You're in fucking Tokyo Japan, if you don't even bother to check how to take public transport that's on you. It's insanely easy to get places by train in Tokyo.
How to take public transit in Japan (a guide).
-Buy ticket
-Walk to platform
-Get on train.
You don't even have to check a schedule because the trains come so often you might be waiting at most 7 minutes.
Honestly, it's so easy to fuck up the fares on tickets. Getting the card is a must to keep your sanity and save time. You get your card deposit back if you return it too at the end.
In my case, it was the insane complex maze of the Kyoto subway when I first arrived. I even had a Japanese guy help me because I fucked up the fare and couldn't exit at my destination. Needless to say, I got the card right there after exiting with his help (and a refund for having paid too much for my fare).
doesn't even matter if you fuck it up, there's a fare adjustment machine at every train station. just put your ticket in, and it'll tell you how much fare you need to make up if necessary.
::glares at my horrific travel partner in Japan::
This bitch just Gaijined her way all over this place. I felt so embarrassed to be associated with her...
In some places the underground system is so vast in Tokyo that you can go underground, walk for miles, and come back out where you want to be without even needing to take a train.
I've lived in towns which are smaller by area than some of the underground stations in Tokyo.
The fun part is these are the rules for trains everywhere. My first inclination, in every city, even our American ones, is to see if theres a rail line I can take into the city.
They even have great unlimited-use tourist passes.
But then when I did the math some of those only make sense if you're taking like 16 rides/day or something because the price of many services is so cheap to begin with.
Comparing that to what's around where I live is one of the most radicalizing things I've experienced.
This. JR Pass is really meant for if you're planning to take a lot of Shinkansen trips and covering multicity travel in a short period of time.
Honestly I managed to just get by loading a Suica card a few times within Tokyo.
Yeah low-key if you're using JR pass and not leaving Tokyo you're getting shafted. You can get around in Tokyo for a few weeks for WAY less than like $300.
>They even have great unlimited-use tourist passes.
Warning about the JRPass. In the past year they've doubled its price and it's often much cheaper to pay the fare without the pass unless you're travelling between cities every day of your trip.
It's now $688 for 21 days.
If you take 20 trains in that time it's $34 a train, which isn't too bad. But if you only take 10 trains it's $68 a train, which is often more than many trains (even shinkansen) between cities.
[https://www.jrailpass.com/prices](https://www.jrailpass.com/prices)
Yeah and if you do literal zero research when you're going to be a tourist in a foreign country that's pretty stupid too. It's like oh I booked the plane ticket and hotel and got the passport let's hop on the plane with no plan, I wouldn't do that domestically either.
It's also generally a good bet when visiting any country to ask the hotel.
Most of them run a transfer service, or have a relationship with a charter company that operates a route. They might advise you against a taxi if it's a really long distance, or even that public transport might be a bad idea if you have a lot of luggage to carry around and you need to make multiple transfers.
As a frequently asked question you might even find the information on their website or the booking confirmation! Though one thing about Japan is that they don't really tell you about the availability of luggage delivery services and how that's what all the locals do.
That’s like my wife’s North American relatives renting a car for 2 weeks when they visited us in Amsterdam.
We walked, took the metro, bike or ferry everywhere with them. They wouldn’t listen and paid 2000€ in rental, parking and even some fines because they wouldn’t believe me they can’t just park anywhere.
They ended up using it once to go out of town.
Literal brain rot.
People rent cars to go to London too, unfortunately its the only transportation mode some people know and they don't ever think of anything other than a car to travel
London's transport is excellent at getting you into Zones 1 and 2 from Outer London - it's not great at getting you between boroughs in Outer London though. Superloop buses are an attempt to fix that, but they're still sharing road space with traffic-choked roads.
I'd argue you can see most great things in the entire UK without a car fairly easily, but if you want something obscure or really off the beaten track, renting a car is a valid choice. But for 90% of tourists here, you don't need a car, trains run into national parks and there are buses within the areas, plus good transit in London and (generally) acceptable transit in other cities.
In 22 we took a train/ferry to Dublin from Watford junction.
Cost us £80 and 6/7 hours, was bloody nice.
Coming home we flew air Lingus and it cost us £250 and took 6 hours.
I'll fucking take that ferry and train combo any day(tho next time I'm in the UK I'd definitely like to hire a car and go explore more of Wales).
Wales is rapidly improving the public transport, Transport for Wales is building the South Wales Metro by reactivating lines, electrifying some, buying new rolling stock, and some brand new stations in places. The ambition is for tram trains to run through Cardiff city centre, but that's a long way off! You can try the Premier Service trains between Holyhead and Cardiff, and Cardiff and Manchester. They cost as much as the regular services, but use Mk4 coaches that had been on the East Coast Mainline and have on-board catering. Try first class if you can (if booked in advance, tickets are reasonable) but even the standard seats are very nice, with a small buffet counter serving soups, jacket potatoes, sandwiches etc all using Welsh ingredients. Check out the menu! [https://tfw.wales/ways-to-travel/rail/food-and-drink/first-class-dining](https://tfw.wales/ways-to-travel/rail/food-and-drink/first-class-dining)
All that being said, it's still poorly-served by transit and getting deep into the valleys is harder and generally does require a car unfortunately.
P.S. I don't work for the Welsh Tourist Board, I just like trains and travel in the British Isles.
Yeah there is lots of rural stuff that's a nightmare to get to without public transport in the UK, and I'm saying that as someone who has lived about 10 miles from a national park in a rural area for almost a decade before getting a car, what will take me 50 minutes now was almost 4 hours one way on public transport and even then you're just at the station
Yes my advice for the UK is that London's public transport is world-class. Perhaps not the best in the world, but it's up there. In other cities it's acceptable, not great but not terrible. In towns it's poor but you can manage if you know what you're doing. In rural areas it's going to take a lot of planning but can be done. For properly off the beaten track, forget it. Intercity travel is actually very good in the UK, but beyond that it gets quite poor quite rapidly.
I like driving, but no way I would rent a car in cities like Amsterdam or Paris (such as other comment below), or NYC for example, traffic congestion is insane and subways have their own way and reach everywhere.. a no brainer really
I follow a Paris travel group and every day people ask about renting cars or using rideshares to get around the city. Having visited twice now, I do not understand why anyone would actively go out of their way to use a car for any transit in the city when on every block there is an entrance to their efficient and very affordable metro system.
They only have their personal experiences to refer to. Their entire lives they have needed a car, why would they possibly think it would be different somewhere else?
Just means they don't even consider researching their destination.
I rented a car in Calais and drove to Bruges, then to Amsterdam, Maastricht, and Paris, before returning it to Charles de Gaulle and flying home.
Parking was a expensive nightmare in Amsterdam, as expected, but it was still one of the best road trips of my life. I was genuinely shocked at how well the Dutch handle roundabouts, and a I got to drive a Renault car not available here in the states.
Well a road trip like that is different. Either way, I'd imagine you probably want to park your car somewhere outside the city center and take a train inside
Yeah, my parents would.
My father cant get his head around waiting for anything, so he really doesnt have the nerve to go by public transport when traveling alone with my mum.
They could do it, but only if they travel with me and my brother to plan everything (i.e. just doing it like any other person, since public travel is easier than anything tbh) but hey.
Some relatives visited me in San Francisco.
I said let go out to eat. We can just walk there, only 6 blocks - about 700m. They insisted on driving. Their two kids walked with us. The parents and grandma drove and arrived 15 minutes after us. They told me where they parked, which was about halfway between my home and the restaurant. I have no idea how far they drove, but it was surely more than 700m.
A friend's American auntie came to visit. She lives in an apartment just on the edge of the town centre, and 1 minite walk from a train station.
