JR rail network in Tokyo area
What you may have read in this blog
during the past four weeks were just my personal impressions and, by
no means, a full analysis. Hardly ever had I had the same feeling of
rushing through a country, covering so many metro and metro-like
systems in just one month. So while I have dealt with some in more
detail, some other posts are just fragments resulting from a hurried
visit. Still, I'm happy I have done this trip, and it has long been
overdue for a real metro enthusiast, but in the end it was Andrew
Phipps' serious proposal for a series of books about Japan which
eventually made me decide to finally visit this country myself. And
thanks to everybody who has been clicking into this blog and even
read bits or everything. I'm glad I managed to get all posts online
before being back home, as you can imagine there is still a lot of
other things waiting to be done (not least the annual tax
declaration).
So, here I am, finally sitting on board
a British Airways Boing 777 flying to London Heathrow with a delayed
departure of three hours and a missed connecting flight to Berlin....
who could imagine a better return to good old Europe after a month of
all trains running exactly on time? Time for a few general
conclusions after my trip and the country I have finally known. These
conclusions and travel tips may be helpful to those considering a
trip to Japan in the future.
Your humble author on the job in Sapporo
SAFETY
Travelling in Japan is probably safer
than in any other country in the world, I mean crime-wise. And
everybody had confirmed that to me before the trip, as I'm usually
worried about which places one can go without risking any problems as
an obvious foreigner. Doing metro exploration, I often get to areas
other visitors may not get to, and often I feel uncomfortable taking
pictures in an environment where I may not be supposed to be. But
these places do not exist in Japan, you never feel a strange
atmosphere in certain areas, and despite looking different and doing
a weird job, no one bothers you. Most people ignored me, some looked
a bit curious or astonished, but never really worried. Staff or the
few security people I saw also leave you alone. The last few days in
Tokyo, there were many announcements on the screens that police were
on increased alert and suddenly also more vigilants were visible, but
all with the typical Japanese calmness. So from the safety
point-of-view, it is a paradise. Even in Berlin, I have to watch out
when taking pictures in the U-Bahn stations, because there are a lot
of aggressive people around, and drug dealers who don't want you to
take pictures on their terrain, of course. Nothing like this occurs
in Japan, at least not in their Subways, neither is vandalism or
graffiti any issue.
TOILETS
What I had already mentioned in the
first blogs (later it became normal) is that Japan is a toilet
paradise. An issue one should not underestimate when male and over
50. I guess that there is a law that any station by default has to
have proper toilets, just like nowadays it has to be fully accessible
or requires a fire protection plan. In this respect in Europe we are
third world. In Berlin, I think about none out of 190 U-Bahn stations
has a toilet, and if it had one, it would be in a state you wouldn't
want to use it. So on a full day of rail exploration, you'd spend
several euros just on toilets you may find in major railway stations
or department stores, while in Japan they are all free, clean and
plenty.
RAIL TRAVEL BETWEEN CITIES
I had a 3-week JR Rail Pass for some
450 EUR and that's just fantastic. You have to buy it at home, well,
you order it from some online shop and you get a voucher which in
major railway stations in Japan can be exchanged for the real pass. I
did that in Fukuoka where I started my first intercity trip and used
it all the way up to Sapporo, which with normal tickets would have
cost more. But besides the intercity trips it is also good for all JR
S-Bahn-type services, as JR only distinguishes between conventional
lines (usually signed as "JR Line" at transfer points) and
"Shinkansen", the high-speed network. But with a JR Pass
you can enter both systems as often as you like, you just show your
pass to the person at the manned window next to the ticket gates and
walk through. The only restriction is that you can't use Nozomi and
Mizuho (I have never encountered the latter category anyway), which
are the fastest because they only stop in major cities. But the
Nozomis only operate on the Tokyo to Osaka line and maybe beyond,
where there are so many other trains to choose from, you may actually
find it more relaxed to travel on a Hikari or Sakura or whatever they
may be called. In fact, I never took a reserved seat (which you can
without paying any extra fare), just showed up and got into the
non-reserved cars without any problems (mostly cars 1-3), often they
were even half empty. They have plenty of legroom, a bit like U.S.
