Riding the Subway

Once you get out of the airport, you’ll need to know how to get around Japan. Japan has the most extensive and efficient subway system in the world, and it will easily get you wherever you need to go. The subways in Japan aren’t unlike the Metro in Washington D.C. or subways in other places in America, but if you’re not familiar with trains (since trains aren’t very popular forms of transportation in some places in America), the trains in Japan can be a little tricky to get the hang of.

First, you need to find out where you need to go. Below is a map of the Tokyo subway system. In Japan, subway stations (especially ones that have a lot of international traffic or those near airports) usually have English translations on many of their signs, so you don’t need to be fluent in Japanese to find your way around.





Each colored line on the map is a different subway system. The gray dotted lines are JR subway lines, which are a bit more expensive than the regular lines. Each white square (or any break in the line with words beside it) is a subway station. Stops that are bolded and bigger than the others are major subway stations, such as Ikebukuro and Tokyo.

Once you get to a subway station and know how far you’re going to go, you need to buy a ticket. Follow the crowd and be on the lookout for a ticket purchasing machine, or something built into the wall slightly resembling an ATM. The Japanese word for ticket is kippu (きっぷ). There will be a button that says kippu somewhere on the screen, and once you press it various prices will come up. On the wall somewhere near the ticket purchasing station should be pricing for various stations. All you have to do is match the length of your trip to the price, and put that amount of Japanese Yen into the machine. The ticket and your change should come out. Once you have your ticket, put it into another machine to let you into the station (don’t forget to grab it out of the other side as you walk through) and board your train.