Traveling around Tokyo and the secrets of Tokyo Metro

How to get around Tokyo efficiently? Subway lines stretching like spaghetti, several different transport companies, topped off with incomprehensible station names…. And yet, it is, after all, the best developed public transportation system in the world. What’s important: punctual, modern, clean and safe!

Traveling around Tokyo (Tokyo Metro)

Tokyo’s subway grid is really sizable. At first glance, it is terribly difficult to grasp and understand what is going on here. It looks like cooked, colored, spaghetti noodles specially mixed and tangled. Anyway, see for yourself :)

The subway itself consists of 13 lines, four belonging to the Toei Line and nine to the Tokyo Metro Line. These are independent companies and having a ticket for one company, we cannot travel on the lines of the other company. You can, of course, combine rides by buying a ticket at each metro station directly from the machine, specifying the starting and ending stations, but these are more expensive tickets. In general, it is not important how you get to your destination (which line), but where you get on and off.

In the photo below, the automakers can be seen on the left (forgive the poor photo ;-)).

Ticket prices in Tokyo

Tickets for city transit, like all transportation in Japan, are not cheap. Prices start as low as ¥160 for a single ride. Cheaper are those for routes within the Tokyo Metro Line, and we recommend this ticket. These lines are scattered all over Tokyo so you can get everywhere without any problems. We recommend that it is best to get a 1 or 3 day ticket right away (the cost of a day ticket is about ¥600).

The only exception is the Yurikamome line, which goes to Odaiba Island. The ride is not included in either daily or multi-day tickets, so you need to buy a separate ticket to cross the Rainbow Bridge. Supposedly the bridge can be crossed on foot, and it takes about 40 minutes on the bridge itself one way, but we were a waste of time and no pleasure in it either.

Alternative, or JR Lines in Tokyo

As an alternative to the Tokyo subway, there are numerous lines within the JR (JR Lines) running in and around Tokyo. Even more so if you have a purchased
JR Pass
. Our JR Pass did not cover our entire stay in Japan, because it was more financially advantageous for us to buy a few days’ worth of tickets to travel around Tokyo itself, rather than extending the JR Pass to two weeks (we had a 2-day ticket for public transportation in Tokyo plus a one-week JR Pass).

So we used the subway all the time. It was definitely easier, looser and more pleasant, because contrary to appearances, the JR lines are more overloaded than the subway.

Stuffers on the Tokyo subway?

Yes, they do exist! We’ve seen the Japanese so-called “Japanese. white-gloved uplifters on the Tokyo subway. Unfortunately, we didn’t see them in action, but only guarded order, without any, unnecessary hand-to-hand. The crowds just weren’t that big. Everyone waits politely in line, and if they don’t fit on the train, they just wait for the next one. After all, the next train will be in no more than 2 minutes…. :)

We were really surprised by the organization of the platforms, stops – everything is perfectly aligned, the doors open exactly where they should, and people stand and enter the train quietly without any pushing.

What is the best way to travel?

In conclusion, in traveling around Tokyo, we definitely recommend the subway! It is impossible to see the entire metropolis on foot in a few days, and the subway is precisely the most convenient way to explore Tokyo. Getting around by bus can be complicated and more time-consuming.

The metro is punctual, clean and runs very frequently indeed. Sometimes seeing the back of a departing wagon, when we approached the middle of the station another one was already coming.

It’s also worth mentioning that some subway lines are from the so-called “Metro”. The transition of trains into commuter rail. It’s worth paying attention to when you get to Shibuya. On the subway drawings, it might appear to be the last station, yet this is not the case. More people get on there than get off and keep going…. We figured it out at the last minute :)

We wrote about the best way to get from Narita Airport to Tokyo here.

How to get around in Japan? Read in our next post >>>