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Discounts & convenient multi-ride cards

JR East discounts. The subway map shows two companies: Tokyo Metro & Toei. You can buy a minimum-price ticket: insert it in a yellow machine near the ticket gate at your exit stop (and pay any extra) to get an exit ticket. If your ride includes a transfer which involves exiting, however, it's often cheaper to buy a though ticket rather than separate tickets (the transfer discount applies if you enter the 2nd line within 30 min. of exiting the 1st). Ticket machines sell one-day open "free passes" for just Metro or JR; and combined Metro, Toei & JR. Since minimum fare on the Metro is typically ¥160 or ¥170, a one-day Metro pass pays for itself after four rides.

SUICA (JR-East) & PASMO (issued by Tokyo Metro & most private train lines) plastic IC cards, rechargeble at ticket machines, sell for ¥2,000—including ¥500 refundable deposit for the card—and can be used on most "private" (non-JR) lines & Tokyo Metro subway lines [as well as in many buses & taxis, shops & vending machines]. Tap them on the top of the gate, rather than inserting them like a paper ticket. Minimum fare is deducted when you enter; the remainder is deducted when you exit.

Sightseeing ideas

The easiest way to understand the central Tokyo train system is to look at the bilingual train map (PDF) which shows (in black) the JR East orange Chuo line, yellow Sobu line, & green Yamanote loop line superimposed on the subway system. The fast orange Chuo line trains connect Tokyo & Kanda to Shinjuku via Ochanomizu & Yotsuya. The yellow Sobu line connects Ryougoku (with Sumo & Edo (old Tokyo) museums) to Akihabara (electronics center) & Ochanomizu (transfer to fast Chuo-line for Shinjuku). The green Yamanote loop line (actually two lines, one running clockwise and the other anticlockwise) runs thru' Yurakucho, Tokyo, Kanda, Akihabara, Okachimachi & Ueno.

Tokyo stn. has Shinkansen bullet trains and JR long-distance day & overnight buses (cheap "Seisyun Dream" buses now cost 5,000 yen or less to Kyoto or Osaka) 123; Tokyo CPO / Imperial Palace are near the Marunouchi Sth. exit. Kanda (one stop from Tokyo stn.) connects to the Ginza subway line for Suehirocho (on the Ginza dori street through Akihabara) and Asakusa (famous Sensoji temple, base of Sanja matsuri festival in May, & Tobu line to Nikko). Akihabara is two stops from Tokyo.

Ameyoko market runs beside the Yamanote line from Okachimachi (next stop after Akihabara) to Ueno (park, containing art galleries & zoo, and Shinobazu pond). On the other of Tokyo stn., Yurakucho is next to the circular Kotsu Kaikan with JNTO tourist info., the Bic Camera electronics superstore is on the other side, and it's an easy walk to the Ginza shopping street & Hibiya Park gardens.

Shinjuku, on the opposite side of the Yamanote loop line, is terminus for the Odakyu line to Hakone, Kamakura-Enoshima and Numazu, the Keio line to Mt. Takao-san, and the JR-East Chuo line via Tachikawa to Mt. Mitake-san on the Ome line, as well as the Seibu-Shinjuku line (about 5 min. North of Shinjuku West or East exits). Shinjuku is also terminus for many long-distance buses, e.g. to Mt. Fuji, (beside the Yodobashi camera & electronics discount superstore on the Odakyu (West) side of the station). Behind Yodobashi there's a Starbucks & the Shinjuku Nishi Post Office. Major Post Offices have ATMs that take international credit cards. Just north of Shinjuku West exit there's an underpass to the East exit. Shinjuku East exit has a huge TV screen & stage for events. From the West exit you can walk past the Keio store to the Lumine intersection then uphill to the South exit, with Takashimaya - Times Square containing Tokyu Hands (Handcraft & Hobby), Kinokuniya Bookstore & Starbucks. There are actually two Shinjuku South exits, the one on the Times Square side of the road has a JR long-distance day & overnight bus terminus downstairs (cheap "Seisyun Dream" buses now cost 5,000 yen or less to Kyoto or Osaka). Take the Oedo subway line from the Lumine store corner for night spot area Roppongi (caution: the Oedo subway is a loop line; the West exit of Shinjuku station is on the opposite side of the loop). It's an easy 5-min. walk from the W exit ( map ) to the "Tocho" (Tokyo metropolitan gov't) skyscraper (behind the Keio Plaza Hotel), you can see the view from the top (free) between 9:30am & 11pm. (The observation deck is 202 m above ground, the Tokyo Tower one is 250 m.) There's a Tokyo Tourist Information center on the ground floor. The "NS building" skyscraper down the road, with its glass-walled elevator, is also interesting, as is the small "Central Park". (Shinjuku Gyoen on the Marunouchi line, and Yoyogi Park, next to the Meiji shrine & Harajuku stn., are the main parks in the area). Lots of young people parade their fashions in Harajuku & Omotesando on weekends. Shibuya (where couples meet at the Hachiko statue) is a terminus for Toyoko-line trains running via Yokohama onto the Minato Mirai subway line to Chinatown (exit 2). Chinatown is also near Ishikawacho on the Keihin-Tohoku/Negisihi line from Tokyo. Major conferences & exhibitions are held at Pacifico in the (Yokohama) (Toyoko-line) Minato Mirai complex on the Minato Mirai line or near (JR) Sakurajicho stn. (one stop from Yokohama), at Big Sight beside Kokusai Tenjijo-seimon on the Yurikamome "seagull" monorail from Yamanote-line Shimbashi near Tokyo, or near Kokusai Tenjijo on the Rinkai line from Shinjuku via Osaki & Shin Kiba, and Makuhari at JR Kaihin Makuhari (just past Tokyo Disneyland at JR Maihama) on the JR Keiyo line from Tokyo (or by Rinkai line from Shinjuku to Shin Kiba, then change). The Yurakucho line is also convenient for getting to Shin Kiba. The Immigration (visa renewal) office is at Tennozu Isle, there's a direct bus from Shinagawa. Useful web sites.

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 *with many helpful comments from Kiwi train enthusiast Doug Ingham.                                   ©2005- Keith Wilkinson