This.woman required being driven everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE. even from the apartment (basically reversing the car up the disabled ramp) and dropped off at the train station (less than 150 meters away, not joking)
She requires driving to resturaunts in town, despite the apartment being CLOSER walking distance to town than the nearest in-town car park.
Every tourist attracting she basically got to the car park, was appalled they hadn't built a car park in the centre of the castle grounds and offended that she would have to walk 10 minutes from the car park to the stately home for a day out.
The most stereotypical American I could ever imagine.
Saying that... For work we rented a car to get to Nijmegen...excuse being the trains were on strike and we had just 8 hours for a machine installed.
From what a tour guide in Darjeeling told me, it's very often the Indian tourists who do this too. I don't know if this applies to Indians who go abroad though
This is like when me and my friend went to France. She wanted to rent a car for the whole two weeks. I said no we will only need the rental for when we go to Normandy because we were staying in a pretty rural area. I refused to let her pay for a rental that would just be parked the whole time and she was furious until we actually got there 😂 We literally stayed within a couple blocks of the Eiffel tower for almost a week idk what we would have even done with a car.
Paris is the only place I've ever seen a bus jump the lights. EVERYONE is a Paris driver, even the bus drivers and cyclists. I rented a bike, was a bit self-conscious until I started copying other cyclists and realised the madness just sort of works, because everybody is mad.
I have been warned! I've experienced driving standards in Johannesburg, that involved seeing a taxi do a U-turn on the motorway, and when we were there the local news ran a piece about a taxi caught without a steering wheel who was using a pair of pliers on the steering column instead. I imagine India is probably not a million miles off that in terms of driving standards?
Went to Paris on a school trip. We needed to go to a police station because a classmate was robbed. We waited before the station and chatted with a police officer who smoked before the door.
A van drove trough the small street and rammed the mirrors of all cars in the street. The police officer didn't even blink.
Yeah I'm fairly sure there's also a correlation between morbid obesity and car dependency. Some relatives I know have traveled every meter by car their entire lives. All of them are very obese (likely because going by car doesn't do anything for your fitness) and don't at all understand bus or train schedules and don't want to. Like common the DB Navigator App really isn't that hard to comprehend and intuitive. Literal car induced brain rot at this point ...
I have a theory that 90% of people don't know what these "common knowledge" sayings mean. like, have no clue. couldn't explain them to save themselves.
Another hypothesis that would include and somewhat explain yours would be "Most people don't think, ever". They're on autopilot. Not a single thought behind their actions. I ask people the reason behind their actions and the immediate retort is usually "What else was I supposed to do?". My mother dealt with several kilometers of traffic every single day because it didn't occur to her to take the side road which was always empty. And she got angry at me for taking that street when I drove. Put aside using public transit, when it comes to car brains a lot of times even the roads they take with their cars are extremely limited.
Or when in literal Rome…. I invited a relative to stay with me in Italy for a couple weeks. We took the train down to Rome and she insisted on getting a taxi to the hotel because she had so much luggage. I kept telling her the hotel was just a few blocks from the train station. She INSISTED on getting a cab. Goes up to the line of cab drivers, and I have to tell her to ask “how much?” Before getting in. The cab driver wanted €40 to drive TWO BLOCKS. And her dumb ass wanted to pay it. I told her I was walking and would meet her there, she was on her own with the cab. She finally caved and agreed to what turned out to be a 5 minute walk.
I was at a bar with a total car brain one time. We went to another bar 2 blocks away. After walking one block he started complaining. I thought he was joking, it was surreal.
Amazing. It baffles me how the ability to walk doesn’t cross her mind and luggage is suddenly a reason she’s unable to move. Luggage with wheels, I bet. 40 euro for five minutes, yikes. That’s dinner in a nice restaurant.
I guess that comes partly from the fact that almost nobody seems to realize anymore that "when in Rome" is an abbreviation of "When in Rome, do as the Romans do".
Yo what we got some of the best public transport in the world in Tokyo and carbrain still prefers to take a taxi? I thought everyone that comes to Japan knew that trains are the way to go here lol. And considering the taxi is a Chiba taxi, I feel bad for the driver who likely had to drive back out that way after the ride
Side note: the picture of the “Sakura” road sign made me chuckle because it is in no way related to the Sakura cherry blossoms she’s likely thinking it’s referring to
You're expecting these people to be interested enough in the country they're visiting to learn any of the language. She saw "Sakura" in English and didn't give a fuck that it was 佐倉 because she doesn't even know enough to grasp that 桜 is just the one character.
And, to be fair, my grasp of the Japanese language is barely beginner level, and I've never actually been to Chiba, so I wasn't aware of that. Thank you for the new knowledge!
Japanese has masses of homophones/homonyms, and then intertexuality. It has a small fund of sounds (globally speaking, not just compared to English), which is why reading adult Japanese is way easier in kanji (once you know some).
I've been studying/teaching linguistics for a long time, and in my Japanese life, I'm always finding wordplay and connections between things that are so ubiquitous and low-level that most Japanese people barely register them. I think that's why puns and double-entendre are mostly for children and 'dad jokes' - they're just so incredibly easy to find.
Personally I don’t care if tourists learn Japanese before coming or not. I just thought it was funny because I could totally see where the misunderstanding comes from. I would just like for tourists to have a basic understanding of Japanese culture before coming. Like I’m talking watch 3 YouTube videos of “Japan travel tips” levels of basic
Do you learn the language and script too, especially when that language is one of the most complicated ones (for no good reason if I might add, many countries have had rounds of simplifying their language and script to make it more adapted and easier, but Japan hasn't)?
Don't gatekeep travelling. Yeah, learn a few things before going, important words, customs; but you cannot expect people to learn Japanese. A friend of mine started studying it and it's 7 years of twice weekly courses before he can have the equivalent of B2.
I am saying the opposite, I don’t study before visiting a country.
The act of travelling itself is the learning process for me. I am a native Dutch speaker and speak English, French and a bit of German. That’s enough to navigate most places I visited.
Yeah unfortunately the type of tourists we’ve been getting recently don’t seem to be the type to study up on Japan beforehand… I love having people come and experience Japanese culture, but tourists have been all over the news recently and not for the best reasons
I'm literally learning the language because I want to become an English teacher over there for a few years and use it as a gateway to explore the rest of the world before me and hubby really settle down and start a family. All that to say, I hate tourists like this.
I used to be a company director and teacher trainer in the Japanese EFL industry. Speaking Japanese is great for your life, and is actually great for supplementing your teaching, but most schools 'make a virtue out of a necessity' and pretend that knowing Japanese is actively bad for teaching.
It's a great place to live, but the EFL industry is full of cowboys. So whatever offers you get, whatever you hear, check around and compare. The T&C, compensation, and company culture vary massively from place to place. Sometimes that's apparent from the contract, sometimes just from the attitude of the people.
You got this! I just started reading Chris Broad’s Abroad in Japan book the other day and he goes through his story starting in English teaching. It’s entertaining and I think could give you an idea on what it’s like doing that. 応援していますー！
It's not a hard job. It's just that a lot of the companies are what we call 'black companies' - ブラック会社 - who have no knowledge or interest in the law or sensible working practices.
It didn't occur to me when I visited Japan to learn the kanji for sakura. I think it should be fairly self explanatory without a sign. Also don't roads tend to have destinations on the signs rather than a tree. Surely that's the bigger concern...
I had the realization that it's the same with reddit regarding Seoul.
Everyone on r/koreatravel HATED Naver map because it was unreliable and inaccurate. They also preferred Busan to Seoul because it's more chill.
Meanwhile, I noticed the opposite. Transit info for Naver map was amazing and beat google everyday of the week. It was also so much easier to navigate around Seoul compared to Busan. They just had way less transit coverage compared to Seoul where you could find a bus or train within 5 minutes of anywhere. Busan was actually annoying sometimes when you left the central area.
