Trains are a part of life in Japan. In the big cities you take the subway trains, to get between towns you take the long distance express trains called ‘Shinkansens’. I’m sure most everyone had heard about Japan’s bullet trains.

The train times are always efficient and precise. If the train is set to leave at 4:49pm then it is highly likely that they will leave exactly at that time. Only one train I was on was held for maybe 4 minutes longer to allow an arriving train of passengers to make their connection. Because of the precise timing, the trains aren’t usually in a station more than 2 to 3 minutes. People line up at defined markings for where the cars will stop and as the doors open; passengers both disembark and embark very quickly. There are platform attendants along the trains that signal when all is clear and the train heads off again.

Platforms are very helpful in the information they give to get you to your next train. Digital reader boards abound to tell you which track the train is leaving from if you know either a destination or a train number. One problem in busy stations is that trains are arriving and leaving so quickly that only a few can be listed at a time on the board. So you may not be able to easily see your trains info until the last few minutes. However trains for particular directions are always from the same tracks so there should be permanent information showing you which track the trains bound for your destination are at.

Just don’t mess up and get on the wrong one. I am used to the more slow turn around times of flying, my first try at riding a shinkansen was a failure. I correctly found the right track and the board clearly listed my train as leaving the station in about 5 minutes; so I came up the stairs, saw others waiting in line to get on a train, and followed suit. Once on the train, I went for my seat and found someone already in it… puzzled, I took another look at my ticket. Yep, right seat and car numbers. The train began to glide out of the station and I looked at my watch… it was 4 minutes before it was supposed to leave. This is when it dawned on me that I was on the wrong train! Oh boy! Now what do I do? I didn’t panic as I was sure I could always just get off at the next stop and go back, but was there a possibility of hopping off and catching the right one at the next stop? There happened to be a nice man standing with his bicycle by the door and near a time schedule of all the trains. He spoke enough English to help me figure out there was no way I was going to make my connection for the night train to Sapporo. I could get closer and then find a train in the morning, but I had my heart set on the night train, so jumped off at the next stop and went back to Tokyo for the night.

Shinkansens are very fast and run around 200 mph. Some stop at multiple terminals, and express trains can skip quite a few or even only have a few stops. Comparing the pricing to flying it doesn’t seem like a great deal, as you can get cheaper flights to many of the bigger cities. But when you factor in the time to get to the airport and the waiting time, then the efficiency of the trains become apparent. You’re usually starting and ending right in the middle of the city, and there is practically no waiting.

For foreign visitors to Japan, there is an option to purchase a Japan Rail Pass (JR Pass) for either 1, 2, or 3 weeks. At first you might question if the pricing is really such a deal for these tickets, but after seeing the prices for individual tickets I am convinced that they are well worth it. Even if you only do a short trip like Tokyo -> Osaka and back you will save money. But if you want to see most of the country you will save a $1000 or more by buying a one or two week pass.

As as example, I bought a one week pass for about $290 and train hopped around Japan to see some of the sights. You can see the routes I took and the costs for each route. I saved easily over $1200 by having the pass.

Route	Time	Cost	Dist.
Tokyo -> Nagano	87 min	7,970 yen	222.4 km
Nagano -> Sapporo	658 min	26,660 yen	1368.8 km
(aborted after I got on the wrong Shinkansen and there was no way to finish the trip)
Utsunomiya -> Tokyo	131 min	1,890 yen	109.5 km
Tokyo -> Himeji	190 min	15,510 yen	644.3 km
Himeji -> Okayama	30 min	3,640 yen	88.6 km
Okayama -> Hiroshima	41 min	5,860 yen	161.3 km
Hiroshima -> Kanazawa	255 min	15,770 yen	624.9 km
Kanazawa -> Sapporo	953 min	29,650 yen	1600.2 km
(time to try again )
Sapporo -> Tokyo	586 min	22,680 yen	1207.0 km
Tokyo -> Osaka	171 min	14,050 yen	556.4 km
========= Totals =========
		143,680 yen ($1528 US)

A great site for finding the right way to get places within the city or routes to take and when they go is http://www.jorudan.co.jp/english/ I used it a ton and it was very helpful during all of my travels.

Making reservations is as easy as walking into the Ticket office and telling them the city you want to go to. With the JR Pass, you don’t have to make a reservation and can just jump onto the unreserved cars, but it is also both more full so you may not get a seat, and with tickets you get an exact plan of the trains you are taking and what times they leave etc. I found having tickets enormously helpful both for my own finding of the right train, but also when asking for help you can just show someone the ticket so they can direct you. The reserved seats cost more to the general public so they are often less crowded and I rarely had someone sitting next to me, but for a JR pass holder it just seems to make the most sense for the long journeys.

I know I’ll miss the the trains when I go home. They really make getting around easy and convenient. Back in Spokane, we barely even have bus service!

Gallery

Popularity: 2%