Amtrak trains, because they also turn the seats around so everybody
faces forward, which, of course, needs some room, so I could mostly
place my big bag next to me and still had place enough to get out of
my seat. Between Osaka and Tokyo it seems that the Shinkansen
headways are denser than typical Osaka Subway headways! As described
in the Kyoto post, sometimes it may even be worthwhile to catch a
Shinkansen on short trips as those Rapids which connect these cities
on the conventional network do get very crowded at times. Things are
a bit different on the Tohoku Shinkansen, north of Tokyo
(surprisingly the southern and northern networks are not properly
connected at Tokyo Station - maybe there is a track link - but all
trains terminate on stub tracks), this route is not served so
frequently and without realising I found myself on a train with all
cars "reserved", although there were plenty of free seats
and the conductor also assigned me a seat without any problems. From
Sendai to Shin-Hakodate I took a reservation, as there was a gap of
two hours between trains in the morning, and indeed, it was very full
and "All-reserved" anyway. After Aomori, however, it also
got half empty, on the stretch with had only opened a few weeks
earlier. This includes the 53 km Seikan underwater tunnel (well, the
undersea section is about half of that), which had already been in
service since 1988 by conventional trains, but was now converted to
dual-gauge, though no conventional passenger trains run through it
anymore. The speed is therefore reduced drastically to some 150 km,
but given the endless tunnels all along the Shinkansen routes, this
is just another tunnel.
Rather primitive new terminus at Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto for the new JR Hokkaido Shinkansen
Talking of which, I would not recommend
the Shinkansen to see the countryside. Especially on the southern
routes between Fukuoka and Osaka, you can hardly see anything because
of the large amount of tunnels, and many other sections have noise
barriers. The best views, if you're lucky, are actually between Kyoto
and Tokyo, the oldest stretch, which has fewer tunnels and even a Mt.
Fuji panorama ready for you (sit on the left side) if the weather is
nice. For whatever reason, the windows in the Shinkansen are rather
small, you really need a window seat to see anything at all. On the
other hand, it would require a lot of time if you want to cover the
same distances with conventional trains, including many transfers as
these trains only serve certain sections. Generally, the Shinkansen
is not faster than what we know in Europe in several countries now,
around 250 km/h, but as it is an isolated system, it keeps high
speeds even on approaches to most stations, whereas our ICE or the
French TGV mix with normal trains at least on their approaches to
major stations and thus slow down much earlier. They mostly have an
impressive length and even platform egde gates! Like other trains
too, they always stop very accurately and station platforms therefore
have clear signs indicating where which car is supposed to be.
Super Hokuto Express ready to depart from Hakodate
Except for the Super Hokuto Express
from Hakodate to Sapporo (no idea why it deserves the super and
express adjectives?) I haven't taken any of these regional trains, so
can't say much about them. That train was o.k., as o.k. as
diesel-powered trains can be. I actually had taken a reservation, but
then sat in a non-reserved car because I could sit on the right side
which is nicer along the long coastal route.
RAIL SYSTEMS
The mainline rail network is actually
divided into various regional JR companies, but for passenger
purposes all these different JR networks appear as a single network,
the same is true for the Shinkansen network. No matter whether a
train is operated by JR East or JR Central or whatever. In fact, the
regional subdivisions are not visible in passenger information, just
in Sapporo I heard something like "JR Hokkaido says thank you
for travelling with us" or so. There are, however, numerous
private railways, and especially in metropolitan areas also
"third-sector" companies of which you never understand who
is actually behind them, could be a city, a prefecture, a private
railway, even JR, but generally a mix of some of these. So, while on
the one hand you'll find a very dense rail network, you'll also find
that this is very fragmented and something like a European
"Verkehrsverbund" or joint fare system is a concept unknown
and probably uncomprehended in Japan. In Europe, these fare systems
were developed partly because something like the Japanese concept
would be considered unfair, as a passenger generally cannot choose
which rail line runs near his home and where he has to go for work.
