Getting Around Tokyo: Subway, JR Lines, IC Cards and Passes

Tokyo’s network is run by many companies, but visitors only need to recognise four groups. JR East runs the above-ground commuter lines, including the Yamanote loop (30 stations, 34.5 km, one lap in about an hour, trains every 2 to 4 minutes). Key stops in clockwise order from Tokyo Station: Akihabara, Ueno, Nippori (Skyliner transfer), Ikebukuro, Shinjuku, Harajuku, Shibuya, Ebisu, Shinagawa, Hamamatsucho (Monorail), Yurakucho (for Ginza). Three other JR lines matter: the orange Chuo Rapid cuts straight across the loop from Tokyo to Shinjuku in 14 minutes and continues to Nakano, Kichijoji, Mitaka (for the Ghibli Museum) and Mount Takao; the blue Keihin-Tohoku runs parallel to the loop’s east side and on to Yokohama; and the yellow Chuo-Sobu Local serves Akihabara, Ryogoku (sumo) and Kinshicho.

Tokyo Metro operates nine subway lines, each with a colour and a letter. The ones tourists ride most are the Ginza Line (orange, G: Asakusa, Ueno, Ginza, Omotesando, Shibuya), the Marunouchi Line (red, M: Ikebukuro, Tokyo Station, Ginza, Shinjuku), the Hibiya Line (silver, H: Ueno, Akihabara, Tsukiji, Ginza, Roppongi, Ebisu, Nakameguro), the Chiyoda Line (green, C: Nezu, Omotesando, Meiji-jingumae for the Meiji Shrine) and the Fukutoshin Line (brown, F: Ikebukuro, Shinjuku-sanchome, Shibuya). Toei, the metropolitan government’s company, runs four more: the Asakusa Line (pink, A: through trains to both airports), the Oedo Line (magenta, E: Roppongi, Tsukishima, Ryogoku, Tochomae for the free observation decks), the Shinjuku Line and the Mita Line. Toei also runs the city buses and the Tokyo Sakura Tram in the north.

Everything else is a private railway radiating out from a Yamanote station: Odakyu from Shinjuku to Hakone, Keio from Shinjuku to Takao, Tobu from Asakusa to Nikko, Tokyu from Shibuya to Yokohama, Seibu from Ikebukuro, Keisei to Narita and Keikyu to Haneda. Two more are useful inside the city: the driverless Yurikamome from Shimbashi over the Rainbow Bridge to Odaiba and Toyosu (330 to 390 yen, a one-day ticket is 820 yen), and the Rinkai Line from Osaki to Tokyo Teleport (Odaiba) and Shin-Kiba. Many subway lines run through onto private tracks at their ends, so a Fukutoshin train from Shibuya may be heading for Yokohama: check the destination, not just the line.

Fares are by distance and by operator. After JR East’s March 2026 revision, the shortest JR hop costs 160 yen and Tokyo to Shinjuku on the Chuo Rapid is 260 yen. Tokyo Metro charges 180 to 330 yen, Toei 180 to 430 yen. The catch is that each company charges its own fare, so changing from JR to the Metro, or from the Metro to Toei, means paying two base fares. A Metro-to-Toei journey gets a 70-yen discount automatically; JR-to-subway gets nothing. A trip that is 250 yen on a single line can cost 400 yen with one change of operator, which is why the route a journey planner shows as “fastest” is not always the one it shows as “cheapest”.

You rarely need the fare charts. With an IC card you tap in, tap out, and the exact fare (rounded to the yen, which makes IC fares 1 to 9 yen cheaper than paper tickets in central Tokyo) is deducted. If you do buy a paper ticket, look at the map above the machines, find your destination’s price, and buy that amount; if you under-pay, the yellow fare adjustment machines by the exit gates sort it out with no penalty. Keep paper tickets, as the exit gate swallows them. Children aged 6 to 11 pay half; under 6 travel free with an adult.

