Un-confuse the Japanese Subway System for me

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m trying to do a Japan trip on a shoestring budget. I’ve got the trip and lodging booked. That’s the good news.

Orbitz put me in Narita [Narita Port Hotel] instead of Tokyo proper.
**
What is the most expedient [In terms of speed and cost] way to get into and out of Tokyo for the week? **The options on Companies, passes, routes, blue or green cars is enough to make me sick.

I arrive Monday at 3pm, leaving Saturday at 5pm. The hotel has free shuttles to a mall, temple, and the airport, and I can spend a day doing that. (I saw an option for a 5 day pass, so if that needs to happen, I can spend a day elsewhere.)

2

My method of using the Japanese subway system was to stare at a map in confusion until someone came to practice their English on me. Maybe not the fastest or cheapest (or most dignified) method, but I did get where I needed to go.

3

The first step is to pursue a degree in mycology.

:wink:

4

Hmm. Tokyo on a shoestring budget is tough. There will probably be people who can give you better information, but I can try to give you an overview.

The hotel has a shuttle to the Narita station once per hour. From there, you can take the Narita line into Tokyo, or walk to the Keisei-Narita station and take the Keisei Main Line into Machiya, where you can get onto the Tokyo Metro Chiyoda line. (From the airport, I recall it was something like a 60 minute express trip. Don’t know how long it’ll take you from Narita station if you don’t get an express. You may find it more beneficial to take the bus to Narita airport and go from there, but that will certainly be a long trip since you’ll be backtracking.) The Narita express is expensive, from what I remember, so you might find it more cost effective, if not time-effective, to take the non-express. (This entire paragraph may be overwritten by someone with better knowledge of how to get into Tokyo easily from Narita. I’m guessing here, as my family took the Narita Express from the airport directly into Tokyo station.)

Once you get into Tokyo, there’s a wealth of JR and Tokyo Metro lines to choose from. They’ll have free map pamphlets for you to take, and fare terminals are easy to follow (IIRC, they have instructions in English, or at least they’re pictographic.) The station map does look complicated, but go slowly; find the station you want, look at the lines that service it, and figure out how to get from your nearest station (which will pretty much be Tokyo or Otemachi) to your destination, then just follow the lines. I grew up in Suburbia where public transportation is unheard of, and I was able to work out the Tokyo subway system.

The Tokyo Metro site I linked to has some extra information, and there’s at least one website I remember using where you can plug in your origin and destination and it will tell you exactly which lines and transfers to take, but it’s been something like 4 years since I went to Tokyo and I can’t seem to find that site now.

5

I would love something like this.

I can’t decide if the Tokyo Subway is more like Mornington Crescent or the mid to endgame of Acquire.

6

Atlanta is not much better, until recently, Atlanta’s subway map (MARTA) was a plus shape. It makes it real easy as there were only two lines, and only one place to connect at (paradoxically called Five Points) . The map is still mostly plus shaped, with a one or two new growth branches.

The take home is, never play Mornington Crescent based off of the MARTA system. If you go second, you are 99% sure to lose at hitting five points.

7

Here’s a map of the Tokyo rail transportation system in all its horror.

If it’s an option, I believe there are various helpful smart phone applications available as well.

8

Well then. Both look much better than the one I used, too.

Really, the confusing nature of the map system just means there’s a ton of options for transportation. It’s actually quite hard to not be able to get where you want to go. :smiley: I spent one week in Tokyo four years ago and I still miss the metro.

9

For all real purposes, though, you generally only use the JR and then you only use yamanote or chuou.

It looks like a 5-day pass on the JR is over $200. That should get you to within walking distance of everywhere you want to go, the whole time that you are there.

The subway doesn’t go out to Narita, and even in Tokyo proper you’re still generally better off with the JR.

10

I’m currently based in Tokyo, and I get around by JR and Tokyo Metro. For all the hot tourist spots, that’s really all you need. It’s not so bad at all; if you have a travel guide, it’ll probably tell you which lines to take, where to transfer, etc.

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As somebody mentioned before, if you are ever truly stuck, just stand in front of the ticket booth or the rail info mural with a dumbfounded look on your face. If it’s a busy station, somebody will try to help you soon.

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Moved Cafe Society --> IMHO.

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I would really advise changing your hotel if at all possible. That’s pretty much the most inconvenient place to stay in the Tokyo area. It’s not even in Tokyo–it’s in a different prefecture. The cheapest fare from Narita Airport to the Yamanote line (Ueno) is 1000 yen–about $10–one way. This is a regular train on Keisei line. The express train (Skyliner) costs twice as much and is only about 1/2 faster.

The regular train takes about 1 1/2 hours. Narita station is located just a few stops before the airport, so there’s unlikely to be a major difference in those times/prices. Narita itself is quite a nice town, and the temple is pretty, but you’ll probably want to go into Tokyo almost every other day. You’re looking at an extra $20 in transport per day if you don’t change to somewhere within the Tokyo area. Narita is outside of the one day pass area, too, so you’d have to pay extra on top of that.

Unless you are planning on traveling to other cities, I can’t imagine there’d be anyway the JR rail pass would be worth it. Once you get into the circle of the Yamanote, you can get to almost all areas that tourists would be interested in 130 to 190 yen per trip. And the main train out to Narita is not a JR line, so you can’t use it (although you could use the express and save 30 mins…)

I live in Tokyo at the moment so feel free to ask if you have any other questions.

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OT: If you do this in San Diego, the helpful samaritan expects a cash donation.

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Quite a few people to respond to:

  1. Twicks : I figured it the question would get moved, wasn’t quite so sure. Then again, I’m not best at guessing what category should hold what.

  2. I have an Ipod Touch. Didn’t think to think about it for Transport. [I have a translator on it.]
    **
    I was looking at the lines, and I figured out that Yamonte would be the Jackpot, if I could get there.** I’ve given up on getting over to Fuji* and Kyoto, and frankly, I fine with that, as long as I can hit Shinjuku, Akihabara, and Harajuku.

  • I once had the chance to go to Germany with my Family. We were no where near Berlin.
    I was looking at the five day pass, and I saw that it was 200-220. :frowning:

The thing is, I believe I could pay that, if that was all I needed… But then, I kept forgetting that I Was in Narita and not in Tokyo.

So, Yes, I could buy one set of passes, but I’m not sure which one. Is there an option that gets me to Tokyo, and Around Tokyo?

What is the distance between stops like? I can’t get a sense of scale. I’m going in October, so would walking be an option?

Other than that, I don’t think changing Hotels is an option, given that there would be cancelation fees involved.

I would like to think I would be ok with the hour trip into Tokyo.

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Not really, but you really don’t need one. Most fares within Tokyo will cost about $1.50-$2.00 a ride, even for longer distances, with some exceptions like the special line out to Odaiba.[sup]*[/sup] You’re only going to be able to manage something like 2 to 4 trips a day unless you’re hauling ass in your sightseeing. I don’t know the fare to get to and from Narita, though.

*IIRC, transfers within Tokyo Metro lines or within JR lines are automatically built into the fare, so you can just hop off one line and get on another, but you’ll need to buy a special transfer ticket if you go from Tokyo Metro to JR in the same trip, or vice versa.

It’s highly deceptive. It takes barely a minute or three to go between individual stops within Tokyo, but walking between stations would take hours. As it is, you’ll do a ton of walking to the sights and locations you’re using the metro to access.

17

Hello!

Please please please consider changing your hotel. As Tanaqui points out, it’s hugely inconvenient to haul yourself into Tokyo every day, and Narita can’t even charitably be called a tourist destination.

The JR Pass works on everything–the Shinkansen (taking you to Fuji and Kyoto) and to/from the airport (the Narita Express, which stops at Tokyo, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ikebukuro, Yokohama and other major hubs, is a JR line), and of course the Yamanote line that circles Tokyo.

There are tons of inexpensive business hotels in Tokyo. Aside from hotels, transportation costs will add up the most, and the 5-day pass means you never need think of train fares (and the only-Japanese signage, the long-ass lines at ticket machines, the tiring slog back to your hotel each night after a day of sightseeing…)

The JR pass is one pass, not a set. You show it to the nice man at the ticket window, and he waves you through. It’s good on all JR lines (unreserved seats only, I believe; they’ll tell you everything you need to know when you come here), and it’s good throughout the country.

Walking from one Yamanote station to the next is one thing; Shinjuku to Harajuku is doable but is long, and Akihabara is way over on the other side of the line, so walking would be out–plus, with the JR pass, it’s all free anyway.

I live in Tokyo, and work in Shinjuku, btw. Give a yell when you get here, and let’s grab a beer/tea!

PS. This is my first SDMB post!

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Right. Again, the number of options here confuses me, which is why I am asking. I can’t reconcile a $2.00 fare with a $220.00 5 day pass.

Yeah, I figured that my options would be limited. In terms of actual sightseeing per se, I’m more for just being there: I would rather have time to enjoy a bustling street of retail, or a mall, than a museum.

To this end, I would like an “All you can ride” type package over just going to one place. I would rather go wide and shallow, than narrow and deep.

19

OT, but why does your name include “Kinki” (the Kyoto/Osaka region) when you live in Kantō (the Tokyo region)?

And welcome to the SDMB!

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In that case, the JR pass (which is the $200 thing we’re talking about) may be your best bet. I’ve been assuming you want to mostly stay within Tokyo for your tourism, but if you want to travel Japan entire, then KinkiNipponTourist’s advice holds better than mine (welcome, by the way!), because although I haven’t researched intercity train fares, I’m quite certain they’ll be far more expensive than intra-Tokyo metro fares.

Oh, and just in case this is a point of confusion: The JR train system covers all of Japan, but it does have some lines running within Tokyo proper, primarily the Yamanote line which is like a loop around the city.