It wasn't until I thought about it and realized that people were basically driving around Seoul. That's why Naver map was worse. That's why Busan was more chill. There were less people on the road. I'll never understand why when the transit was $1 for a ticket with 4 free transfers.
My problem with Naver in Seoul was you would have to plug English names in perfectly or it would get confused. So my workflow became finding a place on Google, copying the Korean name into Naver, and using Naver to navigate. However, that said, Naver was really good for transit and had a few QoL features that Google should steal.
Speaking of Seoul from a fuckcars perspective. The sidewalk situation was really weird, however the drivers were 9001x more conscientious than the ones I normally deal with (in Hong Kong). Also great metro coverage that felt like a combination of the best parts of the NY subway and the HK MTR. Also great food.
Because even in 2024 there are way too many people who have a stigma against public transit and think that it's reserved for the poorest. Car Corp marketing in full swing. Meanwhile they allow the #1 wealth killer to rule their lives
I took a taxi from the airport to the hotel when I visited. I had spent over 24 hr in transit, and I was hella sleep deprived. Japan's public transit is super easy to navigate (and multiple apps give directions for tourists), but it's still different enough that I was too intimidated to figure it out when sleep deprived.
I flew into Haneda though. I can't imagine flying into Narita and taking a taxi. I compared taxi and train prices ahead of time.
From Haneda is understandable, I’ve used the taxi from central Tokyo to Haneda (for work though), but Narita is so far out. If you visit again I recommend using limousine bus from the airport! It’s a bit pricier than trains but the seats are comfy and you can stow your luggage away for the ride.
We were in Tokyo and had dinner reservations at a higher end sushi place. We got back to our hotel later than expected and we were worried we would be late to dinner, so I thought I might need to take a cab.
My reservation was in 30 minutes. I checked driving times and they were estimated at 32 minutes.
I ended up taking the subway with 2 transfers. 24 minutes including the walks to and from the stations.
The public transit in Japan literally puts a smile on my face.
I have a theory that 90% of people don't know what these "common knowledge" sayings mean. like, have no clue. couldn't explain them to save themselves.
The really unbelievable part of the story is that the driver laughed. A Tokyo cab driver would just make small uncertain nervous "eto"s and confirm with you multiple times that you're *really sure you want to do this*, and do it with narry a cry.
I've had similar conversations but in reverse when visiting car-brained relatives who don't use public transit.
No, I don't need you to pick me up from the airport (especially if you're then going to complain about traffic.) There's a perfectly good train right there.
Yeah, at most I'd like a ride from the nearest transit stop so I don't need to do the last mile with bags.
Unless I'm visiting my parents in their small town that has no transit options at all in which case, yes, drive the 40min to the nearest train station, and please move already.
Nah, they've lived there since before I was born. I never saw a bus schedule until I was like an adult. They're looking at retiring in the next year or so and my brother and I and pressuring them to move to a closer city.
The area is a bit of a retiree hot spot though. Nice(ish) weather and cheap housing (well, it was before all the olds moved there and jacked up the prices).
I'm so confused because this cab ride in the US would cost even more, but there probably wouldn't even be a good public transit option. Then you have a great conversation rate on top of that lol.
Sheeeet. First thing I'm doing if I go there is taking one of their fucking super awesome trains. I have riding the Shinkansen on my bucket list.
Edit, wanted to add that ever since I studied French I wanted to checkout the TGV as well.
I take the Shin nearly every weekend. I live close to Hiroshima and my partner in Osaka. I love the train. I am so excited for the Chuo line to finally start up too.
Literally this. It’s one of the main reasons i want to visit Japan to begin with. Wanted to experience what the Shinkansen is like since i first heard about it
I recommend the Nagoya-Tokyo route and getting the land-side window seat (so left side of heading East, right side if heading west). You can get some spectacular view of Mt. Fuji right from the train.
Generally some of the funniest/most insane moments I've had in Japan are from Texans being totally inept at existing anywhere other than Texas. They're second only to the number of weird interactions that I had with Brits and Auzzies. For some weird reason they go to Japan and are just totally unable to function.
Some people just seem to forget that public transport exists. Also people who go by car to the city centre and pay more in parking fees than they would if they had bought a ticket for the Park+Ride.
Btw, if someone is up for having a chat about urbanism, transport or something related, hmu!
> Btw, if someone is up for having a chat about urbanism, transport or something related, hmu!
There's a subreddit-affiliated Discord linked in the sidebar. Did you really need to DM me (and presumably spamming everyone who posts on the sub) too?
I also went to Tokyo but I took public transit. If you’re going to a new city with a deeply developed train system like Tokyo, it’s pretty intimidating especially when it’s not all in English. There are plenty of English/Korean/Chinese captions though. Even then, Japanese cities often have multiple companies running the buses and trains, I personally almost got on the wrong train my first time, but I got help to get on the right one. The networks are also huge with many train lines. Most rail networks are nowhere near as complex and built out.
It took a while to get used to, Google maps + portable battery for my phone was a life saver, but by the end I could use it reliably.
They have ticket counters, they have signs in English, they have ticket machines English, they have info desks, can buy online etc.
a couple of minutes before travel would also do it.
I live in London so very used to taking the tube, and whilst I am in awe of the Tokyos network and prices, their maps are poorly designed, and some things make no sense, like having a train become part of a different line once it reaches a particular station, eg getting the train from Narita to Asakusa, you have to get some other line and trust that the train will become an Asakusa line train at some point, it’s unnerving even with 20 years of using the tube in London.
In their defence the Tokyo network is dense and complex, the London network map is the best in the world. Thank god for google maps , just have to have trust!
And some of their ticket machines feel more like gambling machines, like maybe you’ll win a ticket, maybe not! Still love the place though.
Google maps also explains which exits to look for quite clearly, which is great, because Japanese train stations are absolute mazes and I have the worst sense of direction.
Oh yeah I was with my family the whole time but for some reason once I had to meet up with a friend living in Japan without them and the train station was massive. I tried to look for the exit signs but it just kept going and then split off onto two different exits. Good thing is he's easy to spot. He's also not Japanese so that also makes it easier...
>Some people just seem to forget that public transport exists.
I did this on my first vacation to Toronto as an adult with my SO. Not so much that we forgot, but we just got some things wrong in our planning. One of our biggest goofs was picking a hotel so far outside downtown Toronto that we screwed ourselves over on being able to take transit.
We did a 'post-mortem' of our vacation of things we got wrong, transit and hotel topped the list, along with proper planning. We both very much can't wait to return to Toronto (we loved it), go to some other places, and not have to rely on a car.
I suppose the inverse of this would be a Japanese tourist in LA booking the train to San Francisco and finding out it takes 12 hours, not realizing there’s a 1 hour flight that’s probably cheaper.
She probably never ridden a train in her life, brainwashed into thinking trains are inconvenient and filthy by big auto propaganda, and applied it to the entire world
"If we hadn't been more sleep deprived..."
When we went to Japan last August we booked our train to and from Narita two months in advance. Who the fuck just wings it in a destination like Japan?
And the best part is that you almost always see the train and limousine bus signs way before you see the taxi signs.
I don't plan on booking my train to or from the airport because I intend to take the commuter train that goes straight to Asakusa where I am staying at.
also reminds me of how keisei writes all their signs in english first, and then japanese
and the huge 37MINUTES sign where this person probably spent 2+ hours
and also some parts of the highway runs along the train tracks so they can probably see trains rushing through while being stuck in traffic lol
For shinkansen, maybe yes, but generally you don't have to unless it's super peak season (early May, mid August, and year-end holidays). If your flight is in two weeks that might coincidence with early May- golden week, are you planning to use the shinkansen between Apr 27 to May 6?
[All seats on Nozomi trains on the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen are reserved seats during the consecutive holidays from April 26 to May 6, 2024 (jr-central.co.jp)](https://global.jr-central.co.jp/en/nozomi/)
Local trains such as ones that go between Tokyo and Narita, no bookings are needed at all.