An IC card is the single most useful thing you can buy in Tokyo. Suica (JR East) and Pasmo (everyone else) are interchangeable, and both work on every train, subway, monorail and bus in Greater Tokyo, in Kyoto, Osaka and most other big cities, at vending machines, coin lockers, convenience stores and many restaurants. Buy one at any ticket machine that shows the card’s logo: 500 yen refundable deposit plus whatever you load (1,000 to 10,000 yen at a time, 20,000 yen maximum balance). Regular card sales were suspended during the 2023 to 2025 chip shortage but resumed in 2025; expect normal availability now. Top up with cash at any station machine or at a convenience store till (say “charge”); machines do not accept foreign credit cards.

Short-stay options: the Welcome Suica (no deposit, valid 28 days, no refund of leftover balance) is sold at Narita, Haneda and a few central JR stations, and Keisei and Keikyu sell a tourist Pasmo Passport at the airports. For most people the best choice is a digital card. On an iPhone, open Wallet, tap +, choose Transit Card, then Suica or Pasmo, and load it with Apple Pay in seconds; you then tap the phone itself at the gates, even with a dead battery via Express Transit. JR East also has a Welcome Suica Mobile app for iPhone, valid 180 days. Android is the weak spot: Mobile Suica needs a Japanese-market phone with Osaifu-Keitai, so Android users should buy a physical card. To get your 500 yen deposit back, return the card to a JR East counter (Suica) or a Pasmo operator (Pasmo) before you leave; a 220-yen handling fee comes off any remaining balance, so spend it down at a konbini first.

Most Tokyo day passes lose money because they cover one operator and you will inevitably ride another. Do the maths against your plan for the day. Current prices (check before you go):

The rule of thumb: on a day of hopping between Asakusa, Ginza, Roppongi and Shinjuku by subway, the 24-hour Subway Ticket saves 200 to 400 yen; on a day of Yamanote stops, a Suica is cheaper than the Tokunai Pass unless you ride five times. The Japan Rail Pass (50,000 yen for 7 days since October 2023) and the JR Tokyo Wide Pass (15,000 yen, 3 days) cover JR lines, the Tokyo Monorail and the Narita Express inside Tokyo, but not a single subway or private line, so pass holders still need an IC card. See Japan trains and the JR Pass for whether a pass makes sense for your whole trip.

Narita is 60 km east of the city; every option below runs to around 10pm to 11pm, and nothing runs through the night. All prices are one way.

• Keisei Skyliner: the fastest train, 41 minutes to Keisei-Ueno and 36 to Nippori (both on the Yamanote), 2,580 yen; all seats reserved, departures every 20 to 40 minutes. Foreign visitors who book online in advance pay 2,310 yen. Best for Ueno, Asakusa, Akihabara, Ikebukuro and anywhere on the loop’s north and west.
• JR Narita Express (N’EX): about 53 minutes to Tokyo Station, 3,140 yen, continuing to Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ikebukuro and Yokohama in 80 to 95 minutes with no change; reserved seats, every 30 to 60 minutes. The N’EX Tokyo Round Trip Ticket is 5,200 yen for a return within 14 days, and the JR Pass covers it. Best for Tokyo Station, Shinjuku, Shibuya and heavy luggage.
• Keisei Access Express: a commuter train with no reservations, about 1,300 to 1,400 yen, 60 minutes to Asakusa and 75 to Shinagawa via the Toei Asakusa Line, with some trains running straight through to Haneda in about 1 hour 40. No luggage racks; avoid 7am to 9am.
• Keisei Main Line and JR Sobu Rapid: the budget trains, 1,060 yen to Nippori in 75 to 90 minutes and 1,410 yen to Tokyo Station in about 90 minutes respectively. Fine off-peak with a backpack.
• Airport Limousine Bus: 3,100 to 3,600 yen, 85 to 120 minutes depending on traffic, door to door at 100-plus hotels and at Shinjuku, Tokyo Station and Ginza. Worth it with children, a pram or three suitcases.
• Low-cost buses (Airport Bus TYO-NRT): 1,500 yen (3,000 yen for departures before 5am or after midnight), 65 to 85 minutes to Tokyo Station Yaesu side and Ginza, several an hour. The cheapest way in that is still comfortable.
• Taxi: 25,000 to 30,000 yen or more and 60 to 90 minutes; fixed-fare taxis and shared shuttles (from about 15,000 yen) make sense for groups of four with lots of luggage, not otherwise.

