How to use the Subway in Japan and not get lost trying

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In this installment I teach you how to use the Metro in Japan so you don't get lost in trying to understand the best means of transportation in this country.

I made this tutorial during a trip to this beautiful country in December. 2019 and january 2020, but the pandemic arrived and you know what happened next. Now that Japan has reopened to the world, I am going to reactivate these publications that I had prepared for everyone.

So that what happens to many tourists who visit does not happen to you. Japan for the first time it happens to them, I have created this guide that will help you understand the Metro, thanks to my experience in this country.

After having visited the cities of Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto y Nara, The subway and bullet train were my most used means of transportation in this country., it's not easy to understand, but it's not impossible either.

This guide will be very graphic and the best way to use the Metro in Japan is with Google Maps, without forgetting to previously download the map of the destination city and have permanent connectivity for it to work, since without Internet, Google Maps will not show you public transportation options.

How to use the Metro in Japan

1. Select route

First in Google Maps we will define our departure and arrival points. For this particular tutorial we will leave from one of the hotels where we are staying in Tokyo heading to Haneda International Airport..

After entering the points and selecting public transport, all available options are presented, time, connections and cost in yen. It is important to set the time you expect to start the trip., since depending on that the options will vary widely.

You will also be able to see the subway and bus or mixed options., that they should measure in the time/money benefit.

2. Start the trip

The 90% of the trips you will start on foot, so it is important to choose the option that best suits you., Sometimes walking a little more will help you save money or shorten the trip in general., everything is in what you want. In my case, after walking so much (some 100 kilometers throughout the trip) The option was always the one that involved the least walking..

In this example I chose to use the Ginza Line and connect with Asakusa Line, since from where I was there was no direct option to the airport, so that's a good tip, look for a hotel that allows you to get between those two points on a train, thinking about the transfer with suitcases.

3. Understanding all the information on Google Maps

Once we did the easy thing, let's get to the complex, understand all the information that Google Maps gives us. In the image below I numbered the information and explain it below:

1. Your selected departure point and departure time.
2. The time you will walk to the subway station.
3. The name of the station you will enter. The name is always outside the station in Japanese and Latin alphabet.
4. The name of the metro line you should use. In this case Ginza Line, which will serve as information for when you enter the metro stop to be able to follow the internal signs towards the line you selected.
5. This information is key: is the information of the platform where your train will depart from, In this case the Platform 2. This information will help you not to make the wrong line or direction in which you should go.. Some trains have the word Local and it will help you know which one to get on., since some may say semi express or express. The Local stops at all stops on the line, very important.
6. Tells you the times of the next available trains and the time at which they will pass by the stop you are going to. There is also the arrow > where you can see all the train options and their schedules that take you to your destination.
7. Tells you how much demand you can expect, to plan if you will stop or sit, key if you go with large suitcases.
8. It is important to take the subway car that you must take to reduce the connection and walking time. In this case he recommends that I get on the 6. Remember that there are some carriages that are for the sole use of women..
9. You can see how many stops you will have to travel on that metro and if you open the information you will be able to see the names of the stops, This being key information to see if you are going in the right direction..
10. Name of the stop where you should get off.
11. Estimated time of arrival at your final destination and travel time.

4. Connecting to another line

If your trip is direct point to point, With the data above you did it, but if you must change trains and lines, there are more points to review:

1. After getting off at Nihombashi, At that same station we will look for the new line.
2. We go to the Akasuka Line towards Haneda Airport, so we will look for that line at the station and go to the Platform 1 and we will get on the subway that says Express (there could be other trains, but slower because they stop more).
3. Depending on the train we get, He recommends which car to get into for a quicker exit from the station..
4. Important point: This is one of the main complications of using the subway in Japan. Some trains start the journey with a color and name, in this case the Akasuka Line will be transformed, That is why it tells us that first we must move forward 6 stops, until we reach Sengakuji station.
5. At Sengakuji Station the same train we were on will change its line name to Keikyu Main Line, so Google Maps clearly tells us Remain on board, Don't get off the train when I say this, could be confusing, but if you follow and read the instructions you will have no problems.

To add more possible confusion, in this case, there is a new train name change before arriving at the airport after moving forward 5 stops:

1. After 5 stops on the same train and line, this changes to Keykyu Airport Line, but don't get off the train.
2. Only missing 5 stops to get there.
3. Final name of the station where we will get off.
4. Final instruction, walk for a minute looking for the Hanedakuukou Houmen exit

You arrived at your destination, I hope without losing you, It is certainly different from the metro systems we might be used to in Latin America, where language is the main barrier, but reading and concentrating a lot, They will achieve it to the point that they will become experts after a couple of days and getting a little lost.

Cost

It depends on each city, of the time and distance traveled.

• Base value from 180 yen (about $1.80 Dollars) upwards by section, paying almost $4 Dollars.
• I recommend purchasing the JR Pass if your trip lasts a maximum of one week in Japan., you will save a lot of money (if you take advantage of it) since it includes unlimited trips on JR lines including the bullet train.

Additional considerations

• Google will also tell you which exit from the station to go up to the street., They generally have numbers or names of tourist spots, but some lines are not and the name will be in Japanese, The recommended solution is to exit at the door closest to the surface or use Google Translator.
• The signage of the lines at each stop is easier to follow by color and by the initials of the line such as G for Ginza Line, which you will find everywhere to guide you..
• We also went to Osaka and Kyoto, Where can I say the subway is not as easy to understand as in Tokyo?, but the base is the same, although we will have to pay a little more attention to the configuration of the metro lines and the names of the stops.
• Finally, if you use the JR Pass lines, These stops and trains are the least tourist friendly, surprisingly., for the context of this service, but with a little concentration and understanding the Google Maps directions well, they will make it.

I hope this guide on how to use the subway in Japan is very useful to you and if you have any other questions, I will gladly help you.

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