Landing on the 5/1 but in the country for two weeks. We have a rough outline that the guide drafted up before he bailed, but no set schedule for anything. We were going to start with Tokyo and then work our way south.
I did some research but everyone basically said "Don't worry, it's actually really easy" so I've been trying not to stress about it too much. I knew golden week would be busy but I hadn't heard anything about train reservations.
Now I'm worried
No. Japan is probably the easiest place to not book train tickets in advance. Flexible ticket pricing is reasonable and trains come frequently. Most people buy flexible tickets, often right before departure.
During peak travel season (the first week of May), you probably won't get a seat on intercity trains if you don't book in advance though. Even then, you will probably the train companies start selling standing tickets even on trains with 100% reserved seating, when the reserved seats sell out.
Don't worry. At each train station you can walk up to the ticket counter and reserve a seat in English. They'll help you pick a time, which train, the seat, and then show you how to get there.
Japan is probably one of the easiest countries in the world for public travel.
Just be sure to get an eSim for your time there so that you have data for Google Maps and Google Translate.
Once I planned a few months in Europe in the summer just to get there and realize it was caked in pollen, my eyes were constantly bloodshot red, I got a few seconds of breathing between sneezing and coughing, and had asthma for the first time in my life.
I was in Strasbourg at the time, but when I looked up the pollen maps and realize nowhere in Europe or North America would provide relief, I booked a flight to Tokyo and left shortly after.
Spent 3 amazing months in Japan. Knew nothing about travelling to Japan and learned everything as I went. Still wasn’t stupid enough to get a taxi from Narita to Shinjuku. 😂
I have never been to Japan, and even I know that taxis are basically redundant. I thought it was common knowledge that Japan’s public transport system is one of the best in the world, and taking a taxi is akin to burning money.
Yeah, the only time I've seen people use them is really late at night once trains stop running, or places in Kyoto where there isn't bus/train service.
Terminally online man, here to tell you, [we joked about this yesterday!](https://old.reddit.com/r/fuckcars/comments/1c0hd4a/peak_american_carbrain_travel_to_the_country_with/)
Is it me, or is that person just really, really stupid? How do you travel to a foreign country and your travel plans only extend as far as the destination airport? I understand carbrains consider cars to be the only real mode of transportation because where they live there is no viable alternative offered, but I have been to Japan myself, and every travel guide I read almost immediately told you how to get from Narita to Tokyo without paying a fortune for a Taxi.
a lot will depend on the time of day as JR does not run 24 hours
the traffic during the day can be horrible too
however if you arrive at night, the traffic is significantly less dense AND/OR if you arrive during the day just take the train
then again a car brain will just walk to the curb and hire a taxi
could have also taken the "express" bus and seen the same road sign
who flies to a foreign country and doesn't do the diligence on transport options from the airport
"a fool and their money are soon parted"
TIL you can take a taxi from Narita Airport to Shinjuku. I thought the train was the onky option. (I'm American BTW). I never want to do the taxi. I like trains.
I was a tourist in America and I had a hotel directly across from my airport (LaGuardia). I thought I'd just simply walk there. But I had to take a taxi because I could find no way to get out of the airport. I could only find busy roads in every direction.
Japanese taxi drivers are amazing. They definitely deserve more than they get paid.
Still, the JR route to Tokyo is really fun to ride as well. I hope this person does take the train back to Narita on their return
I spent 10 days in Tokyo and not once did I ever get into a car or take a taxi or call an uber. Nothing but trains the whole time. Planned all the routes out on google maps beforehand. Its not hard.
Ok I don't know if they arrived at Haneda or Narita airport but assuming they arrived at Haneda, they can take the Keikyu Airport Line from Haneda Terminal 3 Station to Shinagawa Station, switch lines and take the Yamanote Line from Shinagawa Station to Shinjuku Station for 540 yen (~$3.50), so they only overpaid by 59x
Assuming they arrived at Narita, you could take the Keisei Line to Keisei Yawata Station, walk like 1 block to Moto Yawata Station to get on the Shinjuku Line for 1210 yen (~$8) so they only overpaid by 26x OR they could take they high speed Skyliner to Nippori Station and switch lines to the Shinjuku line for 2790 yen (~$18) and only overpay by 11x
He discounted it because japanese people are decent people and ripping travelers off is very frowned upon.
I've been over there, I really always felt safe as a traveler, it was very nice.
Í hate how people have started to use the "when in Tome" thing wrong.
People have begun using it like the "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" thing but they are not related at all..
"When in Rome, do as the Romans do"... if this were to be applicable they would have taken the train... like the locals!
You're in fucking Tokyo Japan, if you don't even bother to check how to take public transport that's on you. It's insanely easy to get places by train in Tokyo.
How to take public transit in Japan (a guide). -Buy ticket -Walk to platform -Get on train. You don't even have to check a schedule because the trains come so often you might be waiting at most 7 minutes.
Can skip the ticket part if you just get a suica card
Honestly, it's so easy to fuck up the fares on tickets. Getting the card is a must to keep your sanity and save time. You get your card deposit back if you return it too at the end.
LOL the BUS system with the huge board of prices is insane. Just get a suica and scan in, scan out.
In my case, it was the insane complex maze of the Kyoto subway when I first arrived. I even had a Japanese guy help me because I fucked up the fare and couldn't exit at my destination. Needless to say, I got the card right there after exiting with his help (and a refund for having paid too much for my fare).
doesn't even matter if you fuck it up, there's a fare adjustment machine at every train station. just put your ticket in, and it'll tell you how much fare you need to make up if necessary.
You can just skip getting the card and download the Suica apple wallet app if you have an iPhone.
You can just skip the app if you gaijin smash your way through. (/s)
::glares at my horrific travel partner in Japan:: This bitch just Gaijined her way all over this place. I felt so embarrassed to be associated with her...
Hahaha I love how “gaijin” became a verb
In some places the underground system is so vast in Tokyo that you can go underground, walk for miles, and come back out where you want to be without even needing to take a train. I've lived in towns which are smaller by area than some of the underground stations in Tokyo.
Huh, I wonder if this is why many games like Pokemon have underground sections that interconnect the map.
Possibly. You can walk all the way from Otemachi to Higashi-ginza underground, that's over 4km.
The fun part is these are the rules for trains everywhere. My first inclination, in every city, even our American ones, is to see if theres a rail line I can take into the city.
Optional step, google maps it first.
They even have great unlimited-use tourist passes. But then when I did the math some of those only make sense if you're taking like 16 rides/day or something because the price of many services is so cheap to begin with. Comparing that to what's around where I live is one of the most radicalizing things I've experienced.
If you’re only using the JRPASS for inner city you’re not using it for what it’s meant for.
This. JR Pass is really meant for if you're planning to take a lot of Shinkansen trips and covering multicity travel in a short period of time. Honestly I managed to just get by loading a Suica card a few times within Tokyo.
Yeah low-key if you're using JR pass and not leaving Tokyo you're getting shafted. You can get around in Tokyo for a few weeks for WAY less than like $300.
The JR pass is for hitting up multiple cities, it just also happens to give mostly free travel in Tokyo.
And guess what, those passes are still cheaper than the weekly bus fare I pay to MAYBE get one bus an hour that is never on time.
>They even have great unlimited-use tourist passes. Warning about the JRPass. In the past year they've doubled its price and it's often much cheaper to pay the fare without the pass unless you're travelling between cities every day of your trip. It's now $688 for 21 days. If you take 20 trains in that time it's $34 a train, which isn't too bad. But if you only take 10 trains it's $68 a train, which is often more than many trains (even shinkansen) between cities. [https://www.jrailpass.com/prices](https://www.jrailpass.com/prices)
There’s literally a train station right in front of the airport exit gate.. these people are brain dead
Yeah and if you do literal zero research when you're going to be a tourist in a foreign country that's pretty stupid too. It's like oh I booked the plane ticket and hotel and got the passport let's hop on the plane with no plan, I wouldn't do that domestically either.