Haneda sits inside the city on Tokyo Bay, so you can be at your hotel 45 minutes after clearing customs. Terminal 3 handles most international flights; Terminals 1 and 2 are domestic (and some ANA international), with free shuttle buses between them. Two trains leave from under the terminals, from about 5:10am to just after midnight:

• Tokyo Monorail to Hamamatsucho on the Yamanote Line: 13 to 20 minutes, 520 yen, covered by the JR Pass and JR Tokyo Wide Pass. From Hamamatsucho the Yamanote reaches Tokyo Station in 6 minutes, Shinjuku in 25.
• Keikyu Line to Shinagawa: 11 to 15 minutes, 330 yen, with through trains onto the Toei Asakusa Line to Shimbashi (Ginza), Nihombashi and Asakusa in 30 to 40 minutes for 500 to 700 yen. Best for Shinagawa, Ginza, Asakusa and the Tokaido Shinkansen.
• Limousine and Keikyu buses: 800 to 1,900 yen to Shinjuku, Shibuya, Tokyo Station, Ikebukuro, Odaiba and Disney, 30 to 80 minutes; a few late-night departures to about 1am at roughly double fare.
• Taxi: fixed fares of about 6,000 yen to Shinagawa, 7,000 to 8,000 to Ginza and Roppongi, 8,000 to 9,000 to Shinjuku and Shibuya and up to 11,000 to Ikebukuro, plus the 20 percent surcharge after 10pm. Check the fixed-fare board at the taxi rank rather than running the meter.

If you land after 11pm, the last Monorail and Keikyu trains (around 00:08) still connect with the last Yamanote trains, but hotels stop check-in at various hours, so warn them. Flights before 7am mean a taxi, a 5:30am bus or a night at an airport hotel (see our where to stay guide).

Morning rush runs from about 7:30am to 9:30am and peaks between 8am and 9am; the evening peak around 5:30pm to 7:30pm is longer and milder. The worst crushes are inbound on the Chuo Rapid, Tozai, Saikyo, Denentoshi and Odakyu lines, and inside Shinjuku, Shibuya and Tokyo stations. With a suitcase or small children, start your day after 9:30am or take a taxi for that one journey. There is no rush hour on weekends or public holidays. Many lines run women-only cars (pink signs on the platform floor and car doors) on weekday mornings until about 9am or 9:30am, usually the first or last car; boys up to primary-school age, people with disabilities and their carers may use them too.

Etiquette is simple and visible everywhere. Queue in the marked lines on the platform and let people off first. Keep your voice down, set your phone to silent, and never take a call on board; messaging is fine. Wear your backpack on your front or put it on the overhead rack in a crowded car. Do not eat or drink on commuter trains (eating is fine on the Shinkansen and limited expresses). Give up priority seats near the doors to older people, pregnant women and anyone with a baby. Stand on the left of escalators in Tokyo and let the right side pass (Osaka does the opposite). Platform staff and signs are patient with lost visitors; station maps show every exit, and the exit number (A3, B1) is in Google Maps, so note it before you leave the train.

Last trains leave central stations between about 11:45pm and 12:30am; the Yamanote’s final full lap starts around midnight and first trains are at about 4:30am to 5am. Missing the last train is a Tokyo rite of passage, which is why 24-hour konbini, karaoke rooms, manga cafes (about 1,500 to 3,000 yen for a night package) and capsule hotels cluster around Shinjuku, Shibuya and Ikebukuro. There is no night subway and only a handful of late Toei buses, so plan around the last train or budget for a taxi.

