Travel to Japan - feasible or foolish?
March 11, 2011 2:16 PM   Subscribe

Is it foolish, or even feasible, to go ahead with vacation travel plans to Japan, in light of the earthquake?

My wife, two friends and I are (theoretically) leaving for a 2 week ski trip to Japan on Monday morning. We're scheduled to fly to Narita, stay the night in Tokyo and then catch a flight from Haneda to Sapporo on Wednesday morning. We'll be skiing in the Hokkaido area for the duration, assuming we can get there.

Can we even get there?

My understanding is that quakes this size also typically produce aftershocks for a while, so safety is obviously a concern.

The other aspect is that we're all mountain rescue folks and may be willing/able to help with the SAR efforts, though I'm not sure whether they'll be taking volunteers. We're not affiliated with USAR at all, which is the only unit I know of that's currently responding.
posted by Pantengliopoli to Travel & Transportation around Japan (22 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: I believe I saw something on CNN (web) that advised people not to go through with vacation plans to Japan for the time being. If it's at all possible, I would think it would be prudent to reschedule. I'm willing to bet airlines/hotels would be amenable to reschedule requests in light of the current situation.
posted by efalk at 2:22 PM on March 11, 2011


What??! No. There are hundreds if not thousands of people stranded there. Narita isn't even accepting flights.
posted by December at 2:23 PM on March 11, 2011


Best answer: The US Department of State is strongly urging people to delay travel to Japan. Air traffic isn't happening at all, ground transportation is in six kinds of chaos, and major US air carriers are rescheduling/offering vouchers through the 15th, 18th, and that's just the immediate reaction.

In other words: It may well be unsafe; there's a good chance it won't be entirely practical; you may not be able to (easily) get from Tokyo to Sapporo. Sapporo itself is probably fine, but a two-week vacation there is ill-advised at best, and may well be impossible. (This isn't at all discussing the appropriateness of taking your ski vacation in a country that's in the middle of suffering a massive disaster with as-yet-uncertain losses of human life.)
posted by Tomorrowful at 2:25 PM on March 11, 2011 [1 favorite]


Wow. I can't stop thinking about this question because I'm so shocked by it. Maybe put it in perspective this way: how would you have felt about a gaggle of tourists coming to NYC to party on 9/11/01 or someone who wanted to roll into Oklahoma City for a good time on 4/19/95? I'm surprised that someone who describes him/herself as "mountain rescue folk" would be so unaware of the emotional and logistical difficulties inherent in a natural disaster situation such as this. Japan's infrastructure is in pieces, a large number of people have lost their lives, air traffic is at standstill, and quite frankly, the country's desire to cater to tourists is not high at this point. Sorry to be harsh but seriously, even if you could get to Sapporo, what kind of image is it for Japan to see Americans skiing around there at this time? Take one for the team. To answer your question, it's extremely foolish (read: disrespectful and insensitive) to even try to go there.
posted by December at 2:38 PM on March 11, 2011 [7 favorites]


Maybe put it in perspective this way: how would you have felt about a gaggle of tourists coming to NYC to party on 9/11/01 or someone who wanted to roll into Oklahoma City for a good time on 4/19/95?

Not a great comparison. About two weeks after 9/11, Sen Schumer said:

SCHUMER: You know, since we're on a national show, people should come visit us. New York is safe, New York is moving again. Come see a show, go to a Yankee game. If you have to, go to a Met game. But come see us. And come back and be tourists. The New Yorkers themselves, you know, the President has put the flag up at full mast, flying high as can be. The Mayor has said New Yorkers should get back to work and do what we're doing, and we are. But having the world come and visit New York, as we're accustomed, would be of tremendous help to us.

I believe Broadway had re-opened by the 13th. Totally different scale of the Japan quake.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 2:46 PM on March 11, 2011 [7 favorites]


Best answer: I do not think normal tourist infrastructure will be available less than a weekend after an event of this scale. If you got the "volcano, etc" insurance, your flights will probably be claimable.
posted by Lyn Never at 2:53 PM on March 11, 2011


I see your point, roomthreeseventeen, but I'm not aware of any overt invitation from any Japanese official asking tourists to show up 72 hours after their natural disaster, when emotions are still raw and people are still wondering if their family members survived. I believe tourists gotta give it some time before reengaging and doing so this early is likely to result in an influx of people in an area that needs to focus its resources on helping those who are already there, as opposed to catering to those who have entertainment in mind.
posted by December at 2:57 PM on March 11, 2011


December, that was my point. Nobody's inviting anybody to Japan now.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 2:57 PM on March 11, 2011


Best answer: i think you can tell the OP that this is a bad idea without beating them with a shame stick. emotions are raw, this is a big event, but yelling at the poster doesn't fix any of that.

Pantengliopoli: re: your question about rescue and aid - the advice i've always read is "if you don't have a sanctioned by the country organization sending you there, please don't go to disaster areas trying to help." every disaster like this gets loads of missionaries and the like flooding the airports, with no tangible way to help and they often make it a lot worse. sadly, it seems like you'll have to call off or change your vacation.
posted by nadawi at 3:04 PM on March 11, 2011 [25 favorites]


Best answer: i think you can tell the OP that this is a bad idea without beating them with a shame stick. emotions are raw, this is a big event, but yelling at the poster doesn't fix any of that.

Agree. What is it that makes folks feel they have to do this? I see way too much of this around here lately.

Most agencies request that people make donations in the form of $$ that can be used to purchase what is needed. Same for volunteers - a lot of people milling around wanting to help, but not knowing where to go.

