Sometimes people ask me about getting the train in Tokyo
It's often something they're a bit nervous about
Or people are worried about getting lost
The train map does look like a plate of spaghetti
So it does look really confusing
But it really isn't that bad
So today I'm going to take you with me as I go around Tokyo
Show you the route to getting on the trains
And how to work out which route to take
So first we're going from where we're staying in Shinjuku
Across the city
To Ueno
Which is on the east side
We're on the west side at the moment
This app is Rail Maps Lite
Here's where we are in Shinjuku
We're going to take this yellow line
Which is the Chuo Sobu Line
Across to Akihabara
Then we've got to change trains
And take the JR Yamanote Line
In fact there's quite a lot of lines
That go up to Ueno
So the metro map does look confusing
Especially if you're not familiar with it
But the lines are all colour-coded
So just see which ones go from the station where you are
And which one goes closest to where you want to go
Quite often you'll need to change lines
To get to your final destination
If you want to know more about tickets and things
I've made another video
Called Getting Around Tokyo
That's on my channel
And that explains a lot of other things
Today I'm just going to take you with me
And show you how I get from A to B
Where to look for all the signs
And hopefully show you it's not as scary as you might think
I'm going to be using my Suica card
Which I've got in my pass-holder here
That's just like an Oyster card in London
I topped it up with about 5000 yen
At the start of my trip
It's got a few thousand left on it
I'll be scanning in and out
As I go through the ticket barriers
And that's the easiest way to pay for your trains
We're just inside Shinjuku Station
We're looking for the Chuo Sobu line
We're going to Ueno
The lines with the coloured circles
Are Tokyo Metro lines
And the other lines up there
Are operated by different rail companies
I can't see the Chuo Sobu line at the moment
That's because it's a JR Line
The name of the line is the JR Chuo Sobu line
So we need to go towards the JR section of the station
JR stands for Japan Railways
And that's going to be down here
There's signs saying continue straight
For the JR lines
We'll go for the central entrance
And I'm keeping an eye on all these signs on the ceiling
As you can see, all the signs you need are in English
As well as Japanese
You'll often find lockers like these ones at stations
If you need to store your things while you're out
This here is the ticket office
It's called the Midori no Madoguchi
Or green window
If you need to make shinkansen reservations
This is where you need to go
Now Shinjuku's the busiest station in the world
This isn't rush hour or anything
But the major stations are pretty big
So leave yourself plenty of time
Here we are at the ticket barriers
For the JR section of the station
And I just need to scan in with my Suica card
Chuo Line
Did you say Chuo Sobu?
It's yellow
Ah there it is over there
Chuo Sobu line, that's the one we want to take
Along the top it's got all the other JR lines
Shonan Shinjuku line
Saikyo Line
All the lines
It's showing us both directions here
So you need to take a look at the map
And see which areas are in the direction you want to go
Now I don't recognise some of these places
But I know that Nakano is in west Tokyo
I know that's not the direction we want to go
So I'm going for this way
Towards Sendagaya & Chiba
These signs tell you which platform to go to
They call them tracks in Japan
Instead of platforms
The lines are colour-coded
JR Yamanote line's always green
That's a line you'll probably take quite a lot
And the Chuo Sobu line is yellow
So that makes it easier to spot
Platform 13 & 16
Here's another sign with the platforms
And the colour coding's the same colours you'll see
On the map and in the app I was looking at as well
13 and 16...
Is this way
You can see the numbers for the platforms
Are really big on the left there
13
Chuo Sobu line
For Suidobashi, Akihabara & Chiba
And Akihabara's where we're going
Let's go up the stairs to the platform
*Jingle*
Go go go!
The displays on the train
GIve you quite a lot of information
Sometimes they even tell you the weather
They alternate between Japanese & English
*Jingle*
Here we are: Akihabara Station
We're on the platform at Akihabara
Next we want to take the JR Yamanote line
North to Ueno
Now there are several lines
That go between Akihabara & Ueno
A lot of the train lines in Tokyo are operated by different companies
It tends to be cheaper
If you stick with one company
When you can
So that's why I've chosen the JR Yamanote line
Because it's also a JR line
There's a lot of signs on the platform
But over there
I can see a sign to the JR Yamanote line
I can see the little green stripe
And green's always the colour for the Yamanote line
There's a lot of stairs here
But there are escalators & lifts
In most cases
If you look for them
There we are, the Yamanote line
On platform 3
Ok slight error!
That was going in the wrong direction
So I'm just going back up the stairs again
To look for another sign
Here's another green sign for the Yamanote line
This one says for Ueno & Ikebukuro
Which is definitely the direction we want
Here we are
Going in the right direction this time!
And here we are at Ueno
We're on the platform right now
When you want to go out
Look for the yellow signs
Because they're the signs for the exits
Often stations have a lot of different exits
Sometimes they're like: North, South, East, West
And sometimes they have the names
Of tourist attractions
Or major things in the area
Like the name of a mall
Or somewhere you might want to go and see
There's a sign here with a list of all the exits
If you're not sure which one to go for
Just go out anywhere
And look on Google Maps when you get to ground level
Here's some signs to exits
In yellow
And a sign for the Giant Panda waiting place!
If that happens to be what you're looking for!
We're all done in Ueno now
So next we're going to Kappabashi
Which is Kitchen Town
Where there's a lot of kitchen shops
And there's a couple of things we're hunting for
So we're going from Ueno Station
To Tawaramachi Station
This is going to be a ride on the Tokyo Metro
Which is the underground system
Going on the Ginza line
It's just a couple of stops
This has happened to me before
It's because we scanned in
And didn't go on a train
We just wanted to go through the station
So I'm going to go to the man
At the window here
And tell him what happened
Tokyo Metro - and we're heading for the Ginza Line
So I'm going to look out for signs in this orange-yellow colour
Ah it tells yo how to get to the SkyTree
Which you can see in the distance from here
There's lots of tunnels down here
What's this? Ginza line archive
Scratch tiles
These were used on the wall of Ueno Station
When the subway commenced operation
There you go: history
Trying to find the yellow/orange Ginza Line
35m
Sometimes you can end up walking a really long way in these tunnels!
Here we are at the ticket barriers
I'm going to use my Suica card
You can use your Suica card on any trains in Tokyo
For Ginza and Shibuya
That's not the right way
So the other way...
Here we are!
Ginza line for Tawaramachi & Asakusa
That's the way we're going
It's very organised
On trains in Japan
They've got lines on the floor
To show you where to wait
So you're not in the way when people come off the train
And the train always stops in the exact same place
Again, when you get there
Follow the yellow signs to the exits
And scan your Suica card
As you go through the ticket barriers
So I hope you found that useful
You might also like my other videos
Getting Lost in Japan
And How to Get Around Tokyo
There's lots more on my channel
And new Japan videos every Thursday
See you then!