So we came up with the idea of "journeys" which can imply
multiple means of transport and different operators within a certain
area. Of course, it is still not all fair, because most European
cities operate a zone-based system, but one could argue that nowadays
you can't choose how far you need to travel to your job, so only
proper global systems like that in Stockholm get close to "fair"
(up there, people riding just short distances don't find this so fair
because in the end many people pay a higher fare than what they might
have to pay in Japan). Anyway, the Japanese systems are extremely
fragmented in this respect, and if you do a bit of travel beyond the
daily trip to work and back home again, it gets quite expensive,
because even minimum fares of 150 Yen add up quickly. This
fragmentation reaches some ridiculous extremes, from the two separate
subway systems in Tokyo, to the silly 2-station "subway" in
Nagoya (Kami-iida Line" or third-sector company's extensions of
what are normal metro extensions in the rest of the world. Resulting
from this, day passes available in most places can only be used on a
rather limited network, or even just on a single line. There is no
city which offers something comparable to a London Travelcard or a
German Tageskarte (but don't get me wrong - I'm NOT saying that our
zonal systems are ideal, in fact they are the main reason why
potential occasional riders do NOT use public transport!).
So, while fares are a complete mess in
Japan, paying those fares is easier than anywhere else now. You just
have to get a so-called IC Card, add some value to it and you can use
the same card in virtually all cities all over Japan. In this
respect, we are decades behind Japan. This is especially ideal for
occasional riders, because you don't have to worry anymore about
fares and tickets. Just tap in and out as you travel and you should
be fine. For the intensive metro enthusiat-type of user, the limited
day passes are still recommended as they are cheaper in the end and
won't cause trouble in case of weird travel behaviour (always
remembering how I messed up my Oyster Card account in London,
resulting in lots of "unresolved journeys" - in Japan,
however, this wouldn't happen too often as the gates are everywhere,
so you're unlikely not to tap out accordingly). If you decide to get
paper tickets (of the tiny Paris RATP size), instead, and if you want
to keep them, exit through a manned gate and ask to have it stamped
(validated), otherwise the ticket gate will swallow single tickets.
And what's also very good, if you don't understand what fare you
should buy, just get the cheapest and pay the rest at the "fare
adjustment" machines before you exit at your destination. And in
case of problems, almost all metro entrances are staffed with very
friendly people willing to assist. I think just in Nagoya I saw a few
stations which had certain secondary entrances which were not manned,
but this is indicated at surface level.
Standardised ticket machines, here on Hiroshima's Astram Line
Ticket machines generally have an
"English" button, just on the Skyrail (the kind of cable
car near Hiroshima) and on the Yurikagaoka shuttle in North Chiba I
did not find any. Getting day tickets from the machines is usually no
hassle, but in some cities like Kyoto they were just available from
the ticket window. But as they are used to tourists they will
understand easily what you wish (although here you have to say
"Subway only" or "Subway and Bus, please").
Generally, the use of ticket machines is easier than in Europe,
because all across the country they are very similar, so once you
have used one you know how they all work.
LANGUAGE
The language is a problem to some
extent. On the one hand, the Japanese have made a strong effort to
sign almost anything in the transport environment in English, too,
and except for some weird word like "wickets" for ticket
barriers in Nagoya, it is generally correct English. I wish in
Germany we would provide the same service to our visitors. On the
other hand, spoken English is hard to find. Even at hotel receptions,
their knowledge is limited to a few sentences learned by heart, and
if you ask something you are never sure whether they understand you
properly as they will always respond with a smile and probably a
"Thank you" or "OK". Station staff generally does
not speak any English either, but if you ask for a "map"
they usually understand the word and try everything to let you go
with something map-like in your hands. The lack of sufficient English
knowledge is the more surprising to me as we grew up in the 1970s
listening to all sorts of British pop and rock music and so acquired
a certain love for that language. And we knew that Japan at that time
was a very important destination also for our rock stars and that
Japanese kids got crazy in concerts. In fact, I couldn't help having
a look at the Budokan which was then one of the major venues where
many of our heroes recorded their live albums.
