How to Use the Tokyo Subway | JAPAN TRAVEL GUIDE

I'm antsy on hormones we'll see you so today I will be talking about the Tokyo subway system some of you have requested me to do this video and I also thought it would be very helpful for those of you who are either moving to Tokyo or if you're just traveling here it is a little bit complicated to use especially if it's your first time here hopefully this video will be helpful for you guys and so let's get started first of all they are lots of lines as you can see on the map there are three different companies that operate within central Tokyo first there's the Tokyo Metro which has nine lines and Po a which operates four lines as well as the Yamanote a line by J are the reason I consider a Minolta line as one of the main subway lines is because there goes in a loop and goes to all the important areas of Tokyo there are other trains and lines and companies that go further out of Tokyo but today I will just stick to the main ones with the essential Tokyo also I want to say there are lots of booklets and pamphlets and also maps of the subway system inside the stations but I don't really recommend relying on those to navigate the subway system I recommend two different apps one is the Tokyo subway app and also another one is Google Maps so there are three ways that allow you to get into the subway so first of all obviously is buying tickets and the second way is to buy an IC card where you can charge up any time you run out of money and the third way is getting day passes alright so let's talk about tickets first it may be a little bit different in Tokyo than what you're used to in your home country or other countries that you have travel to here are to buy single tickets for the subway you need to know before you get your tickets how much money it costs you to complete your trip this is a reason I highly recommend using the Google Maps and also the Tokyo subway app because without those two apps and may be a little bit difficult to figure out the ticket price that you would need there are maps and guidelines on top of the ticket machines and you we also asked the stationmaster but if you are new to the city and especially if you don't understand the language these may be a little bit tricky to figure out and you definitely don't want to spend more money than you need to get to your destination if you use the Tokyo subway app or the Google Maps and it will tell you the exact amount that you need to pay for the ticket in order to buy tickets go to any ticket machine pick the language that you feel most comfortable with and choose the amount of money it costs you to complete your trip and then put in your money you can use either bills or coins credit cards are not accepted and you cannot use those one end points and after you put in the money it will give you a ticket be careful to hold this ticket until the end of your trip because you need to insert it when you enter the subway and also when you exit the subway and in case you have to transfer in between you also have to insert this ticket into the ticket date if you need to transfer between different companies for example if you need to take the hundred online operated by Tokyo Metro and transfer it to the owe a tow line operated by the tow a company you have to make sure that you select the line that you will be transferring to and then choose the correct amount for the ticket and if somehow you need to change your destination or you've changed your mind on which line to take then there are these two fare adjustments machines right before you exit the subway where you can change your ticket price to the one that would actually allow you to exit the subway using single tickets I don't quite recommend it if you're travelling in Tokyo for more than a few days or if you're living here definitely get an IC card so this is another way that would allow you to use the Tokyo subway system and in my opinion this is a much more efficient way to use the subway both in cost and also in time so for IC cards there are two different times that you can get one is called pasmo and one is called the Suika some have told me that Suika may be a little bit more useful if you are outside of Tokyo in more distant areas in Japan but basically they both allow you to write the subway the bus trains all throughout Japan there is no clear advantage or disadvantage between the two I say just get whichever one is convenient for you when you first arrive in Japan you can get a suite of cards at JR stations and you can get pasmo cards at subway stations so it totally just depends on where you are the first time you try to buy the card so to use these cards it's really simple you do not have to know how much your trip cost beforehand you scan the cards when you get into the subway and the skin card again when you get out of the subway or when you need to transfer between lines and it will calculate this area automatically for you so this definitely saves a lot of time trying to look up where you need to go before hands and how much the trip cost and also it takes you between 5 to 20 yen which is about 5 to 20 cents it may not seem like much for one trip but it definitely adds up as you go since I have a pass mobile card I'll show you how to get one so just go to any of the Machine you choose the initial amount you want to deposit onto your card but be careful here because the first time you buy a new plasma the amount of money you choose includes a 500 yen deposit so let's say if you choose to have 2,000 yen on your card what you actually get is a new card and also 1500 in on the card and the 500 yen deposit you can get back if you decide to return your card at the end of your trip but I definitely recommend keeping it either as a souvenir or also saving it for the next time you come back to Japan because these cards are valid for 10 years if you run out of money and you need to charge your card just go to the same ticket machines and choose the amount you want to put on your card you can actually charge from as little as 10 yen to however much you want all right finally let's talk about bay passes a lot of you who are visiting Japan may be interested in this option because they allows you to write the subway for as many times as you want within a certain time frame so there are three different types of day passes because there are different companies that operate lines in Tokyo you have different options to choose whether you want to stick to one company or you want a day path that allows you to go between the companies freely so the cheapest type is the Tokyo Metro they pass so if you do a little bit of stretch ejek planning beforehand it actually can fit you quite a bit of money so let's say you have a 24-hour pass and you scan in for the first time at 9:00 a.m. in the morning this card will actually be available for youth until Nyame the next day it will not expire at midnight the same day and the second type of passes you can get is a one-day Tokyo Metro and tow a pass and it will allow you to use the Tokyo subway and tow a lines freely now the last pass you could get is a one day free pass this will allow you to write all 14 lines in Tokyo and also buses so if you think you will be needing lots of different ways to get to your destination then take this option and then you can use it freely between all the transportation methods now finally you have bought your ticket or bought your passes or about your card so now you're in the middle of the complicated Tokyo subway system and you need to know how to navigate it it's actually not too complicated although it takes time to get used to because first of all there's so many different lines second there are so many different stations and the third are so many people around you and they make it seem very overwhelming two things to keep in mind here the subway system actually has very clear signs so all the signs are labeled in Japanese and English share screens signs boards and maps and directories that try to help you to make your trip a little bit simpler keep using your Google Maps because that's your best friend so when you get into the subway make sure you know which direction we're going to if you use Google Maps or if you ask somebody for a direction you should know which way to go so just look at the signs and head to the correct platform also you can look at the science on the platform to double-check that you're heading into the right direction I also have a little trick that I think is quite useful there are some of these directories that you can find on the platform so it shows all the stations of this line and then you can see where you are at the moment and for every single station it tells you which train car is closest to what exit this is extremely useful if you need to transfer because sometimes on the same platform there can be different exits to transfer to different lines and if you head towards one wrong direction you will have a hard time finding your way so before you get on to the subway just check which train car will be the closest to the correct exit or transfer that you need to take and get onto that car you can check the card number on the tracks or sometimes it's labeled on the platform there also screens on all the subway cars cell may be a little fancier than others but it always tells you the information that you need to know like what the next station is which side of the door will open a lot of times also tells you where the nearest exits are and which exit is on which side so then we use these screens to save you time and also to make sure that you don't get lost once you get off some of you may think you've reached your final station and that's it be careful to know which exits to take before you actually get out of the subway because sometimes it can be a long way to go if you get out of the wrong exit so again Google Maps is your best friend if you zoom in enough on the Google map it will actually show the exit number of that station there are also mapped inside of the subway that show you the surrounding areas this is also really helpful because a lot of times they mark important buildings touristic places and some popular destinations so up until now if you kept watching this whole time you should be okay navigating the subway system but there are a few things you should be careful about so first of all you need to watch out what kind of gates that you're using when you're getting into or out of the subway so especially if you are using a ticket be careful here because some of the games to only take IC cards and don't have a slot for ticket also when you're transferring make sure you transfer within 30 minutes last thing I want to mention you cannot go in and out of the same station without paying somebody told me that you could scan your cards and from the same station and go out of a different exit of the same station without being charged but that's not the case alright that's it for this video I hope it was helpful and please leave me more suggestions on what kind of videos you want to see next I think I'm going to make a series about living or traveling in Tokyo to give you guys tips and tricks about different things in Japan if you are interested in that should give this video a thumbs up and I will make more videos like this please don't forget to subscribe to my channel to see more from me in the future and I'll see you next time bye

Channel: TokiYuYu

Views: 415,895

Rating: 4.9430604 out of 5

Keywords: tokyo metro, tokyo subway, japan tokyo transportation, japan guide, how to use tokyo subway, how to use tokyo metro, how to navigate subway japan, living in japan, how to japan, how to tokyo, japan travel tips, save money travel, metro pass tokyo, travel guide, first time in tokyo, how to ride the tokyo metro, how to ride subway in japan, how to travel to japan for cheap, tokyo, japan, travel, guide, japan travel, subway, tokyo travel tips, train in japan, transportation japan

Id: uAUfF8UVAdI

Length: 12min 26sec (746 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 11 2017