OP, unless you're registered with a rescue agency and/or called up, I would talk to the airlines about rescheduling.
posted by sundrop at 3:14 PM on March 11, 2011 [4 favorites]


Best answer: Some advice from Tokyo:

Reschedule.
posted by armage at 3:18 PM on March 11, 2011 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Sorry for December's bluster. There's nothing immoral about you going, especially in light of your gracious thought of possibly helping with the search and rescue. However, it's entirely impractical for you to go, and while your thought of helping out is nice, that too seems difficult to arrange.

Again, don't feel bad for asking. There's nothing "shocking" about wonder what you're supposed to do with your plans now.
posted by spaltavian at 3:32 PM on March 11, 2011 [14 favorites]


Best answer: December:

The trip is a bad idea, but it's not like he's asking about visiting New York after 911 or Oklahoma City after the bombing. It's like asking about visiting New Jersey after 911 or Dallas after the Oklahoma City bombing. Japan may be small compared to the US, but it's not THAT small.

Still, it would be a bad idea in that the trip would not go well, due to flight problems, etc., but I'm sure the folks in the Sapporo ski lodges aren't thinking "Go away! Don't be so insensitive as to come here and give us your money!" I'm sure they'd love to have him, and he'd love to go, but the situation is impractical and thus best avoided.
posted by Bugbread at 3:34 PM on March 11, 2011 [14 favorites]


Best answer: It's not feasible. All arrivals to New Chitose Airport are delayed or canceled at the moment, there's little or no public transport in northern Japan right now, and (I'm assuming) you can't speak or read enough Japanese to get around and/or take care of yourself if something happens. Even in Tokyo, there's a lot which isn't in English (read: just about everything which isn't aimed toward foreign tourists)... and Hokkaido isn't Tokyo. For instance, this page says that almost all JR Hokkaido train service outside the Sapporo city limits has been suspended. Note that this info is not even on JR Hokkaido's English page -- what are you going to do if you need this kind of info in Japan?

Along the same lines, your SAR experience won't matter. Think about it: how useful would a vacationing Japanese-speaking SAR guy be to you and your team in the middle of a major national emergency? I'm guessing the answer would range from "not very" to "a liability".
posted by vorfeed at 3:35 PM on March 11, 2011 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Contact the airlines, etc. to reschedule, and do not pay attention to the uncharitable shaming from December upthread. The tone of your question and your specific thought that you might even be able to help in the rescue (even though that's unrealistic) shows that your heart is in the right place.
posted by scody at 4:09 PM on March 11, 2011 [3 favorites]


Response by poster: Thanks folks -- got what I needed and some of what I expected.

Two of the four of us are open to the possibility of spending our two weeks digging out bodies from the rubble, but thanks for the bonus shame, December.

Nadawi, excellent point re: useful helpers with a sanctioned rescue op vs. eager bystanders. Unless we can get on with USAR, I expect we'll go elsewhere.
posted by Pantengliopoli at 4:37 PM on March 11, 2011


Best answer: The trip is a bad idea, but it's not like he's asking about visiting New York after 911 or Oklahoma City after the bombing. It's like asking about visiting New Jersey after 911 or Dallas after the Oklahoma City bombing. Japan may be small compared to the US, but it's not THAT small.

It doesn't matter -- Narita is the main gateway to enter Japan from overseas, and it's currently not accepting arriving flights. Until they do, there's simply no way to get here.

Pantengliopoli, we'd love to see you here in Japan, but for the next few days there's just no guarantee you can get into the country.
posted by armage at 1:45 AM on March 12, 2011


Response by poster: Thanks armage -- we may try to bump our flights back a while and see how things settle out, or just try again next year. My best to you and your family/friends and the rest of the people in Japan as the scale of the damage unfolds.
posted by Pantengliopoli at 7:47 AM on March 12, 2011


Best answer: Just to play devil's advocate here, I was in an unaffected part of Sri Lanka when the 2004 tsunami hit, and people thanked me for staying. I cut my trip short because of my own guilt over being a tourist in that situation, but it was a strong reminder that lots of people do depend on tourist dollars for their livelihood. These people are threatened by these events in a far less immediate and dramatic way than most of what you see on the news, but they're threatened nonetheless.
posted by peppermind at 8:25 AM on March 12, 2011 [1 favorite]


Narita is the main gateway to enter Japan from overseas, and it's currently not accepting arriving flights. Until they do, there's simply no way to get here.

Not strictly correct - I've flown to Kansai and Nagoya much more often than Narita.

That said, I imagine both are overflowing with people who had the same thought, so this might be true in practice.
posted by ripley_ at 1:00 PM on March 12, 2011


Response by poster: Thanks again folks. We've canceled our trip. Our thoughts are with all of you over there, trying to recover.
posted by Pantengliopoli at 4:29 PM on March 13, 2011


Armage - Sorry, I think you misunderstood what I was getting at. I know that Narita is closed, that's why I said there would be flight problems, and the trip would be best avoided. Narita and Haneda being closed doesn't mean "no international flights" - Kansai, Nagoya, and Fukuoka are also international airports, and the truly dedicated flier could always come in through one of the little airports that has flights from Korea or China. And, as ripley_ points out, they are probably massively packed. Plus, there are ferries from Korea. So there are probably ways to get to Japan -- the country has not been completely isolated. But they're impractical and best avoided.
posted by Bugbread at 4:57 PM on March 13, 2011


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