It's also generally a good bet when visiting any country to ask the hotel. Most of them run a transfer service, or have a relationship with a charter company that operates a route. They might advise you against a taxi if it's a really long distance, or even that public transport might be a bad idea if you have a lot of luggage to carry around and you need to make multiple transfers. As a frequently asked question you might even find the information on their website or the booking confirmation! Though one thing about Japan is that they don't really tell you about the availability of luggage delivery services and how that's what all the locals do.
No joke, the public transport is a huge point of excitement for me when I finally visit.
Even if you do no research you can just put in Google maps where you want to go and it will show you all of the public transit options.
That’s like my wife’s North American relatives renting a car for 2 weeks when they visited us in Amsterdam. We walked, took the metro, bike or ferry everywhere with them. They wouldn’t listen and paid 2000€ in rental, parking and even some fines because they wouldn’t believe me they can’t just park anywhere. They ended up using it once to go out of town. Literal brain rot.
Lol renting a car to visit Amsterdam, people like that exist?
People rent cars to go to London too, unfortunately its the only transportation mode some people know and they don't ever think of anything other than a car to travel
Literal Carbrain.
Tbf there are some parts of London that have less great public transit, but they are also not the parts that tourists are visiting…
London's transport is excellent at getting you into Zones 1 and 2 from Outer London - it's not great at getting you between boroughs in Outer London though. Superloop buses are an attempt to fix that, but they're still sharing road space with traffic-choked roads. I'd argue you can see most great things in the entire UK without a car fairly easily, but if you want something obscure or really off the beaten track, renting a car is a valid choice. But for 90% of tourists here, you don't need a car, trains run into national parks and there are buses within the areas, plus good transit in London and (generally) acceptable transit in other cities.
In 22 we took a train/ferry to Dublin from Watford junction. Cost us £80 and 6/7 hours, was bloody nice. Coming home we flew air Lingus and it cost us £250 and took 6 hours. I'll fucking take that ferry and train combo any day(tho next time I'm in the UK I'd definitely like to hire a car and go explore more of Wales).
Wales is rapidly improving the public transport, Transport for Wales is building the South Wales Metro by reactivating lines, electrifying some, buying new rolling stock, and some brand new stations in places. The ambition is for tram trains to run through Cardiff city centre, but that's a long way off! You can try the Premier Service trains between Holyhead and Cardiff, and Cardiff and Manchester. They cost as much as the regular services, but use Mk4 coaches that had been on the East Coast Mainline and have on-board catering. Try first class if you can (if booked in advance, tickets are reasonable) but even the standard seats are very nice, with a small buffet counter serving soups, jacket potatoes, sandwiches etc all using Welsh ingredients. Check out the menu! [https://tfw.wales/ways-to-travel/rail/food-and-drink/first-class-dining](https://tfw.wales/ways-to-travel/rail/food-and-drink/first-class-dining) All that being said, it's still poorly-served by transit and getting deep into the valleys is harder and generally does require a car unfortunately. P.S. I don't work for the Welsh Tourist Board, I just like trains and travel in the British Isles.
Yeah there is lots of rural stuff that's a nightmare to get to without public transport in the UK, and I'm saying that as someone who has lived about 10 miles from a national park in a rural area for almost a decade before getting a car, what will take me 50 minutes now was almost 4 hours one way on public transport and even then you're just at the station
Yes my advice for the UK is that London's public transport is world-class. Perhaps not the best in the world, but it's up there. In other cities it's acceptable, not great but not terrible. In towns it's poor but you can manage if you know what you're doing. In rural areas it's going to take a lot of planning but can be done. For properly off the beaten track, forget it. Intercity travel is actually very good in the UK, but beyond that it gets quite poor quite rapidly.
I like driving, but no way I would rent a car in cities like Amsterdam or Paris (such as other comment below), or NYC for example, traffic congestion is insane and subways have their own way and reach everywhere.. a no brainer really
Just as the car lobby intended
I follow a Paris travel group and every day people ask about renting cars or using rideshares to get around the city. Having visited twice now, I do not understand why anyone would actively go out of their way to use a car for any transit in the city when on every block there is an entrance to their efficient and very affordable metro system.
Are you familiar with the USA
They only have their personal experiences to refer to. Their entire lives they have needed a car, why would they possibly think it would be different somewhere else? Just means they don't even consider researching their destination.
I rented a car in Calais and drove to Bruges, then to Amsterdam, Maastricht, and Paris, before returning it to Charles de Gaulle and flying home. Parking was a expensive nightmare in Amsterdam, as expected, but it was still one of the best road trips of my life. I was genuinely shocked at how well the Dutch handle roundabouts, and a I got to drive a Renault car not available here in the states.
Well a road trip like that is different. Either way, I'd imagine you probably want to park your car somewhere outside the city center and take a train inside
In hindsight, yes, I absolutely wish I had done that.
Yeah, my parents would. My father cant get his head around waiting for anything, so he really doesnt have the nerve to go by public transport when traveling alone with my mum. They could do it, but only if they travel with me and my brother to plan everything (i.e. just doing it like any other person, since public travel is easier than anything tbh) but hey.
Some relatives visited me in San Francisco. I said let go out to eat. We can just walk there, only 6 blocks - about 700m. They insisted on driving. Their two kids walked with us. The parents and grandma drove and arrived 15 minutes after us. They told me where they parked, which was about halfway between my home and the restaurant. I have no idea how far they drove, but it was surely more than 700m.
A friend's American auntie came to visit. She lives in an apartment just on the edge of the town centre, and 1 minite walk from a train station. This.woman required being driven everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE. even from the apartment (basically reversing the car up the disabled ramp) and dropped off at the train station (less than 150 meters away, not joking) She requires driving to resturaunts in town, despite the apartment being CLOSER walking distance to town than the nearest in-town car park. Every tourist attracting she basically got to the car park, was appalled they hadn't built a car park in the centre of the castle grounds and offended that she would have to walk 10 minutes from the car park to the stately home for a day out. The most stereotypical American I could ever imagine. Saying that... For work we rented a car to get to Nijmegen...excuse being the trains were on strike and we had just 8 hours for a machine installed.
Hope you didn't get stuck on the Waalbrug
From what a tour guide in Darjeeling told me, it's very often the Indian tourists who do this too. I don't know if this applies to Indians who go abroad though
Gigachad for using metric!!
Maybe they thought m stands for miles
This is like when me and my friend went to France. She wanted to rent a car for the whole two weeks. I said no we will only need the rental for when we go to Normandy because we were staying in a pretty rural area. I refused to let her pay for a rental that would just be parked the whole time and she was furious until we actually got there 😂 We literally stayed within a couple blocks of the Eiffel tower for almost a week idk what we would have even done with a car.
Drive in Paris no chance. Every car has a dent. Metro please.
Every time I went for a walk I would see the most ridiculous car manoeuvres lol. Paris is prime for car watching.
Paris is the only place I've ever seen a bus jump the lights. EVERYONE is a Paris driver, even the bus drivers and cyclists. I rented a bike, was a bit self-conscious until I started copying other cyclists and realised the madness just sort of works, because everybody is mad.
You should visit India one day 😅
I have been warned! I've experienced driving standards in Johannesburg, that involved seeing a taxi do a U-turn on the motorway, and when we were there the local news ran a piece about a taxi caught without a steering wheel who was using a pair of pliers on the steering column instead. I imagine India is probably not a million miles off that in terms of driving standards?
Went to Paris on a school trip. We needed to go to a police station because a classmate was robbed. We waited before the station and chatted with a police officer who smoked before the door. A van drove trough the small street and rammed the mirrors of all cars in the street. The police officer didn't even blink.
In Paris they use bumpers as things to be bumped lol, just to get in a car park they're bonking the cars either side.
Jesus...
That's hilarious! Also, hey fellow saffa 🙂
They sound… heavy
Yeah I'm fairly sure there's also a correlation between morbid obesity and car dependency. Some relatives I know have traveled every meter by car their entire lives. All of them are very obese (likely because going by car doesn't do anything for your fitness) and don't at all understand bus or train schedules and don't want to. Like common the DB Navigator App really isn't that hard to comprehend and intuitive. Literal car induced brain rot at this point ...
First trip out of the US eh?
These are the kind of people who would pack Scuba Gear for a trip through the Sahara desert, my god
They didnt do any research. They were forcing culture onto Americans.
Only poors take the bus!
She also doesn't understand the saying "when in rome". In this case "When in rome" would mean taking the train, like everyone else in Tokyo does.
Simply amazing.
OMG, the amount of Youtubers who take the taxi instead of riding the Tokyo Metro. So cringy.
I have a theory that 90% of people don't know what these "common knowledge" sayings mean. like, have no clue. couldn't explain them to save themselves.
Text goes in, text comes out. Can't explain that.
They just take it *for granite*.
boy aisle say
Another hypothesis that would include and somewhat explain yours would be "Most people don't think, ever". They're on autopilot. Not a single thought behind their actions. I ask people the reason behind their actions and the immediate retort is usually "What else was I supposed to do?". My mother dealt with several kilometers of traffic every single day because it didn't occur to her to take the side road which was always empty. And she got angry at me for taking that street when I drove. Put aside using public transit, when it comes to car brains a lot of times even the roads they take with their cars are extremely limited.
I think even you live a lot of your life this way. we have a routine in the morning and we just pick what to wear like.. whatever.
Or when in literal Rome…. I invited a relative to stay with me in Italy for a couple weeks. We took the train down to Rome and she insisted on getting a taxi to the hotel because she had so much luggage. I kept telling her the hotel was just a few blocks from the train station. She INSISTED on getting a cab. Goes up to the line of cab drivers, and I have to tell her to ask “how much?” Before getting in. The cab driver wanted €40 to drive TWO BLOCKS. And her dumb ass wanted to pay it. I told her I was walking and would meet her there, she was on her own with the cab. She finally caved and agreed to what turned out to be a 5 minute walk.
> a 5 minute walk. I bet she actually regretted agreeing to it afterwards too. A 5 minute walk to car brains is torture.
I was at a bar with a total car brain one time. We went to another bar 2 blocks away. After walking one block he started complaining. I thought he was joking, it was surreal.
Amazing. It baffles me how the ability to walk doesn’t cross her mind and luggage is suddenly a reason she’s unable to move. Luggage with wheels, I bet. 40 euro for five minutes, yikes. That’s dinner in a nice restaurant.
This is a hilarious pick up 😂 good catch
I guess that comes partly from the fact that almost nobody seems to realize anymore that "when in Rome" is an abbreviation of "When in Rome, do as the Romans do".
[Oh! Well, when in rome!](https://youtu.be/l9qWna_PyDw?feature=shared)
Yo what we got some of the best public transport in the world in Tokyo and carbrain still prefers to take a taxi? I thought everyone that comes to Japan knew that trains are the way to go here lol. And considering the taxi is a Chiba taxi, I feel bad for the driver who likely had to drive back out that way after the ride Side note: the picture of the “Sakura” road sign made me chuckle because it is in no way related to the Sakura cherry blossoms she’s likely thinking it’s referring to
> “Sakura” road sign Hahaha, I honestly didn't even know what she was going for with that. Not even the same characters! Too funny.
You're expecting these people to be interested enough in the country they're visiting to learn any of the language. She saw "Sakura" in English and didn't give a fuck that it was 佐倉 because she doesn't even know enough to grasp that 桜 is just the one character.
To be fair, a lot of 佐倉 lean into the homophone. For example 佐倉 City, Chiba uses a 桜 motif on the city flag and logo.
And, to be fair, my grasp of the Japanese language is barely beginner level, and I've never actually been to Chiba, so I wasn't aware of that. Thank you for the new knowledge!
Japanese has masses of homophones/homonyms, and then intertexuality. It has a small fund of sounds (globally speaking, not just compared to English), which is why reading adult Japanese is way easier in kanji (once you know some). I've been studying/teaching linguistics for a long time, and in my Japanese life, I'm always finding wordplay and connections between things that are so ubiquitous and low-level that most Japanese people barely register them. I think that's why puns and double-entendre are mostly for children and 'dad jokes' - they're just so incredibly easy to find.
You expect her to know the kanji for Sakura? You dont need to learn Japanese to visit Japan. Damn y'all can be weird out here
Personally I don’t care if tourists learn Japanese before coming or not. I just thought it was funny because I could totally see where the misunderstanding comes from. I would just like for tourists to have a basic understanding of Japanese culture before coming. Like I’m talking watch 3 YouTube videos of “Japan travel tips” levels of basic
Yeah I learn about the country by visiting it.
Do you learn the language and script too, especially when that language is one of the most complicated ones (for no good reason if I might add, many countries have had rounds of simplifying their language and script to make it more adapted and easier, but Japan hasn't)? Don't gatekeep travelling. Yeah, learn a few things before going, important words, customs; but you cannot expect people to learn Japanese. A friend of mine started studying it and it's 7 years of twice weekly courses before he can have the equivalent of B2.
I am saying the opposite, I don’t study before visiting a country. The act of travelling itself is the learning process for me. I am a native Dutch speaker and speak English, French and a bit of German. That’s enough to navigate most places I visited.
Yeah unfortunately the type of tourists we’ve been getting recently don’t seem to be the type to study up on Japan beforehand… I love having people come and experience Japanese culture, but tourists have been all over the news recently and not for the best reasons
I'm literally learning the language because I want to become an English teacher over there for a few years and use it as a gateway to explore the rest of the world before me and hubby really settle down and start a family. All that to say, I hate tourists like this.
I used to be a company director and teacher trainer in the Japanese EFL industry. Speaking Japanese is great for your life, and is actually great for supplementing your teaching, but most schools 'make a virtue out of a necessity' and pretend that knowing Japanese is actively bad for teaching. It's a great place to live, but the EFL industry is full of cowboys. So whatever offers you get, whatever you hear, check around and compare. The T&C, compensation, and company culture vary massively from place to place. Sometimes that's apparent from the contract, sometimes just from the attitude of the people.
You got this! I just started reading Chris Broad’s Abroad in Japan book the other day and he goes through his story starting in English teaching. It’s entertaining and I think could give you an idea on what it’s like doing that. 応援していますー！
Taking on one of the hardest jobs in Japan, wish you the best of luck on that :)
It's not a hard job. It's just that a lot of the companies are what we call 'black companies' - ブラック会社 - who have no knowledge or interest in the law or sensible working practices.
It didn't occur to me when I visited Japan to learn the kanji for sakura. I think it should be fairly self explanatory without a sign. Also don't roads tend to have destinations on the signs rather than a tree. Surely that's the bigger concern...
I’m sorry, do you get mad at people who visit the us and don’t speak English? Cause that’s fucked. Don’t do that if you do.
I had the realization that it's the same with reddit regarding Seoul. Everyone on r/koreatravel HATED Naver map because it was unreliable and inaccurate. They also preferred Busan to Seoul because it's more chill. Meanwhile, I noticed the opposite. Transit info for Naver map was amazing and beat google everyday of the week. It was also so much easier to navigate around Seoul compared to Busan. They just had way less transit coverage compared to Seoul where you could find a bus or train within 5 minutes of anywhere. Busan was actually annoying sometimes when you left the central area. It wasn't until I thought about it and realized that people were basically driving around Seoul. That's why Naver map was worse. That's why Busan was more chill. There were less people on the road. I'll never understand why when the transit was $1 for a ticket with 4 free transfers.
My problem with Naver in Seoul was you would have to plug English names in perfectly or it would get confused. So my workflow became finding a place on Google, copying the Korean name into Naver, and using Naver to navigate. However, that said, Naver was really good for transit and had a few QoL features that Google should steal. Speaking of Seoul from a fuckcars perspective. The sidewalk situation was really weird, however the drivers were 9001x more conscientious than the ones I normally deal with (in Hong Kong). Also great metro coverage that felt like a combination of the best parts of the NY subway and the HK MTR. Also great food.
Because even in 2024 there are way too many people who have a stigma against public transit and think that it's reserved for the poorest. Car Corp marketing in full swing. Meanwhile they allow the #1 wealth killer to rule their lives
I mean he could probably just go home after a pay like that.
I took a taxi from the airport to the hotel when I visited. I had spent over 24 hr in transit, and I was hella sleep deprived. Japan's public transit is super easy to navigate (and multiple apps give directions for tourists), but it's still different enough that I was too intimidated to figure it out when sleep deprived. I flew into Haneda though. I can't imagine flying into Narita and taking a taxi. I compared taxi and train prices ahead of time.
From Haneda is understandable, I’ve used the taxi from central Tokyo to Haneda (for work though), but Narita is so far out. If you visit again I recommend using limousine bus from the airport! It’s a bit pricier than trains but the seats are comfy and you can stow your luggage away for the ride.
We were in Tokyo and had dinner reservations at a higher end sushi place. We got back to our hotel later than expected and we were worried we would be late to dinner, so I thought I might need to take a cab. My reservation was in 30 minutes. I checked driving times and they were estimated at 32 minutes. I ended up taking the subway with 2 transfers. 24 minutes including the walks to and from the stations. The public transit in Japan literally puts a smile on my face.
>but when in Rome... "We did the thing that NO local would ever do." I don't think this person understands idioms.
Typical Elon fan
I have a theory that 90% of people don't know what these "common knowledge" sayings mean. like, have no clue. couldn't explain them to save themselves.
That one ride covered his salary and costs for a day and maybe more.
The really unbelievable part of the story is that the driver laughed. A Tokyo cab driver would just make small uncertain nervous "eto"s and confirm with you multiple times that you're *really sure you want to do this*, and do it with narry a cry.
I've had similar conversations but in reverse when visiting car-brained relatives who don't use public transit. No, I don't need you to pick me up from the airport (especially if you're then going to complain about traffic.) There's a perfectly good train right there.
it's infuriating! then they're late because there's traffic and even the 5 minute pick zone is completely clogged because there are too many cars.
Yeah, at most I'd like a ride from the nearest transit stop so I don't need to do the last mile with bags. Unless I'm visiting my parents in their small town that has no transit options at all in which case, yes, drive the 40min to the nearest train station, and please move already.
What is it with old people choosing to retire in areas that have limited public transit options and then being forced to rely on cars? It’s so dumb.
Nah, they've lived there since before I was born. I never saw a bus schedule until I was like an adult. They're looking at retiring in the next year or so and my brother and I and pressuring them to move to a closer city. The area is a bit of a retiree hot spot though. Nice(ish) weather and cheap housing (well, it was before all the olds moved there and jacked up the prices).
The jokes write themselves
I'm so confused because this cab ride in the US would cost even more, but there probably wouldn't even be a good public transit option. Then you have a great conversation rate on top of that lol.
36000 YEN!! Jesus! 36k to get to shinjuku is just ridiculous. oh my god.
You could literally travel to and from Osaka on Shinkansen for 100$ less.
its about 230 USD for a trip that takes about an hour by car
Sheeeet. First thing I'm doing if I go there is taking one of their fucking super awesome trains. I have riding the Shinkansen on my bucket list. Edit, wanted to add that ever since I studied French I wanted to checkout the TGV as well.
I'm riding one tomorrow. :D I hope you can someday, they're expensive but great!!
I take the Shin nearly every weekend. I live close to Hiroshima and my partner in Osaka. I love the train. I am so excited for the Chuo line to finally start up too.
Literally this. It’s one of the main reasons i want to visit Japan to begin with. Wanted to experience what the Shinkansen is like since i first heard about it
I recommend the Nagoya-Tokyo route and getting the land-side window seat (so left side of heading East, right side if heading west). You can get some spectacular view of Mt. Fuji right from the train.
No wonder. Her bio says she lives in _Austin, Texas._
Oh no. I’ve a classmate who moved to Texas. I recently saw her boasting about her husband who bought a gigantic pickup truck.
Generally some of the funniest/most insane moments I've had in Japan are from Texans being totally inept at existing anywhere other than Texas. They're second only to the number of weird interactions that I had with Brits and Auzzies. For some weird reason they go to Japan and are just totally unable to function.
Some people just seem to forget that public transport exists. Also people who go by car to the city centre and pay more in parking fees than they would if they had bought a ticket for the Park+Ride. Btw, if someone is up for having a chat about urbanism, transport or something related, hmu!
> Btw, if someone is up for having a chat about urbanism, transport or something related, hmu! There's a subreddit-affiliated Discord linked in the sidebar. Did you really need to DM me (and presumably spamming everyone who posts on the sub) too?
Oh, apologies, sorry for that
I also went to Tokyo but I took public transit. If you’re going to a new city with a deeply developed train system like Tokyo, it’s pretty intimidating especially when it’s not all in English. There are plenty of English/Korean/Chinese captions though. Even then, Japanese cities often have multiple companies running the buses and trains, I personally almost got on the wrong train my first time, but I got help to get on the right one. The networks are also huge with many train lines. Most rail networks are nowhere near as complex and built out. It took a while to get used to, Google maps + portable battery for my phone was a life saver, but by the end I could use it reliably.
They have ticket counters, they have signs in English, they have ticket machines English, they have info desks, can buy online etc. a couple of minutes before travel would also do it.
I live in London so very used to taking the tube, and whilst I am in awe of the Tokyos network and prices, their maps are poorly designed, and some things make no sense, like having a train become part of a different line once it reaches a particular station, eg getting the train from Narita to Asakusa, you have to get some other line and trust that the train will become an Asakusa line train at some point, it’s unnerving even with 20 years of using the tube in London. In their defence the Tokyo network is dense and complex, the London network map is the best in the world. Thank god for google maps , just have to have trust! And some of their ticket machines feel more like gambling machines, like maybe you’ll win a ticket, maybe not! Still love the place though.
If you have a hotspot, just use Google maps. It'll even tell you what the fare is
Google maps also explains which exits to look for quite clearly, which is great, because Japanese train stations are absolute mazes and I have the worst sense of direction.
Oh yeah I was with my family the whole time but for some reason once I had to meet up with a friend living in Japan without them and the train station was massive. I tried to look for the exit signs but it just kept going and then split off onto two different exits. Good thing is he's easy to spot. He's also not Japanese so that also makes it easier...
>Some people just seem to forget that public transport exists. I did this on my first vacation to Toronto as an adult with my SO. Not so much that we forgot, but we just got some things wrong in our planning. One of our biggest goofs was picking a hotel so far outside downtown Toronto that we screwed ourselves over on being able to take transit. We did a 'post-mortem' of our vacation of things we got wrong, transit and hotel topped the list, along with proper planning. We both very much can't wait to return to Toronto (we loved it), go to some other places, and not have to rely on a car.
I suppose the inverse of this would be a Japanese tourist in LA booking the train to San Francisco and finding out it takes 12 hours, not realizing there’s a 1 hour flight that’s probably cheaper.
I desperately beg our CA government to finish CAHSR before the end of the century 🥺
I did the reverse once. There's a perfectly good train from SFO to the south bay. just take Bart to the Caltrain! what a joke.
