 4 & 5.  Many Japanese take the opportunity to enjoy the sunny Spring weather to get out of the cities and enjoy the great outdoors.

Shortly after setting out on our trip, it seemed that it we were not alone in wanting to get out of Tokyo for the day.  Our day trip to Hitachi which was meant to be a 90 minute trip turned into a nightmare 4 hours stuck in traffic, we had time to take a few photos of the flowers before having to join the traffics for another 3+ hours back home.   

We also somehow missed the announcement that there were only 10 toilets to serve a million people, and the same limited options for food stalls.   As for the flowers, we think Shinjuku Gaien has better flowers, not to mention it's right at our door stop.