I consider myself an above-average public transit user. Although I don’t personally live in a city that has a subway system (thanks Great Depression!), I have traveled on public transit and subways a lot of times. I took a bus in Morocco to avoid cheating taxi drivers. I’ve lost a kid on the subway in Barcelona. I have even written articles on this site about things like detailed steps on how to take public transportation from Manhattan to Newark Airport that have helped countless travelers (if the comments are to be believed).
But after spending a few days in Tokyo in 2023 – I am not ashamed to admit that… I am a bit confused.
Tokyo’s Subway System
Here’s a look at Tokyo’s subway system map, downloaded from the official site.
As you can see, the Tokyo subway / rail / public transit system is quite large. That’s not a problem for me at least – I am well-versed in reading the maps, and it’s not a problem for me to figure out where we are, and how to get where we need to be. Plus, Google Maps is super helpful in this regard as well.
My Journeys On The Tokyo Subway System
We took the Tokyo subway on a number of journeys during our few days in Tokyo
- From Narita Airport to the Comfort Hotel Tokyo Kiyosumi Shirakawa hotel (right next to the Kiyosumi-Shirokawa metro stop on the purple line)
- From our hotel to the Monkey Kart Tokyo / Mario Kart Tokyo Street Karting stop (on the Shinjuku / green line at the Sasazuka stop)
- From Monkey Kart Tokyo to the large Shinjuku (EDIT: Shinagawa) station, where we boarded our Tokyo to Osaka Shinkansen Bullet Train
- A few days later (after our time at Universal Studios Japan / Super Nintendo World), as part of our 37 hour day of travel, we took the subway system from Haneda Airport back over to Narita Airport
3 Things That Confuse Me About The Tokyo Subway System
Okay, so like I said, I thought that I was pretty knowledgeable about how to travel the Subway System, but here are 3 things that I still don’t understand about Tokyo’s subway:
How Much Rides Cost
The first thing is trying to figure out how much a particular ride is going to cost. I believe that Tokyo operates under the model where rides cost a different amount, depending on where you enter and exit the system. This is similar to the Washington DC subway, and in contrast to the New York City subway, where all rides cost the same flat amount. I was never really sure how much a ride was going to cost – we just scanned our Pasmo card and hoped there was enough on it to cover the ride. This led to a nearly-awkward moment at the end of my journey where we were JPY1000 short of being able to exit the subway system at the airport, and we didn’t have any yen left to refill our card. Thankfully Google Maps was again super helpful here as it would usually tell us, but it would also give different price amounts for a trip, depending on which lines you took.
Multiple Systems?
One thing that confused me at the time that I think I have figured out since is that there are multiple different lines. There is the Tokyo Metro as well as the Toei Subway system (and maybe some Japan Rail as well?). All of the lines are shown on the Tokyo subway map, and they are all connected as part of the large station complexes, but they’re not the same. I think that is probably related to my confusion about costs. There were a few times on my journey where I think that I swapped between different systems and didn’t realize I was doing so (driving up the costs)
Trains That Magically Switch Lines
Another thing that confused me was that several times, Google Maps would say something like “switch to the ABC line (stay on the same car)”. And sure enough, we would stay on our same subway car, but all of a sudden the in-car screens would switch colors and we were on a totally different line. In Osaka, we had a situation where based on what car you were in, at a certain station the train itself would split and you’d go to two different locations. Again, we just followed Google Maps and it all worked out, but I’m still not quite sure how that worked.
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The Bottom Line
I don’t know – maybe it’s just me. Like I said, I feel like I have quite a bit of experience with public transportation and subways specifically, but I definitely left Tokyo feeling a bit confused about what was going on. It was mostly just “scan my PASMO card and pray”, and thank goodness for Google Maps transit directions!
Now it’s your turn – have you ridden the Tokyo subway system? Are you just as confused as I am? Or have you gotten it all figured out?
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
it is just you.
Thank you for your helpful comment!
It is definitely not just you! I have been here for a week traveling on the JR pass, and I am still struggling to figure out the system. Pretty sure I’m going to opt for an Uber today to avoid the frustration!
Damn I don’t understand how to buy a ticket at the terminal. I’ve been everywhere in the world but this one is beyond me, and the ticket staff hasn’t been helpful.
I’m a native New Yorker. I found the Tokyo subway so much more user friendly than NYC.
It really is just you.
Thank you for your helpful comment!
Tokyo has one of the most sophisticated and complicated public transportation in the world. Sophisticated because if you know how to use it you can get to most places really easily. Complicated because it has multiple systems in one place. Largely speaking, it has four systems:
1. Tokyo metro (cheapest and part private I think, but serves only the center of Tokyo),
2. toei (newer metro line, still managed by the city, a bit more expensive as they are relatively new and the government tries to recover some of the costs by charging higher fares) still serves the central area and I think eventually they will be integrated to the metro when some costs are recovered
3. JR or Japan railways, this is a part of the national rail services, longer distance routes, serves the suburbs or Tokyo faster (with less stops and longer distance between stops). You may go anywhere in Japan with JR once you enter there and their national fare system applies.
4. Shitetsu, or private lines. These are private companies manage lines in and out of Tokyo, mostly serving suburbs where JR doesn’t serve but cheaper than JR.
They all have their own fare system, that’s why it is hard to calculate the total and it changes depending on which lines you use on the way. If you wanna save, use private lines and metro because toei and JR are more expensive. However, with the integration of the touch card payment system, now people don’t have to buy tickets when they switch between these 4 systems. Before the integration one had to buy tickets each time so people know how much each part would cost. Now you don’t have to but you can still get out and check the fares at each station you change to a different system. Each system shows the fares within its own system.
Sometimes metro lines change into private lines as they exit the central Tokyo area, maybe that is why you are confused but again it’s very convenient if you know these because you don’t have to change even though on the map you are changing into a different system… Finally, a useful hack: each metro and toei station shows a map of other stations and shows which car is the best for transit for the coming stations etc.
I haven’t been to Tokyo since 2019 but happy to report if some changes are there when I go there in August. As complicated as it is, they are many ways to save if you know the system. For example, if I am going to somewhere where JR serves, I take the airport bus to Tokyo station and take jr line, which is fast and cheap. Or if I need to go to private line or east Tokyo or north, I take the private line from Narita, which goes to nippori faster and cheaper etc.
Just saying, the Shinkansen doesn’t leave from Shinjuku. It uses the Tokyo and Shinagawa stations. If you think you got on the Shinkansen at Shinjuku you are even more confused than you thought! And yes, not knowing how much it might cost can be problematic, but the old system where you had to buy a new ticket at each transfer was truly hellish. Especially if the map in the station was only in kanji, as it often was back in the old days. Before I knew Japanese I depended on the kindness of strangers more often than I can count. Luckily, many kind people in Japan!
Yes – you are right. It’s been a month or so, so I didn’t remember the name of the station. We got the Shinkansen at Shinagawa station.
The reason you are “confused” is probably because you are trying to basically memorize all of the individual steps you may have to take to get from one place to another. You just need to know your closest metro stations from your current location and your destination, and that’s all you need to know. You use your IC cards (or their equivalents) to ride it, and you don’t really need to buy individual tickets, unless you REALLY want to do so. Most places (not all, bu most) places in Tokyo can be reached easily by metro, and there’s not much of a need to take the JR line, unless you really want to. If you want to really “understand” the Tokyo metro system, just try to really understand each of the separate lines and then start learning the main interchange stations.
The Tokyo subway is great, and a little research could fix your issues.
Similar to New York and London the subway lines were built by different companies. In Tokyo they have two subway companies but to the user it doesn’t really make much of a difference.
Both New York and London have passenger rail networks that you can use to take you around the city – lirr/metro north in NY and overground in London. That’s the equivalent of the JR lines.
The part that is confusing is when you leave Tokyo proper. Haneda airport is outside of Tokyo. Unlike NY where the subway ends where the city ends, Tokyo has thru trains that have different names when they leave Tokyo. So you can take a subway (separate from the monorail) directly to Haneda airport the line switches names once it leaves Tokyo. This complicates the fare as you are travelling on different systems.
There are also occasional limited express trains that run through the subway. There are express trains that take you to hakone that skip stops while in the subway, and have sleek trains that don’t look like a subway train at all.
Japan’s public transit system is beyond my comprehension. I admire it tremendously when we took it in Osaka and Tokyo. We took a bullet train from Osaka to Tokyo and experienced the thrill of the lifetime. It is more complicated to use in Osaka as it involves private lines outside Osaka that requires separate tickets from the train stations. Suica card is not available in Osaka. When you use separate tickets for private lines, the cards are flimsy that if you bend it it is unusable and the doors won’t open when you slide the tickets in. The last station you leave when buying separate tickets, you won’t get them back. You can check the balance of the card after each exit by checking the ticket machine where you buy it or the balance will quickly display on the screen where you slide the ticket in. We took the limo bus from the hotel in Tokyo to the airport because it is simple and express. No transfer needed.
So here is the synopsis of a somewhat typical two-train-change ride in and around Tokyo/Yokohama.
Step 1: walk to local train/subway station – up to 15 minutes
Step 2: ride train to 1st connecting station – 12 stops, 20 minutes
Step 3: connect at 1st station – walk, walk, walk, through mall, past Takashimaya, down, up, around, up again, down the long hall, get lost, find next platform – 20 minutes
Step 4: ride 2nd train to 2nd connecting station – 4 stops, 15 minutes
Step 5: connect at 2nd station – walk, walk, walk, go up, down, walk some more down long halls, through the food court, past Takashimaya, up some more, down again, find correct platform – 25 minutes this time
Step 6: ride last train – 6 stops 15 minutes
Step 7: find your way out of the last station looking for the correct exit – 10 minutes and walk another 15 to your destination. Hope to god it’s not raining.
All in all, awful. One reason why when I could I simply drove my car into Tokyo despite the total inconvenience of that exercise including stupid tolls and parking.
Google Maps is your friend here. Pasmo and Suica are a must-have for tourists (they also work at many stores like 7-11), buy them at the arrival area at the airport. Don’t look at the subway maps if you can avoid them, they are more confusing than they need to be. Don’t be afraid to ask locals but younger people are more likely to know English or other non-Japanese languages. Don’t be afraid to pony up big bucks for a taxi when hauling a lot of luggage or for short distances to save time.
Why is an article from June 2023 showing up on the front page of boardingarea in March 2024?
It’s misleading to boardingarea readers
I think you find confusing because you are comparing Tokyo system with the public transit system in North America or Europe which is completely different system.
In Tokyo all public transits are privately owned except Toei lines. This means they compete to each other. Hence, you end up having maps and even facilities not shared between lines. Just like United Airlines do not include routes that operated by American Airlines. Before PASMO and SUICA was introduced 20 years ago, people had to buy tickets for each lines. This competition expanded the transit system in Tokyo because they compete each other.
Like said by many, just use Google Map which even tell you the fastest and cheapest. No point of making comparison to the system you are familiar with which is completely based on different systems and economics run behind…..