Getting Around Japan | Local Tokyo Transit: Subway, Train, Taxi and by Walking - digi-joho Tokyo | Guide for Travel and Living in Japan | Planning, Business Travel, Tours, Tourist Attractions, Accommodations, Maps, JP language help - digi-joho Tokyo | Guide for Travel and Living in Japan | Planning, Business Travel, Tours, Tourist Attractions, Accommodations, Maps, JP language help

Local Transit & Transportation in Tokyo, Japan

By Subway - Train - Bus - Taxi

Tokyo has an excellent subway and rail system. It may appear complicated - and it is - at first glance, but there are many English publications available to help you. The single most important publication for travel in Tokyo and Japan is the Jikokuhyo - A Book of Timetables published every month by Japan Travel Bureau (JTB). Although published in Japanese there is a short schedule published in English.

Get a English guide to the Tokyo Transit System, you will need it!

Go to any English bookstore or any JTB office and ask for the
Eigo no Jikanhyo - literally means book of schedule's in English!
General Information for the Subways: Tokyo Metro and Toei.
http://www.kotsu.metro.tokyo.jp/util/english/

TEITO RAPID TRANSIT AUTHORITY (TRTA) - Tokyo Metro subways
http://www.tokyometro.go.jp/e/

Transportation Guides for Tokyo

http://www.tourism.metro.tokyo.jp/english/access_top.html

An Interactive Flash animation of the Tokyo Subway
http://www.tokyometro.go.jp/network/map_english.html

Japan Railways - JR

The famous JR Yamanote line encircles the central Tokyo. There provide a very detailed map worth downloading and printing: see here for more detail

Japan Rail Pass

A pass can only be bought outside of Japan. Recommended if you are planning frequent trips outside of Tokyo or will be simply be in Tokyo for a long time, using the trains extensively.

How to Read and Understand a Street Address in Japan
Learn about how the very complicated street location and addressing system in Japan. Remember most street addresses for buildings do not follow a chronically number sequence. For example, you could find side by side street addresses that do not follow a logical path, i.e. 1250, 1257, etc.Most buildings have a number associated from how new the building, so you could run into a series of streets address like, 123, 569, etc.

Also, some streets do not have names at all, furthermore, particular intersections of minor streets have names, not the actual streets that create the intersection!!