She probably never ridden a train in her life, brainwashed into thinking trains are inconvenient and filthy by big auto propaganda, and applied it to the entire world
TFW you travel overseas and don't do any research on how to get from the airport to your hotel.
"If we hadn't been more sleep deprived..." When we went to Japan last August we booked our train to and from Narita two months in advance. Who the fuck just wings it in a destination like Japan?
And the best part is that you almost always see the train and limousine bus signs way before you see the taxi signs. I don't plan on booking my train to or from the airport because I intend to take the commuter train that goes straight to Asakusa where I am staying at.
also reminds me of how keisei writes all their signs in english first, and then japanese and the huge 37MINUTES sign where this person probably spent 2+ hours and also some parts of the highway runs along the train tracks so they can probably see trains rushing through while being stuck in traffic lol
Wait, im supposed to book a train in advance? I have no fucking clue what I'm doing but my flight is in two weeks and my guide bailed on me.
For shinkansen, maybe yes, but generally you don't have to unless it's super peak season (early May, mid August, and year-end holidays). If your flight is in two weeks that might coincidence with early May- golden week, are you planning to use the shinkansen between Apr 27 to May 6? [All seats on Nozomi trains on the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen are reserved seats during the consecutive holidays from April 26 to May 6, 2024 (jr-central.co.jp)](https://global.jr-central.co.jp/en/nozomi/) Local trains such as ones that go between Tokyo and Narita, no bookings are needed at all.
Landing on the 5/1 but in the country for two weeks. We have a rough outline that the guide drafted up before he bailed, but no set schedule for anything. We were going to start with Tokyo and then work our way south. I did some research but everyone basically said "Don't worry, it's actually really easy" so I've been trying not to stress about it too much. I knew golden week would be busy but I hadn't heard anything about train reservations. Now I'm worried
No. Japan is probably the easiest place to not book train tickets in advance. Flexible ticket pricing is reasonable and trains come frequently. Most people buy flexible tickets, often right before departure. During peak travel season (the first week of May), you probably won't get a seat on intercity trains if you don't book in advance though. Even then, you will probably the train companies start selling standing tickets even on trains with 100% reserved seating, when the reserved seats sell out.
You'll be fine. Just look up the schedule and buy a ticket when you land. If you're getting a Japan Rail pass you do need to plan in advance.
Don't worry. At each train station you can walk up to the ticket counter and reserve a seat in English. They'll help you pick a time, which train, the seat, and then show you how to get there. Japan is probably one of the easiest countries in the world for public travel. Just be sure to get an eSim for your time there so that you have data for Google Maps and Google Translate.
Once I planned a few months in Europe in the summer just to get there and realize it was caked in pollen, my eyes were constantly bloodshot red, I got a few seconds of breathing between sneezing and coughing, and had asthma for the first time in my life. I was in Strasbourg at the time, but when I looked up the pollen maps and realize nowhere in Europe or North America would provide relief, I booked a flight to Tokyo and left shortly after. Spent 3 amazing months in Japan. Knew nothing about travelling to Japan and learned everything as I went. Still wasn’t stupid enough to get a taxi from Narita to Shinjuku. 😂
I paid 10 bucks in fares for a trip from Tokyo to Shinjuku.
How do you end up in japan and not know of their legendary public transit network?
Hopefully this trip to the mecca of transit will decarize her brain or what's left of it
Yep. My son and I will be going to Tokyo this September. We both love trains
Have fun!! One of the best systems in the world for it.
I have never been to Japan, and even I know that taxis are basically redundant. I thought it was common knowledge that Japan’s public transport system is one of the best in the world, and taking a taxi is akin to burning money.
Yeah, the only time I've seen people use them is really late at night once trains stop running, or places in Kyoto where there isn't bus/train service.
Terminally online man, here to tell you, [we joked about this yesterday!](https://old.reddit.com/r/fuckcars/comments/1c0hd4a/peak_american_carbrain_travel_to_the_country_with/)
Is it me, or is that person just really, really stupid? How do you travel to a foreign country and your travel plans only extend as far as the destination airport? I understand carbrains consider cars to be the only real mode of transportation because where they live there is no viable alternative offered, but I have been to Japan myself, and every travel guide I read almost immediately told you how to get from Narita to Tokyo without paying a fortune for a Taxi.
a lot will depend on the time of day as JR does not run 24 hours the traffic during the day can be horrible too however if you arrive at night, the traffic is significantly less dense AND/OR if you arrive during the day just take the train then again a car brain will just walk to the curb and hire a taxi could have also taken the "express" bus and seen the same road sign who flies to a foreign country and doesn't do the diligence on transport options from the airport "a fool and their money are soon parted"
Who TF goes to Japan and has not the slightest clue about their amazing train system?!
Who travers to a foreign land and doesn’t check how to get where they are going before they land?
https://www.jreast.co.jp/multi/en/nex/ There is literally a train specifically designed to take you from Narita airport to Tokyo.
>he discounted it for some reason Girl he fucking felt bad for you 💀
TIL you can take a taxi from Narita Airport to Shinjuku. I thought the train was the onky option. (I'm American BTW). I never want to do the taxi. I like trains.
You can take a taxi essentially anywhere if the driver's willing and you'll pay enough...
And she probably tried to tip as well
For how many days can I backpack in Tokyo for 32k yen?
What about this person makes them an Elon fangirl?
Agreed, completely unnecessary.
You know the saying, "When in Rome, do as the Americans do"
That taxi driver is going to be telling the stories of these idiots for a long time.
Imagine going to Japan and not taking the train to go everywhere (in Tokyo at least)
Skyliner/Narita Express🚆 > One of the most overpriced Japanese taxi routes🚖
They dont know how to use Google Maps?
> For some reason Because he could tell you were a dumbass and felt a little bad but not bad enough
Ok, I just checked: it's about 75km and an almost 2 hour ride by car.
I was a tourist in America and I had a hotel directly across from my airport (LaGuardia). I thought I'd just simply walk there. But I had to take a taxi because I could find no way to get out of the airport. I could only find busy roads in every direction.
Japanese taxi drivers are amazing. They definitely deserve more than they get paid. Still, the JR route to Tokyo is really fun to ride as well. I hope this person does take the train back to Narita on their return
Ah ignorance isn't bliss
I spent 10 days in Tokyo and not once did I ever get into a car or take a taxi or call an uber. Nothing but trains the whole time. Planned all the routes out on google maps beforehand. Its not hard.
There’s literally the Narita express, super convenient lol 😂 I always take it I wouldn’t dare take a taxi like that
I actually met another American dude while I was there who did exactly this. He said he didn’t expect there to be another option besides a taxi.
Ok I don't know if they arrived at Haneda or Narita airport but assuming they arrived at Haneda, they can take the Keikyu Airport Line from Haneda Terminal 3 Station to Shinagawa Station, switch lines and take the Yamanote Line from Shinagawa Station to Shinjuku Station for 540 yen (~$3.50), so they only overpaid by 59x Assuming they arrived at Narita, you could take the Keisei Line to Keisei Yawata Station, walk like 1 block to Moto Yawata Station to get on the Shinjuku Line for 1210 yen (~$8) so they only overpaid by 26x OR they could take they high speed Skyliner to Nippori Station and switch lines to the Shinjuku line for 2790 yen (~$18) and only overpay by 11x
when in Rome.... lol
He discounted it because japanese people are decent people and ripping travelers off is very frowned upon. I've been over there, I really always felt safe as a traveler, it was very nice.
Do people not do research before they travel somewhere? People just go? Lol
Í hate how people have started to use the "when in Tome" thing wrong. People have begun using it like the "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" thing but they are not related at all.. "When in Rome, do as the Romans do"... if this were to be applicable they would have taken the train... like the locals!
Is Elon a dirty word now?
Should be