Getting Around
Tokyo to Kyoto: Shinkansen, Night Bus or Plane?
The Shinkansen is the right answer for almost everyone: 2 hours 15 minutes, about 14,000 JPY, no check-in. Here is what the…
Category: Getting Around
新幹線・在来線・地下鉄・バス・ICカードなど公共交通の使い方。
Getting Around
When Things Go Wrong: Missed Trains, Lost Tickets and the Last Train
You will miss a connection, feed the wrong ticket into a gate, or look up at 11:40pm and realise the last train…
Getting Around
Luggage in Japan: Coin Lockers, Takkyubin and Oversized Baggage Rules
Japanese trains were not built for suitcases, so Japan moves the suitcase separately. How luggage forwarding works, what the 160cm rule means,…
Getting Around
Renting a Car in Japan: Licence, Tolls, ETC and Parking
The permit you must get before leaving home, why an ETC card matters more than the car, and the parts of Japan…
Getting Around
Domestic Flights: When Flying Beats the Shinkansen
The train wins as far as Hiroshima. Past that, flying is faster and often cheaper — especially with the foreign-visitor fares that…
Getting Around
Highway Buses: The Cheapest Way Between Japanese Cities
Tokyo to Osaka overnight for the price of a decent lunch. How Japanese highway buses work, which seat class is worth paying…
Getting Around
Airport to City: Narita, Haneda, Kansai, Chubu, Fukuoka, New Chitose
Every major Japanese airport has at least two rail options at very different prices. Which to take from each one, what it…
Getting Around
Kansai Transport: Which Pass for Which Trip
Kyoto is a bus city, Osaka is a subway city, and the fastest train between them is not the one you would…
Getting Around
Tokyo Trains Explained: JR, Metro, Toei and the Private Lines
Four operators, thirty-odd lines and the world's busiest station. You only need six lines to see Tokyo — here they are, plus…
Getting Around
How to Read a Japanese Train Timetable, Sign and Platform
Station codes, colour bars, the four kinds of train that stop at different stations, and the one column of a timetable that…