Yesterday, I talked about Yamanote Line. Today, I would like to talk about subways in Tokyo. If you know Yamanote Line and subways, you can go to almost anywhere in central Tokyo.
When you look at the subway map of Tokyo, most people are overwhelmed. But don’t worry.
In Tokyo, there are 13 subway lines operated by two company. One is Tokyo Metro and the other is TOEI (Tokyo Metropolitan)
．Tokyo Metro has 9 lines: Ginza Line (G), Marunouchi LIne (M), Hibiya Line (H), Tozai Line (T), Chiyoda Line (C), Yurakucho Line (Y), Hanzomon Line (Z), Namboku Line (N) and Fukutoshin Line (F).
・Toei has 4 lines: Asakusa Line (A), Mita Line (I), Shinjuku Line (S), Oedo Line (E)
Each Line is color coded and each station is numbered. So if you know the color, line symbol letter and station number, you don’t have to remember the whole name. It is not too difficult.
When you look at the map of Tokyo subway route, some station has many station numbers. That’s where you can transfer (such as Otemachi and Ginza). There are a couple of station that are connected (such as Yurakucho and Hibiya). You can also transfer there.
You don’t have to worry about this if you have IC transportation card or mobile suica but if you buy tickets, Tokyo Metro and Toei have different fare systems. As long as you stay with one company, it is crelatively cheap. If you transfer from one company to the other, it will be more costly.
There are one day tickets in subways. If you ride only on Tokyo Metro, you can buy 1-Day Open Ticket in vending machine for 600 yen. If you ride more than 3-4 times, it would be cheaper. If you ride only Toei Line, they have TOEI 1 Day Pass (including Toei bus) which costs 700 yen. If you want to ride both Tokyo Metro and Toei subways, they have Tokyo Subway Ticket for: 24 hours : ¥800 /48 hours : ¥1,200 /72 hours : ¥1,500 (Note: hours starting from first use) Purchase before you arrive in Japan on website or purchase in Tokyo (need to show visa on your passport when you purchase in Tokyo)
Please refer to “How to ride trains in Japan” also.
One thing that is cofusing is that sometimes, some subway line operate through to other JR, private lines or subway lines. (It is confusing to Japanese as well, if you are not used to the line.) For example, Fukutosohin Line is connected with multiple private lines: Tokyo lines, Seibu Lines and Tobu lines. So things like this can happen: you get on Tokyu line and that continue from Shibuya as Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin line and finally, it will be Tobu line. But as long as you are in central area, it is not a big problem because this happens outside of Yamanote line area.
Now you can get around Tokyo!
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