Officials at Narita Airport outside Tokyo are dealing with the arrival of tens of thousands of people returning from the Obon holidays.
Airport officials say about 55,000 people are expected to arrive at the airport from overseas destinations on Sunday. The arrival lounge is packed with families.
The firm overseeing the operation of Narita airport expects the number of passengers over the 10-day period through Sunday will increase from last year by 6.9 percent to 998,000.
The growth is attributed to an increase of more than 30 percent from last year of flights operated by South Korean low cost carriers. Other factors include brisk sales of flights to overseas resort destinations including Hawaii.