Taxis are clean, honest and expensive: 500 yen for the first 1.096 km, then about 100 yen per 255 m, with a 20 percent surcharge from 10pm to 5am. Shibuya to Shinjuku costs 1,500 to 2,000 yen, Roppongi to Asakusa 3,500 to 4,500. Rear doors open and close automatically; do not touch them. Most cabs take IC cards and credit cards, but have cash for older ones. The GO app (English interface, overseas cards accepted) dispatches licensed taxis to a pin and lets you pay in-app; Uber and DiDi do the same with the same cars at the same metered fares plus a small booking fee. Writing your destination in Japanese or showing a map is more reliable than pronouncing it.

Toei buses charge a flat 210 yen (tap your IC card when boarding, or pay cash into the box at the front) and are handy for the few gaps in the rail map: the bus from Shibuya to Roppongi Hills, routes across Ueno and Asakusa towards the Tokyo Skytree, and the Tokyo Station to Tsukiji and Toyosu run. Stops display routes only in Japanese, so follow Google Maps, which tracks buses live. Keio and Tokyu buses in the west work the same way at similar fares.

Tokyo is flatter and quieter than it looks, and cycling is popular in the low-rise areas: Yanaka, the Sumida riverside, Kiyosumi-Shirakawa, Odaiba and the Tama River path. Docomo Bike Share has red electric-assist bikes at hundreds of docks across the central wards: register in the app (English available), pay about 165 yen per 30 minutes or buy a one-day pass of around 1,650 yen, and park only at a dock. LUUP rents e-bikes and e-scooters by the minute; scooters need you to pass an in-app traffic quiz. Ride on the road or marked lanes, never carry a passenger, and lights are compulsory at night; helmets are recommended but not enforced. Walking, finally, is the best way to see any single district: Shibuya Crossing to the Meiji Shrine’s Harajuku gate is 15 minutes, Senso-ji to the Skytree 20 minutes across the river, Tokyo Station to the Imperial Palace East Gardens 10.

Coin lockers are everywhere in stations and most take IC cards as well as coins: small (fits a daypack) 300 to 400 yen, medium (a carry-on) 500 to 600 yen, large (a 70 cm suitcase) 700 to 900 yen per calendar day, with a 3-day maximum. Big stations fill up by 10am on weekends; Shinjuku, Tokyo and Shibuya have staffed baggage rooms (about 800 to 1,000 yen a bag a day) when the lockers are gone. The Japanese answer to dragging suitcases is takkyubin luggage forwarding: hand a bag to Yamato Transport at an airport counter, hotel front desk or convenience store and it arrives at your next hotel the following day, or at the airport two days before your flight, for roughly 2,000 to 3,000 yen per bag. Hotels do this routinely; ask the day before.

Accessibility has improved a lot: almost every subway and JR station now has at least one elevator route from street to platform (look for the elevator icon on the station map, and use the exit it serves), tactile paving is universal, and staff will lay a ramp between the platform and the train if you ask at the gate. Wide gates are marked for wheelchairs and prams. Shinjuku and Tokyo stations are the hardest to navigate, so allow an extra 15 minutes and follow the colour-coded line signs rather than the exit names.

Google Maps is excellent for Tokyo transit: it gives the platform, the car to board for the quickest transfer, the exit number and the IC fare, and shows live delays. Navitime Japan Travel adds fare-by-pass filters (JR Pass only, subway ticket only) and timetables. Suica and Pasmo balances show in Apple Wallet or on any ticket machine. Tokyo Metro’s own app has English station maps with every exit and elevator.

For the rest of Japan, three stations matter. Tokyo Station is the terminus for the Tokaido Shinkansen to Kyoto and Osaka and the Tohoku, Joetsu and Hokuriku lines north and west; Shinagawa also serves the Tokaido line (handy from Shibuya, Haneda and the south); and Ueno is the second stop for trains heading north to Nikko, Sendai and Hokkaido. Seats, the Nozomi supplement, the oversized-baggage reservation for bags over 160 cm combined dimensions and whether a pass pays off are covered in Japan trains and the JR Pass, and the national picture of buses, flights and ferries in getting around Japan.

Tokyo travel guide · Food