MAPS
Availability of take-away maps very
much depends on the city, the best being Tokyo and Fukuoka with
plenty of special English material stocked for self-service at ticket
gates; a nice brochure with a take-out map, though the text in
Japanese only, can be found in most stations in Sapporo; all other
cities were rather disappointing. Upon asking you may be given an A4
colour print (Osaka), a pathetic lovely photocopy in b/w in Yokohama,
or nothing at all in other cities. I found a few large bus maps which
include Subways, too. So it is not exactly a map collector's
paradise, but my suitcase got heavy enough with the items I did
collect along the way for myself and some co-collectors.
PRICES ETC.
The lack of fluent verbal conversation
does not, however, result in a risk of being ripped off when buying
things. In fact, they are very correct and always say aloud "I
take 10,000 Yen" or so in Japanese (sometimes they do it in
English, so that's how I know). and count your change for you very
accurately.
This brings us to general price levels:
I would say, overall they are similar to those in Germany, which
means visiting Japan must be quite cheap for British, Swiss or
Skandinavian people. Many things are actually cheaper, like a bottle
of Coca Cola from the numerous vending machines on the streets just
costs 160 Yen (1.30 EUR). Many of the dishes advertised in full
colour and 3D in restaurant windows are below 1000 Yen.
Typical Japanese restaurant window
Hotels in the medium category have a
good standard, in fact they are so standardised that rooms are almost
identical. In the 70 EUR price segment you generally get a better
equipped hotel than in Germany, though without breakfast. Useless to
say that for the same room in London you would probably pay 200 EUR.
Maybe Tokyo and Osaka are slightly more expensive but usually there
is a big choice of similar hotels around railway stations, I just
wouldn't go back to the one I had in Hiroshima (Ark Hotel; quality
maybe worse due to important tourism) and Nagoya (Toyoko Inn),
although they were still much better than what I had for 120 EUR in
London Earl's Court last year! For me, who prefers firm beds, the
quality of the beds was very good compared to many hotels around the
world. Free WiFi works perfectly in all hotels. With a 24-hour
convencience store around everywhere you can always get some easy
food or make your own breakfast if you (like me) don't fancy Japanese
breakfast buffets with their (for us) rather unusual and often
unidentifyable delicacies. Rooms always have kettles, though coffee
and tea supply is often limited. And major cities also offer quite a
few Starbucks or other coffee shops, and French-style bakeries are
also quite popular. For those who don't care about hotels, there are
many cheaper options too, like the Japanese box hotels, but I didn't
try those.
Railway stations and even most metro
stations have lockers, for a big suitcase they are 600-700 Yen (5-6
EUR) a day. Normally there seem to be plenty, but in Nagoya I had
difficulties finding one as holiday season had just started. Anyone
planning a trip in spring should take this into account: The first
week of May is Golden Week in Japan, many people are on holiday. This
may be good for big cities as overcrowding on urban trains may be
less of a problem, but certain tourist destinations may get packed
instead. If you go for cherry blossom, forget it, the chances to be
in the right place in the right moment are low, you'd have to be in
the same place over a longer period, or book last minute when it is
clearly predictable how the season will go in that year. And then, I
was told, the best places can get quite expensive suddenly. But
still, spring and autumn are the best times to visit, and Tokyo was
quite summer-like in early May, which was very nice!
Final view from Sapporo's TV Tower looking west along Odori
Resulting from this trip, our first book will be available from late June 2016: